A/HRC/13/33/Add.4
D.
Agrarian reform
52.
As mentioned above, the concentration of land ownership and/or control remains
high in Guatemala. The most recent agrarian census, which dates back to 2003, found that
92 per cent of small producers occupy 22 per cent of available land while the remaining 78
percent is controlled by a small group of large producers. The previous Special Rapporteur
identified the “failure to resolve the land question, including ‘land-grabbing’ during the war
and the historical inequities of land ownership, as well as the failure to resolve the issues of
the cadastre, individual and collective land titles, restitution and redistribution of land” as
key obstacles to the full realization of the right to food in Guatemala.44
53.
As part of his appraisal the previous Special Rapporteur mentioned the
establishment of an organization for land conflict resolution (CONTIERRA), although very
few cases had been resolved at the time of his 2005 visit, due to a lack of funding and
institutional instability. He also assessed results achieved by the Fondo de Tierras
(FONTIERRAS), a land fund providing credit for land purchases. In 2005, FONTIERRAS
had redistributed 76,493 hectares to 15,996 families, a limited result given the demand of
up to 300,000 rural families.45
54.
In relation to land conflicts, the Secretariat for Agrarian Affairs received a total of
4,183 cases between 1997 and 2008. Of these cases, 1,789, or 43 per cent, were resolved.46
The Special Rapporteur took note of several proposals to address this low rate of land
conflict resolution. These include the adoption of an agrarian code with objective criteria
for the resolution of land conflicts and the creation of agrarian tribunals and an agrarian
ombudsman to review cases. The Special Rapporteur encourages the swift implementation
of these proposals, and calls upon the Government to ensure that these new bodies will
have the necessary capacity to deal with the conflicts presented to them.
55.
In relation to the redistribution of land, the FONTIERRAS Regularization
Programme (Programa de Regularización) received 11,615 individual and 486 collective
submissions (testimonios) representing a total of 49,012 families between 2000 and 2008.47
While the acquisition of land title through the Regularization Programme is in itself a step
forward, the Special Rapporteur was informed that this programme has in practice
contributed to increased land concentration, as families who lack resources and productive
capacity to work the land, often sell their land upon regularization. Peasant organizations
and experts indicated to the Rapporteur that land re-concentration had taken place since
2003 as a result of agrofuel production and the development of mining and hydroelectricity
projects.
56.
The FONTIERRAS Programme on Access to Land (Programa de Acceso a la
Tierra) provided a total of GTQ 668 million in credits and GTQ 396 million in subsidies
between 1998 and 2008. During this period a total of 90,412 hectares were distributed
among 19,178 families. In comparison with the situation in 2005, the Special Rapporteur
notes that the output of FONTIERRAS appears to have been very limited between 2006
and 2008 with only 4,236 hectares redistributed, involving 909 families. Of a total of 236
44
45
46
47
E/CN.4/2006/44/Add.1, para. 53.
Ibid., para. 37.
Centro Internacional para Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos/Coordinación de ONG
Cooperativas, Observatorio del gasto social: “La tenencia de la tierra y la conflictividad agraria en
Guatemala”, December 2008, p. 35.
Ibid., p. 41.
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