Justice for Genocide in the Guatemalan Highlands

In downtown Guatemala City, graffiti can be found on the walls of buildings reading "justicia por genocidio" (justice for genocide).

Photo taken by author

From 1981 - 1983, over 1,700 of the indigenous Ixil Maya population of Guatemala were massacred.  On trial for the genocide of this ethnic group is former president and military ruler General Efrain Rios Montt.

General Montt is the first former head of state to be charged with genocide in his own country. Montt was convicted in 2013 of genocide, however his case was annulled less than two weeks after his conviction. Judge Patricia Flores had ordered the trial suspended due to unconstitutional procedural errors during the evidentiary phase of the trial. When judge Jazmin Barrios continued with proceedings, Francisco Garcia Gudiel, Montt's lawyer, accused her of being impartial and he was consequently dismissed from the courtroom. Montt subsequently spent half a day in court without his lawyer, prompting Guatemala's highest courts to set aside the verdict and order a retrial.

It took 19 months for the new trial to begin, yet political maneuvers have already hamstrung proceedings. On the first day of the trial, Montt's legal team demanded that Irma Valdez, the presiding judge, recuse herself, arguing her doctoral dissertation, "Criteria for the better application of the crime of genocide," indicated she had already formed an opinion and was incapable of impartiality. Valdes was disqualified by her peers in a 2-1 vote. This is only one instance of what many rights group claim is political interference designed to block prosecution of Montt. Paz y Pazy, the attorney general who indicted Montt, was ordered by the court to resign months before her term was set to expire. Not long after, Yassmin Barrios, the judge who handed down the initial guilty verdict against Montt and who was also awarded  an International Woman of Courage award by Michelle Obama, was suspended by the Guatemalan Bar Association from practicing law for a year due to alleged ethical violations. Local Guatemalan newspapers deemed this action as "excessive" and "without precedent."

Some are even skeptical that the massacre of the Ixil Maya can be called genocide. Former vice-president Eduardo Stein has claimed that "The human-rights violations were not directed specifically against an ethnic group but against all who were perceived to support the guerrillas." Professor Carlos Sabino of Francisco Morroquin University in Guatemala acknowledges that the killings occurred but balks at labeling the killings genocide, stating there was "no intention to exterminate a particular race."

Documented evidence suggest otherwise, however. Article II of the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which Guatemala signed on June 22, 1949 and ratified on January 13, 1950, defines genocide as:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: 

• killing members of the group;
• causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life intended to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• forcibly transferring children of the group to another group...

As Greg Grandin notes in his book The Guatemala Reader, proceedings from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia state that "the intentionality specific to the crime of genocide does not need to be expressed clearly; it can be inferred from a certain number of facts, such as the 'general political doctrine' from which actions arise... and the repetition of destructive and discriminatory acts." 

What's important to note here is the phrasing "general political doctrine from which actions arise." General Montt's Victoria 82 military plan clearly illustrates that Montt identified indigenous communities with guerrilla forces. Grandin points out that in the 1980s, indigenous people were outright identified with the enemy. According to Victoria 82,

The great Indian masses of the nation's highlands have heard themselves in the subversion's proclamations, with their banners of land scarcity and immense poverty, and due to the long years of consciousness raising, [these populations] see the Army as an invading enemy... The army considered that the "great Indian masses" of the highlands made up the social base of the guerrilla movement: Strong points... of the enemy.. its social base, resting on the Indian peasant.

 Montt went on to confirm this identification of the indigenous Ixil with elimination:

The guerrillas won over many Indian collaborators, therefore the Indians were subversives, right? And how do you fight subversion? Clearly, you had to kill Indians because they were collaborating with subversion...

To have a judge recuse herself because she is expert not only in genocide but also in the Guatemalan civil war is asinine given that the question at hand should not be whether or not genocide was committed. As historical records document, it clearly has. The issue is whether or not Montt ordered the systematic slaughter of an ethnic group he deemed to be collaborating with guerrilla fighters during the Guatemalan civil war. It is paramount for a member of the three-judge tribunal to be expert in matters relating to genocide so that emotion and rationality can be separated and the evidence and facts can be judged objectively. Removing justice Valdes for being educated in Guatemalan history and the crime of genocide is counterproductive for the healing of Guatemala. 14.5% of the Ixil population (and 14.6% of the Rabinal, 3.6% of the Huehuetenango, and 8.6% of the Zacualpa) was killed and a lack of judges knowledgeable on not only the actions carried out during the Guatemalan civil war but also the complex legalities on acts of genocide is a great miscarriage of justice.

Women and Money, the North Korean Dream

North Korean defector Yeonmi Park has written previously that she is part of the Black Market Generation North Korean defector Yeonmi Park has written previously that she is part of the Black Market Generation – millennials whose loyalties are not with the Kim regime due to the fact that her generation can’t really remember a time when the government provided for the people. She argues that people today view the government as an obstacle of wealth as opposed to a benevolent dictator. Reform failures and activities manifesting as a result of those failures indicate Park is spot on with her analysis.

