Fifty-fifth session
Agenda item 43
The situation in Central America: procedures for the
establishment of a firm and lasting peace and progress
in fashioning a region of peace, freedom, democracy
and development
United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala
Report of the Secretary-General
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to
General Assembly resolution 54/99 of 8 December
1999, by which the Assembly authorized the renewal
of the mandate of the United Nations Verification
Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) originally set out
in resolution 51/198 B of 27 March 1997, in order for
the Mission to continue to verify compliance with the
peace agreements signed between the Government of
Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional
Guatemalteca (URNG). By resolution 54/99, the
General Assembly renewed the mandate of the Mission
from 1 January to 31 December 2000 and requested me
to submit recommendations with regard to the peace
process after that date.
2. On 31 July, I informed the President of the
General Assembly (A/54/950) that I had appointed
Mr. Gerd D. Merrem as my Special Representative and
Head of MINUGUA, effective 1 August 2000. Mr. Merrem succeeds Mr. Jean Arnault, who was appointed as my Special Representative for Burundi.
II. Background
3. March 2000 marks the tenth anniversary of the
direct involvement of the United Nations in the
Guatemalan peace process, which began with the
appointment of a Representative of the Secretary-General as observer of the activities to be carried out under the Basic Agreement for the Search for Peace by Political Means, signed in Oslo on 29 March 1990 (A/45/706-S/21931, annex III).
4. This involvement was in response to the
expressed wishes of the parties and to the commitment
of the international community to the Central American
peace process initiated under the Esquipulas II
Agreement (A/42/521-S/19085, annex). The signing of
the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace (A/51/796-S/1997/114, annex II) in December 1996 placed Guatemala on a path of progress towards inclusive democracy, equitable development and respect for human rights and cultural diversity. The peace agreements provided the framework for the peacebuilding process in Guatemala, within which MINUGUA received a mandate aimed at supporting this process.
5. The 1996 agreements signed by the Government
of Guatemala and URNG contained an overarching set
of detailed commitments on political, legislative, social, economic, agrarian, military, public security, indigenous and human rights issues, which were consolidated into a comprehensive peace agenda.
6. The Agreement on the Implementation, Compliance and Verification Timetable for the Peace Agreements (A/51/796-S/1997/114, annex I) stressed that international verification was essential to the implementation process and to strengthening public confidence in the consolidation of peace. MINUGUA, which until then had been limited to verifying the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights (A/48/928-S/1994/448, annex I) and the human rights aspects of the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/49/882-S/1995/256, annex), was therefore requested by the parties to further expand its functions to verify all the signed agreements. They also asked that the Mission’s functions comprise good offices, advisory and support services and public information. Furthermore, the parties requested that the duration of the mandate of MINUGUA be concurrent with the implementation timetable, namely, four years, or until 31 December 2000.
7. The Timetable agreement had envisaged a
calendar for implementation which consisted of three
consecutive phases covering the period from 1997 to
2000: (a) the demobilization of URNG members and
the establishment of commissions for the reform of the
justice and electoral systems, as well as the promotion
of indigenous rights and the modernization of the
legislative branch; (b) social and productive
investment, modernization and decentralization of the
State, public administration reform, rural development, fiscal reform and the restructuring of public security and national defence; and (c) further developments in the implementation and promotion of broad administrative and legislative reform.