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124-755: In 1978, in the face of civil war , the Guatemalan government proceeded with its economic development program, including the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam . Financed in large part by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank , the Chixoy Dam was built in Rabinal , a region of the department of Baja Verapaz historically populated by the Maya Achi . To complete construction,

248-405: A 22% risk of falling into civil war in a given five-year period, while a country with no primary commodity exports has a 1% risk. When disaggregated, only petroleum and non-petroleum groupings showed different results: a country with relatively low levels of dependence on petroleum exports is at slightly less risk, while a high level of dependence on oil as an export results in slightly more risk of

372-703: A State. (b) That the insurgent civil authority exercises de facto authority over the population within a determinate portion of the national territory. (c) That the armed forces act under the direction of an organized authority and are prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war. (d) That the insurgent civil authority agrees to be bound by the provisions of the Convention. According to a 2017 review study of civil war research, there are three prominent explanations for civil war: greed-based explanations which center on individuals' desire to maximize their profits, grievance-based explanations which center on conflict as

496-506: A civil war rises approximately proportionately with the size of a country's population. There is a correlation between poverty and civil war, but the causality (which causes the other) is unclear. Some studies have found that in regions with lower income per capita, the likelihood of civil war is greater. Economists Simeon Djankov and Marta Reynal-Querol argue that the correlation is spurious, and that lower income and heightened conflict are instead products of other phenomena. In contrast,

620-419: A civil war than national dependence on another primary commodity. The authors of the study interpreted this as being the result of the ease by which primary commodities may be extorted or captured compared to other forms of wealth; for example, it is easy to capture and control the output of a gold mine or oil field compared to a sector of garment manufacturing or hospitality services. A second source of finance

744-472: A common authority at the outset of the hostilities." The intensity at which a civil disturbance becomes a civil war is contested by academics. Some political scientists define a civil war as having more than 1,000 casualties, while others further specify that at least 100 must come from each side. The Correlates of War , a dataset widely used by scholars of conflict, classifies civil wars as having over 1000 war-related casualties per year of conflict. This rate

868-411: A decade of promoting housing rights throughout the world, COHRE learnt that there is no single methodology that can address the wide range of processes undermining the right to adequate housing. This is because the problem of housing rights is simply too pervasive, the causes too diverse, for blueprint responses or methodologies to be effective . For example, a particular housing rights violation, such as

992-429: A few guerrillas". Thus, they proceeded to torture and kill unarmed victims. A few hung from the trees, others were killed by machetes and others were shot. "A child like the one I carry now [said one survivor carrying an infant at the time of the interview] was carried by the hair and threw once and again against the stones". In a trench they put the corpses. "One who was still agonizing was left there as firewood; some over

1116-516: A formal excuse from President Alfonso Portillo on behalf of the state. In 1998, sixteen years after the Río Negro Massacres, three former civil patrollers were convicted of three of the murders. At a second trial in 1999, the three were sentenced to 50 years imprisonment. Cases against 45 other civil patrollers are still open, but no charges have been brought. Nor have any military officials who planned, ordered, or participated in

1240-523: A gunshot" . Months after the slaughter of March 13, 1982, the INDE began to fill the reservoir. As a declarant said: "After the slaughter, people left and the place began to fill with water, as simple as that". After the 1983 amnesty, the survivors came down from the mountain. After going through Coban, they dispersed throughout Guatemala. Some went to Escuintla, Retalhuleu and elsewhere in Guatemala, while

1364-441: A mass forced eviction, could be the result of a locally administered development project that has been initiated by the national government, in the context of an externally enforced financial restructuring programme, and funded by international donor organisations. It could be caused by a combination of rapid urbanisation, pervasive tenure insecurity, and political conflict. It might be the consequence of inadequate legal protection for

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1488-775: A petition was filed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Rio Negro Massacre, and it is in the admissibility stage. Meanwhile, the government has sought to deal with the petitioners and victims of over 100 complaints filed against Guatemala in the IACHR, in some cases negotiating resettlement and compensation agreements. These, however, have often been conducted under the threat of violence or massacre and have largely been aborted, halted, or reneged after agreement had been reached. Even when “paid” on paper, remediation has often failed to reach

1612-626: A response to socioeconomic or political injustice, and opportunity-based explanations which center on factors that make it easier to engage in violent mobilization. According to the study, the most influential explanation for civil war onset is the opportunity-based explanation by James Fearon and David Laitin in their 2003 American Political Science Review article. Scholars investigating the cause of civil war are attracted by two opposing theories, greed versus grievance . Roughly stated: are conflicts caused by differences of ethnicity, religion or other social affiliation , or do conflicts begin because it

1736-459: A scholar of civil wars at Stanford University , defines a civil war as "a violent conflict within a country fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a region, or to change government policies". Ann Hironaka further specifies that one side of a civil war is the state . Stathis Kalyvas defines civil war as "armed combat taking place within the boundaries of a recognized sovereign entity between parties that are subject to

1860-445: A standardized avenue to influence government and increase the commitment credibility of established peace treaties. It is the strength of a nation's institutionalization and good governance—not the presence of democracy nor the poverty level—that is the number one indicator of the chance of a repeat civil war, according to Walter. High levels of population dispersion and, to a lesser extent, the presence of mountainous terrain, increased

