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Indigenous Minority Rights – 2003

In its final human rights report, MINUGUA gave an overwhelmingly negative evaluation of the Government’s actions for indigenous persons: “The isolation and discrimination faced by Guatemala’s indigenous peoples—half the country’s population—have not visibly changed since 1997… Indigenous populations, particularly women, remain disproportionately poor, suffer high rates of illiteracy and health and social problems, largely as a result of lack of access to health care, education, decent housing, employment and social services.”¹

1. “Fourteenth Report on Human Rights of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala,” United Nations General Assembly (A/58/566) November 10, 2003, Paragraph 21.