New Guatemalan Act Attempts to Define "Family"

By Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America   

GUATEMALA - During the first week of October, Guatemalan legislators will vote on the “Integral Protection for Marriage and Family Act.”  The Act is designed to form a governmental definition of the word “family.”  This new definition would exclude same-sex couples as well as single parents.  Furthermore, the proposed act casts doubt on the “legal status” of children born under “reproductive technologies.” (Human Rights Watch).  The Act threatens to strip single-parent families of health services that the Guatemalan government currently provides.  Lately, the Act has drawn criticism because it appears to contradict Guatemala’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was held in 1989 in order to explicitly state certain protections to which people under the age of eighteen were entitled.  The Convention promulgated four principles that would bind each ratifying country: “non-discrimination; devotion to the best interest of the child; protection from harmful influences, abuses and exploitations; and to participate fully in family, culture and social life.” (UN Rights of the Child).  The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a United Nations treaty designed to insure basic human rights in the participating countries. 

If Guatemala’s “Integral Protection for Marriage and Family Act” were to pass, a large portion of the Guatemalan population would be affected in a detrimental way.  Human Rights Watch estimates that nearly forty percent of Guatemalan families are non-nuclear.  Because the proposed Act will not recognize these families, socially nor economically, they will no longer benefit from governmental aid.  The Guatemalan legislature must decide whether a governmental definition of “family” will secure Guatemalan human rights without destroying its commitments to Guatemalan children and adults.

For More Information, Please See:

UNICEF - Convention on the Rights of the Child

Human Rights Watch - Guatemala: Reject Bill Threatening Families - 1 October 2007

Office of The High Commissioner for Human Rights - Convention on the Rights of the Child - 20 November 1989

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - 16 December 1966