Human Rights, Migration, and Covid-19 in Guatemala: Significant Challenges and Important Opportunities

The response to the Covid-19 public health crisis has had a great social and economic impact on Guatemalan society. Based on the available data and information, the report finds that the measures and programs adopted by the government to respond to the crisis didn’t offer an integrated approach, leaving many Guatemalans — especially those living in material poverty — in a very vulnerable situation during a strict lockdown. Domestic and sexual violence increased during the lockdown as did hate crimes and continued invisibilization of the LGBTQ+ community. Children and youth faced an interruption of theireducation given that the public education system did not provide adequate remote-learning services to those in marginalized urban areas and those in very rural areas without access to technology. The emigration of Guatemalans did not stop despite the closed borders. However, the risk and the conditions of irregular emigration worsened. Meanwhile, a lack of employment for Guatemalans living in the U.S. was reflected in a decrease of remittances between February and April 2020. In this short brief, CARA proposes concrete recommendations that address the safety of Guatemalan migrants in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.