[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 155 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 155

 Expressing the sense of the Senate on efforts to control violence and 
                strengthen the rule of law in Guatemala.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2007

     Mr. Dodd (for himself and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate on efforts to control violence and 
                strengthen the rule of law in Guatemala.

Whereas warring parties in Guatemala ended a 36-year internal armed conflict 
        with a peace agreement in 1996, but the country has since faced alarming 
        levels of violence, organized crime, and corruption;
Whereas the alleged involvement of senior officials of the National Civilian 
        Police in the murder of three Salvadoran parliamentarians and their 
        driver, and the subsequent killing of four of the police officers while 
        in custody underscored the need to purge and strengthen law enforcement 
        and judicial institutions in Guatemala;
Whereas high-level officials of the Government of Guatemala have acknowledged 
        the infiltration of organized criminal networks into the state apparatus 
        and the difficulty of combating these networks when they are deeply 
        entrenched in public institutions;
Whereas, in its 2006 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Guatemala, the 
        Department of State noted that police corruption was a serious problem 
        in Guatemala and that there were credible allegations of involvement by 
        individual police officers in criminal activity, including rapes, 
        killings, and kidnappings;
Whereas, in its most recent report on Guatemala, the United Nations High 
        Commissioner for Human Rights notes that impunity continues to undermine 
        the credibility of the justice system in Guatemala and that the justice 
        system is still too weak to confront organized crime and its powerful 
        structures; and
Whereas, the Government of Guatemala and the United Nations signed an agreement 
        on December 12, 2006, to establish the International Commission against 
        Impunity in Guatemala (Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad en 
        Guatemala--CICIG), to assist local authorities in investigating and 
        dismantling the illegal security groups and clandestine organizations 
        that continue to operate in Guatemala: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the Senate that the International 
        Commission against Impunity in Guatemala is an innovative 
        mechanism to support local efforts to confront the entrenched 
        and dangerous problem posed by illegal armed groups and 
        clandestine security organizations in Guatemala and their 
        infiltration into state institutions;
            (2) the Senate commends the Government of Guatemala, local 
        civil society organizations, and the United Nations for such a 
        creative effort;
            (3) the Senate encourages the Guatemalan Congress to enact 
        necessary legislation required to implement the International 
        Commission against Impunity in Guatemala and other pending 
        legislation needed to fulfill the 1996 peace agreement;
            (4) the Senate calls on the Government of Guatemala and all 
        sectors of society in Guatemala to unreservedly support the 
        investigation and prosecution of illegal armed groups and 
        clandestine security organizations; and
            (5) the Senate reiterates its commitment to support the 
        Government of Guatemala in its efforts to strengthen the rule 
        of law in that country, including the dismantling of the 
        clandestine groups, the purging of the police and judicial 
        institutions, and the implementation of key justice and police 
        reforms.
                                 <all>