1984-460: A stronger emphasis should be put on personal data and human perspective of the people in conflict. Beyond Keen, several other authors have introduced works that either disprove greed vs. grievance theory with empirical data, or dismiss its ultimate conclusion. Authors such as Cristina Bodea and Ibrahim Elbadawi, who co-wrote the entry, "Riots, coups and civil war: Revisiting the greed and grievance debate", argue that empirical data can disprove many of

2108-522: A study by Alex Braithwaite and colleagues showed systematic evidence of "a causal arrow running from poverty to conflict". While there is a supposed negative correlation between absolute welfare levels and the probability of civil war outbreak, relative deprivation may actually be a more pertinent possible cause. Historically, higher inequality levels led to higher civil war probability. Since colonial rule or population size are known to increase civil war risk, also, one may conclude that "the discontent of

2232-480: A suitcase and went to the mountains. We remain stranded and without spirit since that day". A group of survivors took refuge in the community Los Encuentros (located where the rivers come together with Salamá Chixoy). This community was attacked with grenades by the Army on May 14, 1982, killing of 79 peasants, event during which 15 women disappeared. All the houses were burnt. Other survivors of Río Negro headed towards

2356-609: A vital contribution to make, without which most housing-related projects simply will not succeed. In housing rights or eviction cases where COHRE became directly involved, COHRE therefore strived to build alliances and partnerships and to embark on joint campaigns with groups and support organisations working at community level. Working at community level is often not sufficient in itself. As national, regional and international action can be very effective in cases of major housing rights violations, COHRE also formed partnerships with organisations working at these broader levels. Another tool

2480-663: Is a small fraction of the millions killed in the Second Sudanese Civil War and Cambodian Civil War , for example, but excludes several highly publicized conflicts, such as The Troubles of Northern Ireland and the struggle of the African National Congress in Apartheid -era South Africa . Based on the 1,000-casualties-per-year criterion, there were 213 civil wars from 1816 to 1997, 104 of which occurred from 1944 to 1997. If one uses

2604-596: Is an important tool to support national struggles addressing housing rights violations. In many instances, decisions issued at the United Nations level or by regional human rights mechanisms play an important role in changing a government policy or legislation, while also providing crucial support to groups and communities fighting forced evictions and other housing rights violations. With its International Secretariat in Geneva , COHRE regularly provides direct access to

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2728-639: Is attributable to the international organizations under international law; and (b) constitutes a breach of an international obligation." Despite Guatemala's human rights advances, in 2005 the UN Committee on Human Rights continued to be concerned about the persisting discrimination against indigenous peoples such as the Maya Achi, with regard to access to, inter alia , land ownership, work, education, health services and adequate nutrition and housing. The Commission for Historical Clarification promoted by

2852-649: Is in the economic best interests of individuals and groups to start them? Scholarly analysis supports the conclusion that economic and structural factors are more important than those of identity in predicting occurrences of civil war. A comprehensive study of civil war was carried out by a team from the World Bank in the early 21st century. The study framework, which came to be called the Collier–Hoeffler Model, examined 78 five-year increments when civil war occurred from 1960 to 1999, as well as 1,167 five-year increments of "no civil war" for comparison, and subjected

2976-400: Is national diasporas , which can fund rebellions and insurgencies from abroad. The study found that statistically switching the size of a country's diaspora from the smallest found in the study to the largest resulted in a sixfold increase in the chance of a civil war. Higher male secondary school enrollment, per capita income and economic growth rate all had significant effects on reducing

3100-497: Is not usable nothing, or for grazing our animals". The INDE has not yet complied with the commitment to provide equal or better land to the homeless. Nor has legalized ownership of the land where the settlements of displaced communities. Today in Río Negro live a total of twelve families, all in extreme poverty. Moreover, the inhabitants of Xococ still considered as guerrillas to the survivors of Río Negro, while they latter consider

3224-404: Is not. The study therefore concluded that the economic model of opportunity cost better explained the findings. Most proxies for "grievance"—the theory that civil wars begin because of issues of identity, rather than economics—were statistically insignificant, including economic equality, political rights, ethnic polarization and religious fractionalization. Only ethnic dominance, the case where

3348-695: Is provided in the text of the Conventions. Nevertheless, the International Committee of the Red Cross has sought to provide some clarification through its commentaries on the Geneva Conventions , noting that the Conventions are "so general, so vague, that many of the delegations feared that it might be taken to cover any act committed by force of arms". Accordingly, the commentaries provide for different 'conditions' on which

3472-1136: Is still unclear whether the Bank can be held liable. As COHRE cites, the accountability of the States making up the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank is supported by the International Law Commission (ILC) of the UN General Assembly , which has indicated in Article 1 of the provisionally adopted Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations that States may be responsible for internationally wrongful acts of international organizations. Article 3 adds, inter alia, that an internationally wrongful act has occurred "when conduct consisting of an action or omission: (a)

3596-409: Is sustained, organized and large-scale. Civil wars may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources. Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted on average just over four years, a dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half-year average of the 1900–1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century,

3720-441: Is the collection of relevant, accurate information. COHRE regularly sends multi-disciplinary fact-finding teams to key focus countries. They typically conduct in-loco investigations, conduct interviews with the main role players, study relevant laws, policies and programmes and do any additional research required for an assessment of the nature and scope of land and housing rights violations in a particular situation. This would provide

3844-587: Is to ensure the full enjoyment of the human right to adequate housing for everyone, everywhere, including preventing forced evictions of persons, families and communities from their homes or lands. COHRE ceased operations in early 2012. COHRE had been granted Special Consultative Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC, 1999), and the Organisation of American States (OAS, 2002), and had participatory status with

