7 years after UN-brokered accord, Guatemalans reaffirm pledge to peace, democracy

Seven years after a United Nations-brokered peace treaty put an end to over three decades of war in Guatemala, civil society representatives pledged today to consolidate democracy and stability in the country.

In a joint statement entitled “Towards a new stage in the building of peace,” eminent Guatemalans expressed their conviction that one of the main objectives of the Peace Accords was to consolidate peace through a functional and participatory democracy. They also reiterated the primacy of human rights and the recognition of indigenous rights.

The ceremony held in Guatemala City on the pact’s seventh anniversary was attended by some of the signatories of the 1996 accords, Tom Koenigs, the head of the UN Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), and representatives of Guatemalan society, including Archbishop Quezada Toruño and Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchú.