Recommended Citation
Angélica Cházaro, Getting Away with Murder: Guatemala's Failure to Protect Women and Rodi Alvarado's Quest for Safety, 12 Hastings Women's L.J. 141 (2006), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/673
Keywords
Guatamala, violence against women
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This report examines the underlying conditions that cause women like Rodi to flee their home countries and seek protection elsewhere. The report starts with a description of the circumstances that led Rodi to leave Guatemala. It then analyzes the widespread violence against and murders of women in Guatemala, specifically focusing on the number of murders, the victims, the brutality of the crimes, the context in which they occur, and the theories behind the murders. It next looks to the aspects of the Guatemalan legal and judicial systems that render women vulnerable to violence and then fail to protect them. It then examines the ineffective response from police, prosecutors, and the judiciary that results in widespread impunity for violence against and murder of women in Guatemala. It summarizes Guatemala's existing international obligations to protect women and describes the current United States programs offering economic assistance to strengthen the Guatemalan criminal justice system. Finally, it offers recommendations to United States policymakers and Guatemalan authorities for ending impunity for the crimes, bringing those responsible to justice, and affording real protections to women, with the goal of eradicating violence against women in Guatemala.