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3968-613: The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against both Guatemala and the States composing the directorial boards of the banks involved in the Chixoy Dam project. One argument presented in the petition suggests these States cannot ignore or violate their human rights obligations simply by using banks as agents. A second argument posited by

4092-550: The Coordinating Committee of Communities Affected by the Construction of the Chixoy Dam (COCAHICH). Since its creation, COCAHICH has been quite effective at spreading its story and commissioning investigations, and somewhat less effective at bringing about legal action and just compensation. By organizing a peaceful mass demonstration outside Chixoy Dam in 2004, the communities were finally able to pressure

4216-606: The Council of Europe (CoE, 2003) as well as Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHRP, 2003). Through three regional programmes covering Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, COHRE had joined forces with partners non-governmental organisations ( NGOs ), communities and committed professionals, in pursuit of the goal of housing rights for everyone, everywhere. During more than

4340-690: The Salvadoran Civil War , Wood finds that traditional explanations of greed and grievance are not sufficient to explain the emergence of that insurgent movement. Instead, she argues that "emotional engagements" and "moral commitments" are the main reasons why thousand of civilians, most of them from poor and rural backgrounds, joined or supported the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front , despite individually facing both high risks and virtually no foreseeable gains. Wood also attributes participation in

4464-695: The United States and carried out work through three Regional Programmes covering Africa, Asia and the Americas as well as five Thematice Programmes covering economic, social and cultural rights strategic litigation; women and housing rights; forced evictions; housing and land restitution; and the rights to water and sanitation. As of the end of 2011, COHRE maintained registered offices in the Asia-Pacific region ( Cambodia ) and Africa ( Kenya ). These remaining offices coordinated regional and local activities in pursuit of COHRE’s mission. COHRE’s mission

4588-543: The ethno-linguistic fractionalization index (ELF) used by Fearon, Laitin and other political scientists is flawed. ELF, Cederman states, measures diversity on a country's population-wide level and makes no attempt to determine the number of ethnic groups in relation to what role they play in the power of the state and its military. Cederman believes it makes little sense to test hypotheses relating national ethnic diversity to civil war outbreak without any explicit reference to how many different ethnic groups actually hold power in

4712-639: The poor . Again, it might be the result of preparations to host a mega-event such as a world cup tournament or the Olympic Games . COHRE developed and tested a range of tools, to be used in different combinations and at different levels, as each particular situation demands. These include: COHRE’s work was based on the assumption that the role of the affected communities is of crucial importance in addressing housing rights violations. The poor themselves should be directly involved in formulating and implementing solutions and alternatives. Communities have

4836-531: The 1815 Congress of Vienna as the United Kingdom , Habsburg Austria , Prussia , France , and Russia ) would frequently coordinate interventions in other nations' civil wars, nearly always on the side of the incumbent government. Given the military strength of the Great Powers, these interventions nearly always proved decisive and quickly ended the civil wars. There were several exceptions from

4960-427: The 19th century and in the early 20th century tended to be short; civil wars between 1900 and 1944 lasted on average one and a half years. The state itself formed the obvious center of authority in the majority of cases, and the civil wars were thus fought for control of the state. This meant that whoever had control of the capital and the military could normally crush resistance. A rebellion which failed to quickly seize

5084-478: The Army began visiting the community of Río Negro. Often the houses were searched, and people were questioned about the gun that the soldier had left on May 5 when he fled. In 1981 started the selective disappearance of the community leaders. Given these circumstances, and in order to avoid the repression of the army, community representatives went to the military zone of Coban and the military detachment of Rabinal to apologize by w hat happened on May 5. The reaction of

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5208-675: The Government declared the area in national emergency due to the flood caused by the building of the dam. The INDE pledged to find and deliver to the displaced equal or better lands than those that would be flooded. The community of Río Negro did not accept the proposals of the State. The authorities tried to settle residents of Río Negro in Pacux, an arid place, and houses that broke its scheme cultural life. The peasants resisted leaving their lands. A person who gave testimony said that Río Negro "was

5332-553: The Guatemalan government into forming a Damages Verification Commission. The World Bank accepted an invitation to join the Commission shortly thereafter, and the Inter-American Development Bank has considered doing the same. In addition, the Guatemalan press in 2004 issued a public apology for its false and prejudicial coverage against the COCAHICH, a first step toward a broader apology by the Guatemalan government. Also in 2004,

5456-484: The London School of Economics is one of the major critics of greed vs. grievance theory, defined primarily by Paul Collier, and argues the point that a conflict, although he cannot define it, cannot be pinpointed to simply one motive. He believes that conflicts are much more complex and thus should not be analyzed through simplified methods. He disagrees with the quantitative research methods of Collier and believes

5580-466: The Maya Classic period (330 BC to 900 years AD) by indigenous people, and there were several religious ceremony places. The INDE noted the existence of 50 religious ceremony ancestral sites distributed throughout the valley, on the terraces bordering the river, that would be flooded. The construction of the dam was imminent. A survivor said that INDE explained the situation to the representatives of

5704-690: The Peasant Unity Committee (CUC) taught literacy and human rights, supported and advised residents of Río Negro in their lawsuits against INDE. In 1979 the Guerrilla Army of the Poor arrived at Río Negro, held meetings with community leaders associated with CUC and spoke of revolution. A person who gave testimony says: "They said it was a struggle to make the Government leave and the Army leave, and that we must fight with machetes, with hot water, and that we were going to get farms if we did

