the country’s departments. However, the Court determined that, from the information provided,
it was not clear whether this had been done in the remaining departments of Guatemala. In
particular, it established that, in 2010, the Supreme Court of Justice approved the creation of
“courts and tribunals for femicide and other forms of violence against women” in the
departments of Guatemala, Chiquimula and Quetzaltenango. Subsequently, in 2012, it approved
the creation of another two specialized courts and tribunals in the departments of
Huehuetenango and Alta Verapaz. However, there is no evidence that specialized courts were
created in the other 17 departments of Guatemala.338
257. In this case, the State has advised that it “has” a Special Prosecutor’s Office for Women’s
Affairs, responsible for criminal prosecution of domestic violence and violence against women, as
well as 12 special prosecutors in seven departments who exclusively examine crimes of
femicide.339 Nevertheless, the Court has no information on the possible creation of the Office of
the Prosecutor for Crimes against the Life and Physical Integrity of Women mentioned in articles
14 and 23 of the Law against Femicide, and the information provided fails to reveal whether the
jurisdictional organs mentioned by the State (supra paras. 251 and 256) were established in
compliance with the provisions of articles 15 and 22 of this law; in other words, in all the
departments of Guatemala. Consequently, and taking into account the provisions of the Law
against Femicide, the Court finds it pertinent to again require the State, within a reasonable
time, to ensure the full functioning of the “specialized jurisdictional organs” throughout the
Republic of Guatemala, and also the special prosecutors’ offices.
258. Lastly, and third, even though, in this case, the State has referred to training on
prevention and eradication of violence against women presumably provided by the Judiciary, 340
the Legislature, the Ministry of the Interior,341 the National Civil Police (PNC),342 the Public
Prosecution Service, and the Presidential Human Rights Commission (COPREDEH),343 it failed to
Cf. Case of Veliz Franco et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 269 and footnote 354.
According to the State, the specialized agencies are located as follows: Agencies 6 and 7 for Crimes against
Life, in Guatemala City, Villa Nueva Municipal Prosecutor’s Office, Mixco Municipal Prosecutor’s Office, Chiquimula
Departmental Prosecutor’s Office, Quetzaltenango Departmental Prosecutor’s Office, Coatepeque Departmental
Prosecutor’s Office, Huehuetenango Departmental Prosecutor’s Office, Santa Catarina Pinula Municipal Prosecutor’s
Office, Chimaltenango District Prosecutor’s Office, Escuintla District Prosecutor’s Office and Cobán District Prosecutor’s
Office.
340
The State indicated that the Supreme Court of Justice had facilitated the created of various courts, as well as
units to train judges on the issue of sexual violence against women and girls. This training was aimed at ensuring that
the services offered by the Judiciary were provided efficiently, in complete compliance with the law and without any hint
of discrimination. Specifically, the State referred to the Judiciary’s Unit for Women’s Affairs and Gender Analysis created
to train and provide advisory services on the issue to the judges, legal assistants and administrative personnel of this
entity, and to prosecute and punish crimes of domestic violence and violence against women. This Unit had supposedly
implemented the following diploma training courses on gender: “Semi-virtual diploma on upgrading and specialization in
relation to femicide and other forms of violence against women within the framework of human rights”; Semi-virtual
diploma on social work relating to justice, human rights and gender,” and program on “Gender mainstreaming and
normative analysis in the Judiciary on violence against women.”
341
In October 2013, the Ministry of the Interior established the Special Committee on the issue of violence against
women and offered a diploma course on “Gender equality, citizenship, security, and public policies; methodological
contributions towards the work of the State.”
342
According to the State, PNC female staff have been given training on the laws in force in the country that
protect them within and outside the institution. From 2012 to 2014, the PNC Gender Equality Department organized 82
workshops for 3,521 members of the institution on the Law against Femicide and other forms of violence against
women, who also received training to improve the quality of attention to women victims and survivors of violence. From
2012 to 2014 also, the Sub-General Directorate for the Prevention of Crime organized 49 workshops on PNC actions
when dealing with violence against women, and trained a total of 10,931 women and 11,647 men from civil society. In
2014, the members of the Committee for the Prevention of Crime in 13 departments, 115 municipalities and 280
communities were trained in their own language on issues relating to: public safety; public participation, participative
planning, the process for filing complaints, violence against women, domestic violence, rights of the indigenous peoples,
and gender equality and equity.
343
It implemented diploma courses for employees and public officials from the Executive and other institutions on
the issue of violence against women, including: in 2015, “The human rights and citizenship of indigenous women,” with
338
339
84