Juan Quiñonez

Soros Foundation, Guatemala

    The first commitment of the Social Development Summit was to create an economic, political, social, cultural and legal environment that would enable people to achieve social development. Political changes in Central America have resulted in the creation of a better climate that provides the economic, social, political, cultural and legal development people need to attain this objective. Guatemala is currently at a cross-roads – will it be able to strengthen the process or see it die?

    The Chamber of Deputies recently approved a series of 47 constitutional reforms some of which still need to be reviewed to create an economic, social, political and cultural system conducive to human development. However, since there is little knowledge of the goals to be attained through the constitutional reforms, Guatemalans cannot reach a consensus on their vision for the future.

    The second commitment set goals for eradicating poverty in the world through decisive national actions and technical, social and economic cooperation at the international level to increase production. However, Guatemala has come up relatively short on this objective. In spite of the fact that Central American countries have grown economically, governments still need to establish clear policies on how to obtain national integration. Countries need to start thinking about how to translate the creation of wealth into concrete results in order for the entire country to benefit.

    Juan Quiñonez commented on the third commitment to promote the goal of full employment as a basic priority of economic and social policies and to enable all men and women to attain secure and sustainable livelihoods. Central American countries have introduced the free-market system to try to eliminate all non-economic and non-tariff policies that prevent fair competition. However, since more developed countries have failed to create such policies, these countries are increasingly becoming economic recipients rather than developers.

    The development of trade is another important factor. Central Americans need to develop competitive export techniques to engage in markets.

    The fourth commitment, he commented, was to promote social integration by fostering societies that are stable, safe and just and that are based on the promotion and protection of all human rights, as well as non-discrimination, tolerance and participation of all vulnerable groups. Progress since the 1980s has been substantial but more needs to be done. In Guatemala, public security is still a topic of debate and the national civil police force in El Salvador is being revamped; the army and the guerrillas are re-educating and re-training their best men and women and joining forces to create a new national civil police force.

    Guatemalan authorities decided to create a new national civil police force. The country now has 8,000 newly trained and educated police officers with a new attitude. Since the creation of the new national civil police force, not a single complaint of human rights violation has been filed against the National Civil Police in the courts, or brought to the attention of the media or into the national and international public forum. In terms of complying with this Copenhagen summit commitment, Guatemala is also doing its best to find a new identity and a new social justice system. The judicial system is paralysed after 36 years of service, crippled by an army that had taken on the task of determining what is just and unjust. The civil code denies women access to the same justice that applies to men. If this unjust law is not changed, Central American governments will not be able to comply with this commitment. The Central American countries need strong support from the international community to honour this commitment. This support has to be two-pronged: economic; and technical knowledge.

    The fifth commitment is to promote full respect for human dignity, to achieve equality and equity between women and men.

    Laws are often the primary obstacles that prevent women from participating. However, lack of access to education and health-care services also hamper efforts in this regard. A woman denied access to education cannot develop fully on the economic, social, political and cultural level.

    The sixth commitment is to attain goals of universal and equitable access to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health care and provide everyone with access to primary health care, respecting and promoting common and particular cultures. Guatemala has a very diverse and poorly respected ethnic population. There are no alternative health-care systems in the country and this is because no one is prepared to give them legal and constitutional recognition. Guatemala is far from complying with this commitment.

    The eighth commitment governments made was to include social development goals, in particular objectives to eradicate poverty and promote hope and social development, in any structural adjustment programs.

    Juan Quiñonez stated that Guatemala has done its best to promote a structural adjustment program that includes the necessary social benefits. It is the only country in Latin America which has 16 social funds, each of which has a different use.



Juan Quiñonez is from the Soros Foundation in Guatemala.