5828-606: The Petition asserts that the World Bank, as a specialized agency, may be legally bound to uphold the principles of the UN Charter , including respect and preservation of human rights. However, the Bank's charter claims legal immunity for itself and its employees. COHRE argues that such immunity is only for acts within the scope of the World Banks' operations, and human rights violations clearly lie outside of that scope. It

5952-474: The Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. Most modern civil wars involve intervention by outside powers. According to Patrick M. Regan in his book Civil Wars and Foreign Powers (2000) about two thirds of the 138 intrastate conflicts between the end of World War II and 2000 saw international intervention. A civil war is often a high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces , that

6076-725: The United Nations for groups in the developing world to conduct specific advocacy and lobbying, get concrete decisions and recommendations helping them in their struggle, learn about the UN human rights machinery and get crucial contacts and supports for their case. COHRE also arranges petitions and presentations to regional bodies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights . COHRE engaged in extensive training programmes with grassroots groups, NGOs , government officials, lawyers and judges. Training programmes are tailored to meet

6200-520: The United Nations released its report in 1999. In its Annex 1 ((Illustrative cases), chapter Number 10 is called "Massacre and Elimination of the Community of Río Negro, Guatemala". This part is only available in Spanish, so here is an unofficial translation from that part of the report. Full report in Spanish I. Background: The Pueblo Viejo-Quixal hydroelectric project and resistance from members of

6324-582: The application of the Geneva Convention would depend; the commentary, however, points out that these should not be interpreted as rigid conditions. The conditions listed by the ICRC in its commentary are as follows: (1) That the Party in revolt against the de jure Government possesses an organized military force, an authority responsible for its acts, acting within a determinate territory and having

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6448-399: The basis for drawing up recommendations and alternatives. These missions are usually conducted at the request of, and in collaboration with, local partners. COHRE used the draft fact-finding reports as tools for consultation and negotiations with key role-players, including governments. This strategy has proven effective in convincing government to grapple with the extent of the violations and

6572-493: The basis of shadow reports for submission before UN human rights mechanisms and other regional and international bodies. COHRE supported local groups and support organisations to mobilise and campaign against housing rights violations by issuing formal letters of protest to governments, presenting submissions to government missions, launching joint action campaigns, and exerting public pressure through media exposure. In cases of extreme and sustained violations, without any attempt by

6696-490: The capital and control of the military for itself normally found itself doomed to rapid destruction. For example, the fighting associated with the 1871 Paris Commune occurred almost entirely in Paris , and ended quickly once the military sided with the government at Versailles and conquered Paris. The power of non-state actors resulted in a lower value placed on sovereignty in the 18th and 19th centuries, which further reduced

6820-404: The cases, though, have been resolved, and financial compensation has been paid to the families of a number of individuals who disappeared or suffered summary execution . In a comparable case in 2000, families who survived the 1982 Las Dos Erres Massacre were awarded a total of 1.82 million US$ in compensation (Summary record of the 1940th meeting: Guatemala. 10/08/2001. CCPR/C/SR.1940.) along with

6944-456: The chance of civil war. Specifically, a male secondary school enrollment 10% above the average reduced the chance of a conflict by about 3%, while a growth rate 1% higher than the study average resulted in a decline in the chance of a civil war of about 1%. The study interpreted these three factors as proxies for earnings forgone by rebellion, and therefore that lower forgone earnings encourage rebellion. Phrased another way: young males (who make up

7068-445: The chance of conflict. Both of these factors favor rebels, as a population dispersed outward toward the borders is harder to control than one concentrated in a central region, while mountains offer terrain where rebels can seek sanctuary. Rough terrain was highlighted as one of the more important factors in a 2006 systematic review. The various factors contributing to the risk of civil war rise increase with population size. The risk of

7192-474: The civil war to the value that insurgents assigned to changing social relations in El Salvador , an experience she defines as the "pleasure of agency". Ann Hironaka , author of Neverending Wars , divides the modern history of civil wars into the pre-19th century, 19th century to early 20th century, and late 20th century. In 19th-century Europe, the length of civil wars fell significantly, largely due to

7316-433: The colonized, caused by the creation of borders across tribal lines and bad treatment by the colonizers" is one important cause of civil conflicts. The more time that has elapsed since the last civil war, the less likely it is that a conflict will recur. The study had two possible explanations for this: one opportunity-based and the other grievance-based. The elapsed time may represent the depreciation of whatever capital

7440-406: The community of Agua Fria, across the river Chixoy in the department of Quiche. On September 14, 1982, soldiers and patrols from Xococ village came to this community, proceeding to gather all people in one of the houses. Under the charge of supplying the guerrillas with materials, they fired from outside the house and then they set it on fire. As a result of this action 92 people were killed, including

7564-403: The community of Río Negro to be evicted from their land The community of Río Negro, settled on the banks of the river Chixoy, in the town of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz department, lived on agriculture, fishing and the exchange of goods with the neighboring community of Xococ. In the 1970s, Río Negro had a population of about 800 people, all indigenous Achís. The lives of the people of Río Negro, and

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7688-552: The concept of housing as a human right , the importance of allowing affected communities to participate directly in their programmes, and lessons from international best practice. Judges were introduced to the provisions and importance of international law. The different groups were also brought together to exchange ideas and to develop joint strategies. COHRE promotes policy and legislative reform at national, regional and international level, to ensure that housing rights and delivery frameworks and legal instruments are improved where it

7812-514: The conduct of internal conflicts". James Fearon and David Laitin find that ethnic and religious diversity does not make civil war more likely. They instead find that factors that make it easier for rebels to recruit foot soldiers and sustain insurgencies, such as "poverty—which marks financially & bureaucratically weak states and also favors rebel recruitment—political instability, rough terrain, and large populations" make civil wars more likely. Such research finds that civil wars happen because

7936-695: The country average”, going against the opportunity-based explanation for civil war outbreak. Michael Bleaney, Professor of International Economics at the University of Nottingham , published a 2009 paper titled Incidence, Onset and Duration of Civil Wars: A Review of the Evidence , which tested numerous variables for their relationship to civil war outbreak with different datasets, including that utilized by Fearon and Laitin. Bleaney concluded that neither ethnoreligious diversity, as measured by fractionalization, nor another variable, ethnic polarization, defined as

8060-507: The country avoided ethnic dominance. The study interpreted this as stating that minority groups are more likely to rebel if they feel that they are being dominated, but that rebellions are more likely to occur the more homogeneous the population and thus more cohesive the rebels. These two factors may thus be seen as mitigating each other in many cases. David Keen, a professor at the Development Studies Institute at

8184-432: The data set to regression analysis to see the effect of various factors. The factors that were shown to have a statistically significant effect on the chance that a civil war would occur in any given five-year period were: A high proportion of primary commodities in national exports significantly increases the risk of a conflict. A country at "peak danger", with commodities comprising 32% of gross domestic product , has

8308-556: The dining rooms of the dam workers. They were pursued by two soldiers and an officer of the Policia Militar Ambulante (PMA). Upon arrival at Río Negro, the two residents began shouting that they were pursuing the military. The soldiers were rounded up and taken to the church. A community member, who was drunk, struck the officer of the PMA, who, in his eagerness to defend himself, shot and killed seven people. Immediately,

8432-455: The elderly, children and women. The remaining people who could escape these massacres fled to the mountains, where, with advice from ESP, lived in groups who were traveling from one side to another to avoid being detected by the Army. They maintained continuous surveillance to avoid being surprised by the PACs and soldiers. The Army destroyed all milpas and crops they found. A person who lived in

8556-628: The event that domestic courts fail to provide an adequate remedy, and capacity-building training and workshops for judges, lawyers and other human rights advocates. In 2009, COHRE lead two cases before the European Committee of Social Rights : No. 52/2008 against Croatia and No. 58/2009 against Italy. The strategic litigation work that COHRE once undertook was continued by the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Action at regional and international levels

8680-456: The existence, in three graves, skeletons of 143, 85 of which belonged to children, and the rest to women. III. The subsequent events: more massacres, displacement and resettlement On the day after the slaughter, a person who had been hiding in the bush, returned to the community to look for his wife and children: "I was crying myself, brought sheets because I thought my kids were thrown somewhere. I just saw blood, bullets. We came back and took

8804-422: The extent to which individuals in a population are distributed across different ethnic groups, were "a sufficient measure of diversity as it affects the probability of conflict." In a state torn by civil war, the contesting powers often do not have the ability to commit or the trust to believe in the other side's commitment to put an end to war. When considering a peace agreement, the involved parties are aware of

8928-475: The farmers reacted with stones and machetes and killed the agent. One of the soldiers, seeing the reaction of the crowd and his companion dying, left the gun and fled. The other soldier was withheld for a while, and was later freed. The next day the Army commented on the fact saying that the community had influence from the guerrillas and that was the factor that explained their refusal to leave their lands. The military claimed in their Press bulletin: "For some time

9052-534: The former murderers. On August 23, 1993, four members of the community, with the advice of the Mutual Support Group (GAM), reported the facts filed in court. On July 25, 1994, were arrested three members of the Civil Patrols who participated in the slaughter of March 13 and was raised indictment against him. The diligence of exhumation was conducted on 7 October the same year. On May 27, 1996,

9176-408: The general rule of quick civil wars during this period. The American Civil War (1861–1865) was unusual for at least two reasons: it was fought around regional identities as well as political ideologies, and it ended through a war of attrition , rather than with a decisive battle over control of the capital, as was the norm. The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) proved exceptional because both sides in

9300-561: The geographical distribution of ethnic groups within countries, as this can affect their access to regional resources and commodities, which in turn can lead to conflict. A third theme explored by Cederman is that ethnolinguistic fractionalization does not quantify the extent to which there is pre-existing economic inequality between ethnic groups within countries. In a 2011 article, Cederman and fellow researchers describe finding that “in highly unequal societies, both rich and poor groups fight more often than those groups whose wealth lies closer to

9424-474: The government undertook voluntary and forcible relocations of dam-affected communities from the fertile agricultural valleys to the much harsher surrounding highlands. When hundreds of residents refused to relocate, or returned after finding the conditions of resettlement villages were not what the government had promised, these men, women, and children were kidnapped, raped, and massacred by paramilitary and military officials. More than 440 Maya Achi were killed in

9548-486: The governments concerned to take remedial steps, COHRE would consider including the country concerned in the list of housing rights violators as part of its Housing Rights Violator, Protector and Defender Awards, announced at the end of every year until 2008. This tool had proven remarkably effective in naming and shaming perpetrators of the worst housing rights violations, while at the same time highlighting positive efforts by governments and individuals to promote and protect

9672-547: The guerrilla and of burning their market. The inhabitants of Rio Negro replied that the market was a benefit for them and that they had no reason to burn it. However, to avoid worsening the situation, the persons from Rio Negro promised to build a new market in Xococ. Finally, the patrollers retained their identity cards and ordered them to report back to Xococ the following week to recover them. On February 13, 1982, 74 people from Río Negro(55 men and 19 women) went to Xococ to recover

9796-476: The guerrillas, residents of Xococ broke trade relations with Río Negro and declared them their enemies. Says an inhabitant of Xococ: "When the war began, friendship was lost" . The community of Xococ asked the Army to organize the Civil Patrols (PACs). "Father Melchor [pastor of Rabinal and expert on the situation of the villages] said that there was a pact so that the people of Xococ were to cooperate fully, in exchange of not being killed". The community of Río Negro

9920-445: The guerrillas. Then they demanded people to leave their homes to participate in a meeting. Meanwhile, soldiers and patrol had breakfast, eating food they found in the houses. When they finished eating, they looted the village. A person who witnessed the events said: "It took shovels, tools and tape recorders and stole everything that was in the houses". Then they gathered the women. They played marimba music and forced them to dance, in

10044-474: The hearing was adjourned at the trial, because the defence requested the application of the amnesty decree 32/88, which was denied by the courts. After multiple delays, on Monday November 9, 1998 began the trial that ended with the conviction, issued on November 30 by the trial court of Rabinal, which was imposed in the first instance death penalty against three former members of the CAP Xococ, accused of being

10168-701: The high incentives to withdraw once one of them has taken an action that weakens their military, political or economical power. Commitment problems may deter a lasting peace agreement as the powers in question are aware that neither of them is able to commit to their end of the bargain in the future. States are often unable to escape conflict traps (recurring civil war conflicts) due to the lack of strong political and legal institutions that motivate bargaining, settle disputes, and enforce peace settlements. Political scientist Barbara F. Walter suggests that most contemporary civil wars are actually repeats of earlier civil wars that often arise when leaders are not accountable to

10292-406: The housing rights of communities. In the past, COHRE undertook strategic litigation to enforce human rights standards, remedy past human rights violations and generate beneficial jurisprudence in the area of economic, social and cultural rights . COHRE's work in this area included legal advice for test cases at the domestic level, taking cases before international and regional judicial forums in

10416-433: The identity cards. Once there, they were executed by the patrollers. A month later, on March 13, 1982, at six o'clock, 12 members of the army patrol accompanied by 15 patrols of the Xococ village, entered the community of Río Negro. They went to every house asking for the men, but they were not in their homes because they used to spend the nights in the mountain citing security reasons. The soldiers claimed that they were with

10540-435: The implications of proceeding with current policies and practice. Once finalised, COHRE fact-finding reports are used as information resources for local human rights organisations and the affected communities; for lobbying the relevant government to introduce new policies, laws and programmes. Fact-finding reports are also useful tools at regional and international level to place pressure on the relevant governments; and to form

10664-519: The incentive to secede. The two major global ideologies, monarchism and democracy , led to several civil wars. However, a bi-polar world, divided between the two ideologies, did not develop, largely due to the dominance of monarchists through most of the period. The monarchists would thus normally intervene in other countries to stop democratic movements taking control and forming democratic governments, which were seen by monarchists as being both dangerous and unpredictable. The Great Powers (defined in

10788-727: The increasing length of those wars has resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century while there were over 20 concurrent civil wars close to the end of the Cold War . Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more. Civil wars have further resulted in economic collapse; Somalia , Burma (Myanmar), Uganda and Angola are examples of nations that were considered to have had promising futures before being engulfed in civil wars. James Fearon ,

10912-539: The insurgents recognition as belligerents for the purposes only of the present Convention; or (d) That the dispute has been admitted to the agenda of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations as being a threat to international peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression. (4) (a) That the insurgents have an organization purporting to have the characteristics of

11036-436: The intended recipients. Entitlements such as the provision of free electricity have vanished, and since they were usually made by verbal promise alone, no documentation exists by which to defend the rights. Inadequate farm and household land provided through resettlement has contributed significantly to the severe poverty and malnutrition of the region (Center for Political Ecology, Chixoy Dam Legacy Issues Study, 2005). Some of

11160-447: The largest ethnic group comprises a majority of the population, increased the risk of civil war. A country characterized by ethnic dominance has nearly twice the chance of a civil war. However, the combined effects of ethnic and religious fractionalization, i.e. the greater chance that any two randomly chosen people will be from separate ethnic or religious groups, the less chance of a civil war, were also significant and positive, as long as

11284-410: The less-stringent 1,000 casualties total criterion, there were over 90 civil wars between 1945 and 2007, with 20 ongoing civil wars as of 2007. The Geneva Conventions do not specifically define the term "civil war"; nevertheless, they do outline the responsibilities of parties in "armed conflict not of an international character". This includes civil wars; however, no specific definition of civil war

11408-434: The major European powers divested themselves of their colonies at an increasing rate: the number of ex-colonial states jumped from about 30 to almost 120 after the war. The rate of state formation leveled off in the 1980s, at which point few colonies remained. More states also meant more states in which to have long civil wars. Hironaka statistically measures the impact of the increased number of ex-colonial states as increasing

