Forced to Give Up on Their Dreams: Sexual Violence against Girls in Guatemala
BY HUMAN RIGHTS WATC / TRANSLATED BY THOMAS LANG
Over the years, the government of Guatemala has not met its obligation to girls who face early and forced pregnancies due to sexual violence. Human Rights Watch made this claim in a report entitled Forced to Give Up on Their Dreams: Sexual Violence against Girls in Guatemala. Here are some details from the report:
Authorities must provide comprehensive healthcare, education, and social security to survivors of sexual violence, as well as necessary legal protection, justice, and reparations. The road towards justice for girls who are survivors of sexual violence is plagued by systemic failure. From January 2018 to October 2023, 6,697 cases of sexual violence against girls under the age of 14 were dismissed—2,271 between January and October 2023, representing a marked increase compared to previous years. Even when cases proceed, true results are scarce: judges issued only 136 preliminary indictments between January 2018 and September 2023, with only 102 convictions in cases involving girls under the age of 14 between January 2018 and October 2023.
Alarming
The 85-page report documents the numerous barriers that survivors face when seeking essential medical care, education, social security, and justice. Guatemalan law classifies any sexual activity involving a child below the age of 14 as sexual violence.
The National Registry of Persons (RENAP) reported that between 2018 and 2024, 14,696 girls below the age of 14 gave birth and became mothers, in many cases against their will.
Imagen cortesía de Doris Miranda para Human Rights Watch
Guatemala has not been able to prevent nor deal with systemic sexual violence, which has led to forced pregnancies in girls under the age of 14. Girls who have suffered sexual violence are often excluded from education, have difficulties accessing healthcare and social security, and face enormous barriers in their search for justice. Urgent, comprehensive reform is needed to prevent sexual violence against girls; guarantee their full access to healthcare, education, and social security; and give them justice and adequate reparations.
“Sexual violence remains a pervasive and systemic issue in Guatemala, disproportionately affecting girls ages 14 and under, which is the age of consent in the country,” says Human Rights Watch researcher Cristina Quijano Carrasco. “That Guatemala fails to take adequate measures to prevent and stop sexual violence and forced pregnancies in young girls could have potentially deadly consequences, including risks for their physical and mental health, while also profoundly impacting their economic, social, and cultural rights.”
Imagen cortesía de Doris Miranda para Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 72 representatives from civil society organizations, government workers, medical workers, and other experts while also analyzing government data.
Helpless
In one case, an 11-year-old girl in a rural area was raped by her father and sought medical attention upon finding out that she was 5 months pregnant. Though she reported the case, authorities sent her back home with her father and forced her to give birth in unsafe conditions without help. Authorities never arrested the father and, since the case was never adjudicated, the girl received no reparations for the harm she suffered.
Girls’ access to comprehensive health services in Guatemala is very limited. Long travel distances, a chronic lack of trained professionals, and inadequate resources impede access to services and essential healthcare, like emergency contraception and prenatal/postpartum care.
These barriers disproportionately affect girls in rural and indigenous communities who often have to travel hours or even days to reach healthcare facilities in departmental capitals. Guatemalan law permits abortion when the life of the mother is at risk, but stigma and a lack of understanding of the law by medical providers restricts access to this essential health service.
Guatemala’s educational system doesn’t help pregnant girls and young mothers either. In November 2024, only 213 pregnant students were enrolled in the national education system.
The lack of support, stigma, and family pressure contribute to high drop-out rates in pregnant girls, especially in rural communities. Many are forced to permanently abandon their education and are often sent to live with their rapists and/or take care of domestic chores.
Society tends to label girls as “impure” or “dirty,” stigmatizing and placing blame on survivors instead of abusers. The lack of public policy designed to keep pregnant students or young mothers in schools leaves girls without the academic, social, and emotional support they need. Programs to protect pregnant girls and young mothers are insufficient to guarantee their right to social security. The Vida program, which provides cash assistance to pregnant girls and mothers under the age of 14, has restrictive eligibility requirements and onerous bureaucratic obstacles which reduce its reach. In 2024, only 129 girls were enrolled in the program, despite the fact that 1,953 girls under 14 gave birth that year.
In an effort to analyze sexual violence in diverse socioeconomic and ethnic contexts, this research was conducted in three cities in Guatemala: Huehuetenango, Cobán, and Guatemala City. These cities are the departmental capitals with the greatest rate of forced pregnancy in girls under 14.
To read the whole report, head to the official webpage at www.hrw.org
Imagen cortesía de Doris Miranda para Human Rights Watch
