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Human rights defenders / Statements / Guatemala / 2016 / November

Guatemala: Guatemalan activist Samayoa receives human rights award from national Ombudsman


Geneva, 4 November 2017 (OMCT) – Claudia Samayoa, member of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) General Assembly and Coordinator of the Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos (UDEFEGUA), yesterday received a human rights award from Guatemala’s Ombudsman.

Ms. Samayoa, who founded the NGO promoting and protecting human rights defenders in Central America, regularly threatened to “pay for the consequences” of her work because of her outspoken position to protect human rights defenders in her country and in the region. She received the “National Human Rights Prize of the Myrna Mack Chang Order”, from the National Human Rights Institution (PDH) Attorney General Jorge de León Duque.

In a country that reached a record high of 810 cases of attacks against human rights defenders in 2014, this is a welcome sign from the institution and recognition for the landmark work done by Ms. Samayoa, who calls for legislative reforms to stop criminalizing public demonstrators and for policies to better protect human rights defenders in the country.

“No one deserves this prize more than her; it reminds us of the fundamental value of her work on the ground,” said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General. “The world needs more to recognize more people like her.”

When visiting Guatemala in 2014, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri acknowledged Mr. De Leon Duque’s efforts to strengthen the PDH, a turn-to institution for citizens to turn to when they feel their human rights have been violated.

The award granted by the PDH is named after the Guatemalan anthropologist assassinated by the Guatemalan military in 1990. Myrna’s sister Helen Mack Chang pursued prosecution of her sister's killers before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Government acknowledged responsibility in 2004 and has had to compensate Mack and her family.

The PDH award was instituted in 2014, when it went to Augusto Willemsen for his fight to promote the rights of indigenous peoples. Last year, the award went to José Ruben Zamora, the founder of two Guatemalan newspapers who has been threatened and attacked for his work.

For inquiries on Guatemala, please contact mmz@omct.org; for media inquiries: lb@omct org.

To reach the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, please contact: Appeals@fidh-omct.org or OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

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Date: November 4, 2016
Activity: Human Rights Defenders
Type: Statements
Country: Guatemala

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