The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and Peace Brigades International (PBI) held this meeting with Pedro Sica to discuss the human rights situation in Guatemala. Pedro is a Maya K’iche’ human rights defender from Chiul, a village located in the northern El Quiché department of Guatemala.

The main points raised during the meeting were:

• Natural resource exploitation in the country has led to close links between Government and corporations.
• Many of the corporations involved in natural resource projects are committing human rights violations and causing serious environmental damage.
• Hydro-electric energy projects are having a particularly negative impact on communities’ access to water and means of subsistence.
• The Government’s consultation processes with communities over licenses for resource exploitation are often very limited and serve to cause tensions within communities.
• There is a concern that the current Government will overturn the current moratorium on the granting of mining licenses.
• There are many domestic and international laws signed by the Guatemalan Government in relation to indigenous rights, human rights and rights to territory, but many of these are being violated.

The PHRG regularly meets with human rights defenders from Guatemala and the surrounding region and raises related concerns in the UK Parliament.