Fifty-second session
Item 45 of the provisional agenda*
The situation in Central America: procedures for the establishment of
a firm and lasting peace and progress in fashioning a region of peace, freedom, democracy and development
Note by the Secretary-General
1. The attached document contains the report of the Human Rights Area of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) on the verification of compliance with the commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights. In accordance with the practice established since the Mission's inception, I shall convey a copy of this report to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the request that it be brought to the attention of the members of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
2. This report, which is being transmitted by the Head of the Mission, is the seventh on the subject, and covers the period from 1 January to 30 June 1997. During this period, the Mission continued to carry out its work normally and, as indicated in the report which I submitted to the General Assembly on 30 June 1997 (A/51/936), continued to verify compliance with the commitments of the Agreement on the Implementation, Compliance and Verification Timetable for the Peace Agreements.
3. I wish to reiterate my thanks to the Government of Guatemala and to the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) for their cooperation with the Mission, without which it would have been unable to function. I also wish to express my gratitude for the ongoing collaboration and support provided to the Mission by the bodies of the United Nations system in Guatemala, represented by the Resident Coordinator of Operational Activities for Development of the United Nations System.
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Annex
SEVENTH REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE UNITED NATIONS VERIFICATION MISSION IN GUATEMALA
I. INTRODUCTION
1. During the period covered by this report (1 January to 30 June 1997), the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) began to verify compliance with all the agreements included in the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace (A/51/796-S/1997/114, annex II), and continued to verify compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the "Comprehensive Agreement") signed on 29 March 1994 (A/48/928-S/1994/448, annex I) and with the human rights aspects of the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement on Indigenous Rights") signed on 31 March 1995 (A/49/882-S/1995/256, annex).
2. This report refers to the commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement which are not included in the Agreement on the Implementation, Compliance and Verification Timetable for the Peace Agreements (A/51/796-S/1997/114, annex I), as noted in the report of the Secretary-General on the results of the verification of compliance with that Agreement (A/51/936, para. 5).
3. In the course of its verification functions, the Mission continued its contacts with each of the signatories. In particular, it maintained a close relationship with the Presidential Human Rights Commission (COPREDEH).
II. VERIFICATION OF RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND OF COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER COMMITMENTS MADE IN THE COMPREHENSIVE AGREEMENT
Commitment I. General commitment to human rights
4. In the Comprehensive Agreement, the parties mandated the Mission to receive, consider and follow up complaints regarding possible human rights violations and empowered it, inter alia, to collect relevant information, interview any person or group of persons freely and privately and visit government offices and Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemelteca (URNG) camps freely and without prior notice when this was deemed necessary.
5. The parties also made MINUGUA responsible for establishing whether the competent national institutions were carrying out the necessary investigations autonomously, effectively and in accordance with the Political Constitution and international human rights norms.
6. In addition, they gave MINUGUA the function of determining whether or not a violation of human rights had occurred on the basis of whatever information it might obtain in the exercise of its powers, taking into consideration any investigations that the competent constitutional institutions might carry out.