Hye Yeon Park of Global Prosperity writes that the 2009 currency revaluation of the North Korean won was a measure for the government to collect private wealth that was accumulated outside of state-sanctioned markets. Following the botched revaluation, the use of US dollars and Chinese yuan has greatly increased. This growth in the use of foreign currency has spawned private markets that are once again outside of Pyongyang’s state policies. The North Korean won has plunged by 99% on the black market in North Korea and traders in the border town of Hyesan were seen in a video released by the Daily NK quoting prices and accepting payment in yuan.

Sokeel Park of the NGO Liberty in North Korea stated that the 2009 currency reform taught the North Korean people “conclusively” not to trust the government. This only reiterates Yeonmi Park’s point that the Black Market Generation of today recognizes the value of private markets as a necessity for survival. As of 2002, no more than 10% of the North Korean population had access to foreign currency. Today, numbers reach as high as 50% in some areas. As such, the Kim regime may even come to depend on the emergence of these markets and the foreign capital generated therein for its own survival.

In order to maintain control, the regime needs to keep its elite happy. This is normally done through economic benefits and access to luxury goods. As hard currency has slowed to a trickle and more and more people are becoming less trustful of the ability of the government to provide for their needs, a small financial elite has emerged from the underground markets commanding respect from the people and exercising a bit of leverage against the state. These people are called “Money Makers.” Money Makers are a group of financially-privileged “family members of the Jochongryon (the pro-Pyongyang federation for ethnic Koreans living in Japan),” overseas agents, or descendants of Kim Jong-Il’s inner circle who make loans to small businesses. According to New Focus International, the activities of Money Makers are paving the way towards the North Korean goal of economic self-sufficiency, though this method runs contrary to its autarkic Juche ideology. Regional economies can’t even function properly anymore without these Money Makers because even one Money Maker can provide a money line which supports a large number of political elite. As international sanctions continue to cripple the regime’s financial activities, activities of these Money Makers have become a necessary evil in order to keep the elite satisfied and happy. Ironically enough, as the reliance on and influence of these Money Makers grow, state authority will only be eroded by these capitalist measures. This again echoes Yeonmi Park’s argument that rising generations in North Korea will only view the state as an obstacle to wealth and prosperity. What will be interesting to watch is whether or not power struggles or factions will emerge out of the growing power of these Money Makers. It seems indeed like a catch-22 for the North Korean state which strongly relies on the co-opting of its elites to keep the Kim family in power. Without money or luxury goods to buy silence and cooperation, the cohesion of the elite will surely crumble. Yet, it seems the most efficient way to keep the proverbial gravy train chugging is to turn a blind eye to these private banking practices which run afoul of state ideology and, incongruously, deteriorate the iron grip the state has on North Korean society.

Perhaps equally as interesting in North Korean economic activity is the emergence of women as the bread winners in their households. As Dr. Bronwen Dalton, Director of the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre at the University of Technology in Sydney, notes, the constant surveillance placed on men has allowed women to be more engaging in the black market. “Boys are seen as an economic burden whereas girls have a greater capacity to contribute to the family economic unit.” The grassroots capitalism has led several women to earn a living on the black market in order to avoid forfeiture of their wealth to the state. Dr. Kim Seok Hyang of Ewha Woman’s University confirms Dr. Dalton’s statement by explaining that women are less likely to get caught because the North Korean authorities will assume whatever a woman is doing is not important, hence the lack of surveillance and monitoring. Lending more credence to this analysis is Dr. Andrei Lankov who states in his recent book “The Real North Korea” that: 

In North Korean society at large, the relative power of women increased dramatically after the collapse of the state Socialist (sic) economy. In the 1990s males were expected to continue attending their non-functioning plants, while women, who were – or could easily become – housewives, were free to engage in the manifold activities of the nonofficial economy. As a result, women became the major bread-winners in the majority of North Korean families.

In addition to rival influence growing in the aforementioned Money Makers, there has also been an organic shift of economic power towards women in North Korea for over twenty years, now. This has unsurprisingly led to an increase in the number of women running small businesses. As the Choson Exchange’s Women in Business Workshop found, female-led businesses in North Korea fill market needs and have become increasingly important since the 1990s. The Choson Exchange, reflecting Yeonmi Park’s statements yet again, argue that the younger generation who has “barely experienced” the dated public distribution system “is pushing to develop their own careers in business… and are more eager to secure a share of the increasing wealth they see around them.”

