Upcoming Delegations

Emergency Human Rights Delegation – July 23 – 30, 2022 

From July 23-30, 2022, we are hosting an Emergency Delegation to Guatemala to document the broad-based and intensifying attack on human rights. Our partners in Guatemala have asked us to visibilize their struggles in the face of threats, criminalization, and increased violence. Join the delegation to learn in detail about the dangers they face and be part of their struggle for change.

Cost of the delegation is $2000, not including airfare.

Email coriewelch@ghrc-usa.org to sign up or for more information! 

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What is a GHRC Delegation?

The Guatemala Human Rights Commission has historically led a delegation to Guatemala each year. Trips focus on human rights defenders, violence against women, and root causes of migration. GHRC delegates meet with a range of governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as community leaders, both in the capital and indigenous communities.

For participants, delegations are often intense and transformative experiences that provide the knowledge and inspiration to become advocates for Guatemala when they return home. The delegations also help to raise the profile of the Guatemalan survivors, activists, advocates and NGOs we meet with, and serve as a venue to share important information with the international community that leads to future collaboration and increased solidarity.

Among these are delegations of experts who investigate the human rights situation, as GHRC undertook in 2018, a trip which resulted in pressure from U.S. Congress to protect human rights. Delegations that are open to the public often are eight-day trips that provide an immersion experience to help participants understand the complex human rights challenges in Guatemala.

GHRC can also lead more specialized delegations for university groups, congregations, or professionals who are interested in learning about a specific topic relating to human rights in Guatemala. Contact coriewelch@ghrc-usa.org for more information.

*Please note that groups or institutions must recruit their own participants.

An Example of Past Delegations

GHRC’s annual open delegation — focused on violence against women and women human rights defenders — was an annual trip that began in 2005, providing a unique opportunity for US victims’ rights advocates and concerned citizens to better understand the high rates of brutal violence in Guatemala. At the same time, participants also have the opportunity to hear from the nation’s leading women’s rights activists who, in spite of the challenges they face, continue to work for an end to gender violence. The trip includes meetings in Guatemala City and visits to indigenous women’s groups in other parts of the country. In the past, delegations have traveled to Xela and surrounding communities, Rabinal, El Estor, Puerto Barrios, and Santa María Xalapán.

• Read a blog post by Vanessa Kritzer at the Latin America Working Group, who participated in 2011.
• Virginia Commonwealth University professor and 2009 delegate Karen Rotabi put together an online photo-journal and published an article about her experience.
• Read the blog of another 2009 delegate, Janett Forte, of VCU’s institute for Women’s Health.

GHRC has also partnered with American University’s Alternative Break program to lead a winter delegation focused on human rights defenders, the internal conflict, and current threats to indigenous land rights. This delegation travels to Guatemala City, Rio Negro, Rabinal, and San Juan Sacatepéquez (a community currently fighting a cement project). Read more about American University’s Alternative Spring Break delegation in January 2013.

Defensoras: Guatemalan Women Defending Land, Justice and Human Rights

JULY 30 – AUGUST 7, 2016

GHRC’s open August delegation met with leaders on the front lines of struggles to defend land and the environment, promote women’s rights, and push for justice for crimes of the past. We spoke with a diverse group of women, including representatives of civil society, survivors of violence and community leaders.