11532-857: The massacres had to face the courts (Amnesty International, “Worldwide Appeal: Guatemala: Rio Negro massacre – Update”). Also in 1999, the Guatemalan Truth Commission (Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico – CEH) issued a finding that the Río Negro Massacres constituted state-sponsored genocide under Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CEH 1999: Conclusions, Chapter II: ¶¶ 108–123). Confronted with government and financier intransigence and deleterious living conditions, 23 Maya Achi communities banded together in 1993 to create

11656-439: The means of respecting and ensuring respect for the Convention. (2) That the legal Government is obliged to have recourse to the regular military forces against insurgents organized as military and in possession of a part of the national territory. (3) (a) That the de jure Government has recognized the insurgents as belligerents; (b) That it has claimed for itself the rights of a belligerent; or (c) That it has accorded

11780-416: The military was to accuse them of guerrillas and threaten them with death. An eyewitness says that the captain told them that the peasants of Río Negro "were already trained by the guerrillas. We were told to bring weapons because if not, they were going to make ash to Río Negro". The military never found the weapons they were allegedly looking for. While this was happening at Río Negro, the community of Xococ

11904-401: The model community of the area, with the best organization, was the most prosperous in the region, and that was one of the reasons why this community was not as easy to fool as all others." In 1978 many people in the community moved their homes to bring them high land that would not be inundated by flood waters. Faced with this situation, the INDE acknowledged that "the problems that occurred in

12028-433: The mountain said: "The Army cut off all our crops, so that we starved". In the mountains they had no medical care or medicines. They ate roots like bejuco , cojoya palm, and hunted wild animals. An undetermined number of men, women and children died of forced displacement. Many stayed in the mountains for up to five years. A declarant who refused to leave the mountain, said: "I thought, here I might die from hunger but not of

12152-523: The nature of the conflicts as battles for the power center of the state, the strength of centralized governments, and the normally quick and decisive intervention by other states to support the government. Following World War II the duration of civil wars grew past the norm of the pre-19th century, largely due to weakness of the many postcolonial states and the intervention by major powers on both sides of conflict. The most obvious commonality to civil wars are that they occur in fragile states . Civil wars in

12276-462: The needs of a particular target group and context. Community groups and support organisations were assisted to understand their rights and to develop strategies to realise those rights, participation in housing rights movements and the formulation of alternatives. Lawyers were trained to be more sensitive to the needs and the role of communities, and to incorporate international legal protections into their arguments. Government officials were introduced to

12400-645: The number of civil wars. For example, the pirates of the Barbary Coast were recognized as de facto states because of their military power. The Barbary pirates thus had no need to rebel against the Ottoman Empire – their nominal state government – to gain recognition of their sovereignty. Conversely, states such as Virginia and Massachusetts in the United States of America did not have sovereign status, but had significant political and economic independence coupled with weak federal control, reducing

12524-438: The others, not in order because they were thrown in there". The pit was covered with stones and branches. Around five in the afternoon the slaughter ended and they headed towards Xococ. Eighteen surviving children were taken away by the attackers towards the community. Reports agree that 177 people – 70 women and 107 children – were killed in this action. The diligence of exhumation of corpses, practised 12 years later, established

12648-569: The people living on the riverbanks Chixoy, changed radically with the construction of the hydro-Quixal Pueblo Viejo. An inhabitant of the region recognized: "In the community before we were safe and in peace; but after the construction of the dam many problems emerged”. In 1975 the National Electrification Institute (INDE) presented the project for the construction of a hydropower dam in the river basin Chixoy to solve

12772-405: The people of the Río Negro village have become troubled by the influence of subversive elements, which have benefited from the problems of land, raised on the grounds that their land will be affected by the flooding of the Chixoy dam. This, unlike other villages which have voluntarily accepted the transfer to safer places and where they have better life expectancies". Since that incident, members of

12896-464: The perpetrators of the slaughter of Río Negro. The lawyer for the plaintiffs told the media: "The process will remain open so that the intellectual perpetrators are also brought to justice". On December 19, 1997, CEH asked the Minister of Defense about the slaughter of Río Negro, among other requests. Minister of National Defence responded on January 5, 1998, declined to comment, arguing that this case

13020-592: The post-World War II incidence of civil wars by +165% over the pre-1945 number. Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions ( COHRE ) was a Geneva -based international non-governmental organisation founded in 1994 by Scott Leckie as a foundation in the Netherlands (Stichting COHRE). At its height in 2008, COHRE maintained offices in Switzerland , Ghana , South Africa , Sri Lanka , Cambodia , Brazil and

13144-502: The problem of electricity in the country, under the auspices of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the World Bank. "The plan envisaged the flooding of more than 50 miles along the river and some tributaries, which affect nearly 3445 people from communities living on the margins". Affected communities had to be moved and resettled elsewhere. In June 1978

13268-402: The proponents of greed theory and make the idea "irrelevant". They examine a myriad of factors and conclude that too many factors come into play with conflict, which cannot be confined to simply greed or grievance. Anthony Vinci makes a strong argument that "fungible concept of power and the primary motivation of survival provide superior explanations of armed group motivation and, more broadly,

13392-402: The public, when there is poor public participation in politics, and when there is a lack of transparency of information between the executives and the public. Walter argues that when these issues are properly reversed, they act as political and legal restraints on executive power forcing the established government to better serve the people. Additionally, these political and legal restraints create

