The European Parliament,

A. seriously concerned by the continuing pattern of widespread

egregious violations of human rights in Guatemala including

violations of the right to life and numerous forced

disappearances, which continue despite the promises made

by President Jorge Serrano Elias in his January 1991

inauguration,

B. shocked by the assassinations of Dinora Perez, leader of

a women's association, Brother Cisneros, director of a

Catholic School and member of the Marist Order, Julio

Quevedo, of the dioceses of Quiche, Baldomero Callejas,

survivor of the massacre at El Aguacate, and others, during

1991 alone,

C. encouraged by the ratification by the government of

Guatemala of the International Convention Against Torture,

D. encouraged by the conviction of a member of the Army in the

case of the massacre at Santiago Atitlan and by the

detention and prosecution of Noel de Jesus Beteta Alvarez,

a member of the Guatemalan military, for his responsibility

in the murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack,

E. concerned, however, with the lack of progress in the

investigation of other cases of human rights violations,

F. having regard to the special situation pertaining to

Guatemala, the scene of a civil war which has been raging

for over thirty years and has already caused more than a

hundred thousand deaths,

G. observing the continuation of military policies which

violate the rights of the civilian population, in

particular the bombing of civilians organized into

'Communities of Populations in Resistance' as was

dramatically verified by Dr Christian Tomuschat,

representative of the UN Secretary-General, at the

beginning of this year,

H. noting that the widespread practice of forced recruitment

of the male population into quasi-military 'civil defence

patrols' continues despite Article 34 of the 1985

Guatemalan Constitution which states that 'no one can be

forced to be or to become a member of a group or an

association set up for self-defence or for other similar

purposes' and that such practice continues in flagrant

violation of this constitutional provision, and ignoring

the numerous calls from international organizations such

as the UN Human Rights Commission to cease such practice,

I. noting also that the forced recruitment of men into 'civil

defence patrols' is carried out in violation of Guatemala's

obligations under international human rights instruments

including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the

American Convention on Human Rights,

J. welcoming the peace negotiation process initiated in

February 1990 between the government of Guatemala and the

URNG but concerned at the lack of progress in these

negotiations in reference to the topic of human rights due

to the inflexibility and lack of willingness on the part

of the government representatives to make a firm commitment

to improving the situation of human rights observance in

Guatemala,

1. Urges the Guatemalan government to take all measures

necessary to bring about an end to the current deplorable

situation of human rights abuses and urges the government

vigorously to pursue the investigation of all cases of

human rights violations;

2. Calls upon the Guatemalan government to respect the Geneva

Conventions and to cease its military policies which

violate the rights of the civilian population;

3. Urges the UN Commission for Human Rights to appoint a

Special Rapporteur to report on Guatemala under item 12 of

its agenda;

4. Urges the Guatemalan government to ratify the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

5. Calls upon the Guatemalan government to disband the civil

defence patrols immediately;

6. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Commission, the Council, EPC, the UN Commission for Human

Rights meeting in Geneva and the Government of Guatemala.