While these market activities and the role of Money Makers may be necessary for the short term survival of the North Korean state, they will turn out to be detrimental for its survival in the long run. With the rise of Money Makers and capital activity leading to more and more private enterprises involving more and more women, the likely result is a catalyzing corrosion of state power. Money Makers will be seen as indispensable as the rise of market activity will only lead to further demand for their capital and resources and the influence of money will spread faster than the state can regulate it. As women in North Korea come to understand their value and importance of their role in market activity for the survival of not only themselves but also their family and perhaps even society at large, demand for equal rights and standing will likely ensue. As the Money Makers garner more influence and respect from the people, clashes with the state elite for reform will likely arise as they would want to ensure the health and longevity of their investments. Additionally, the weak financial institutions of North Korea will only further highlight the need for these Money Makers who can act more efficiently as financiers than the state. The exposure of the state’s ineptness will likely trigger a type of brand-loyalty defection from the state to the private market, resulting in the beginning of the end of the North Korean nightmare.

#NorthKorea #YeonmiPark #MoneyMaker #HumanRights

Cambodia, Land of Orphans

In August of 2014, former Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, Nuon Chea, and former President of Democratic Kampuchea, Khieu Samphan, were convicted of crimes against humanity. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the United Nations-backed tribunal consisting of international and Cambodian which was launched in 2006 to investigate the Khmer Rouge's crimes, found the two former officials guilty of extermination, forced transfer, political persecution, and attacks against human dignity.

Chea and Samphan, respectively known as "Brother Number Two" and "Brother Number Four," were senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime which was in power between 1975-1979. Nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population is believed to have died from starvation, forced labor, and execution as the Khmer Rouge attempted to reboot society to the "Year Zero." In an effort to establish an agrarian utopia, the regime instituted radical social-engineering policies aimed to rid Cambodia of "money, family ties, religion, education, property, and foreign influence." What happened instead was the worst genocide since the Holocaust.

Chea and Samphan join Kaing Guek Eav as the only three convictions the ECCC have rendered thus far. Eav was convicted in 2010 for war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, and torture. All three men have received life sentences.

Cambodian-American human rights lawyer Theary Seng describes Cambodia as a "land of orphans" where nearly two generations of men grew up "learning little more than how to kill." Long after Pol Pot's government fled the capital, speaking of the Khmer Rouge was considered taboo and even today the genocide of the regime is not taught in schools.

Though the ECCC was intended to create a space for healing to begin, for many the trials are considered "too little, too late." What is also frustrating for the courts and victims seeking justice is the constant interference by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Sen, a former Khmer Rouge battalion commander, has warned that civil war could break out in Cambodia if the tribunal pursues further cases against former regime leaders. He has been a vociferous critic of the 003 and 004 investigations, two cases involving five additional suspects. The Cambodian government has multiple times expressed opposition to the cases moving forward, resulting in two international judges stepping down from their roles at the ECCC with both citing political interference as their reasons.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has before warned that the ECCC investigations could lead to civil war resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Cambodians. However, what Prime Minister Sen fails to address is the fact that under international law, Cambodia is obligated to prosecute suspects of mass human rights violations and initiatives taken to prevent such investigations of these allegations are violations of these obligations. The Cambodian government may want to leave the Khmer Rouge in the past; Cambodia and the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, however, cannot begin to heal or obtain closure without recognizing the atrocities that were allowed to take place between 1975-1979. While nobody can speak for the dead or bear testimony firsthand to the pain, agony, and suffering that those who were executed experienced, allowing the ECCC to carry out its mission in bringing those responsible to justice demonstrably illustrates the priceless value of human dignity. Guilty verdicts will not raise the dead, reunite families, nor will they change what happened during Pol Pot's reign of terror. They can, however, stand as a testament to the unflinching resolve of a global society to stand up in the face of evil for the sake of human dignity and keep mankind vigilant to prevent such heinous acts from scarring the history of humanity again.

#Cambodia #KhmerRouge #KillingFields #HumanRights

An Argument for Economic Migrants: Poverty as a Coercive Mechanism

In spite of the mountains of evidence of human rights abuses in North Korea, Chinese authorities have balked at acknowledging North Korean defectors in China as refugees, insisting they are illegal economic migrants. China has even gone so far as to provide a blanket statement saying that there is no such thing as a North Korean refugee. Even after the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea revealed “systematic, widespread and grave violations occurring in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” China steadfastly dismissed the report calling it "divorced from reality."

This is the tune China has consistently sung since the partition of Korea. With regards to North Koreans, China has never respected the principle of non-refoulement, the principle in international law forbidding a host state from deporting a non-citizen to a place where his or her life or freedom is under legitimate threat, an obligation China acquired by joining the United Nations and ratifying the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocols. Instead, it has maintained the practice of forcibly repatriating North Koreans.

Further analysis on why China has a legal and moral responsibility to North Korean defectors on its soil can be found here.

#NorthKorea #Refugees #NorthKoreanRefugees #HumanRights