13516-460: The rate of new civil wars had not increased appreciably; the drastic rise in the number of ongoing wars after World War II was a result of the tripling of the average duration of civil wars to over four years. This increase was a result of the increased number of states, the fragility of states formed after 1945, the decline in interstate war, and the Cold War rivalry. Following World War II,

13640-485: The rebellion was fought over and thus increase the opportunity cost of restarting the conflict. Alternatively, elapsed time may represent the gradual process of healing of old hatreds. The study found that the presence of a diaspora substantially reduced the positive effect of time, as the funding from diasporas offsets the depreciation of rebellion-specific capital. Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa has argued that an important cause of intergroup conflict may be

13764-726: The relative availability of women of reproductive age. He found that polygyny greatly increased the frequency of civil wars but not interstate wars. Gleditsch et al. did not find a relationship between ethnic groups with polygyny and increased frequency of civil wars but nations having legal polygamy may have more civil wars. They argued that misogyny is a better explanation than polygyny. They found that increased women's rights were associated with fewer civil wars and that legal polygamy had no effect after women's rights were controlled for. Political scholar Elisabeth Wood from Yale University offers yet another rationale for why civilians rebel and/or support civil war. Through her studies of

13888-399: The resettlement were: a) misunderstanding of the affected population on the need for the construction of the project, b) attachment to their region and the land that had affected villagers c) the difficulty in obtaining land in the region necessary for relocations that took place ". The attachment to their region "referred to the INDE, is because the area of the river Chixoy was inhabited from

14012-417: The rest of the peasants returned to Rabinal. They were resettled in the village of Pacux, which is located behind the military detachment of Rabinal, forced to form PACs with the aim, as they said, "to prevent the recurrence of repeat attacks by the guerrillas as Río Negro occurred in ". In Pacux the living conditions are precarious and the lands are not suitable for subsistence farming. The grounds are "poor, it

14136-513: The revolution". Members of the ESP lived in the mountains and every so often visiting the community. In 1980 the hydroelectric project was still in force and the residents of Río Negro continued to resist abandoning their lands. II. The facts: the massacres and elimination of the community On March 5, 1980, two residents of Río Negro who were in Pueblo Viejo were accused of stealing beans from

14260-622: The state is weak; both authoritarian and democratic states can be stable if they have the financial and military capacity to put down rebellions. Some scholars, such as Lars-Erik Cederman of the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology , have criticized the data used by Fearon and Laitin to determine ethnic and religious diversity. In his 2007 paper Beyond Fractionalization: Mapping Ethnicity onto Nationalist Insurgencies , Cederman argues that

14384-460: The state. This suggests that ethnic, linguistic and religious cleavages can matter, depending on the extent to which the various groups have ability and influence to mobilize on either side of a forming conflict. Themes explored in Cederman's later work criticizing the use of ethnic fractionalization measures as input variables to predict civil war outbreak relate to these indices not accounting for

14508-459: The struggle received support from intervening great powers: Germany , Italy , and Portugal supported opposition leader Francisco Franco , while France and the Soviet Union supported the government (see proxy war ). In the 1990s, about twenty civil wars were occurring concurrently during an average year, a rate about ten times the historical average since the 19th century. However,

14632-437: The vast majority of combatants in civil wars) are less likely to join a rebellion if they are getting an education or have a comfortable salary, and can reasonably assume that they will prosper in the future. Low per capita income has also been proposed as a cause for grievance, prompting armed rebellion. However, for this to be true, one would expect economic inequality to also be a significant factor in rebellions, which it

14756-512: The village in the following terms: "Even if you do not want to leave, since the President signed the contract already, you can not stop the project because it has already been approved. So it will continue, and some day you will have to leave." A legal adviser to the INDE said, referring to communities: "some left willingly and others had to be forced out. Those who wanted to negotiate, fine, and for those who did not, we used force". By this time,

14880-455: The village of Río Negro alone. The string of extrajudicial killings that claimed up to 5,000 lives between 1980 and 1982 became known as the Río Negro massacres . The government officially declared the acts to be counterinsurgency activities – although local church workers, journalists and the survivors of Rio Negro deny that the town ever saw any organized guerrilla activity. In 2005,

15004-435: The words of the soldiers, as they danced with the guerrillas. A number of young women were taken apart and raped. Then, they forced the people gathered to walk about three miles up the mountain. "Throughout the walk, they beat the women a lot, they called them cows. They beat the children a lot calling them sons of guerrillas". When they got to the top of the hill Pacoxom, a member of the Army said, "right now I find it not kill

15128-407: Was also being subjected to military repression. Collective testimony given by the community to CEH shows that, between September and October 1981, members of the army executed 18 peasants who were planting peanuts. In February 1982 a group of armed men, possibly guerrillas, burned the market of Xococ, killing five persons. As a result of the fact that the Army identified the peasants of Río Negro with

15252-479: Was described as a guerrilla. The Patrol Xococ, armed, trained and guided by the Army, was confronted since then with the residents of Río Negro. The first action taken by the patrol Xococ was on February 7, 1982, on behalf of the military detachment of Rabinal. They asked some people from the community of Río Negro to come to Xococ. The head of the Patrol Xococ that received them accused them of participating in

15376-418: Was subject to judicial process in the tribunals. Civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country ). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. The term is a calque of Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of

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