Washington, DC, Guatemala City - March 9, 2017 - 31 teenage girls have perished in a so-called "safe house" outside Guatemala City, Guatemala, because they were locked in their room during a fire. The girls were protesting the sexual abuse and trafficking they were subjected to in the institution - leading to being locked in the room as punishment.
Washington, DC, Guatemala City - September 2, 2016 - The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) has issued its Concluding Observations to the State of Guatemala.
An undercover BBC investigation into conditions at a mental health institution in Guatemala has revealed patient suffering and abuse at the hands of those meant to care for them. Federico Mora Hospital has been described by campaigners as the world's most abusive and dangerous mental health institution. In 2012, Guatemala was ordered by an American Human Rights Commission to make emergency improvements to the Federico Mora Hospital to "save lives". The government promised to comply. But an undercover BBC investigation found little has changed.
October 29, 2014 - Disability Rights International (DRI) filed a case today in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) on behalf of people with disabilities detained in Guatemala's Federico Mora psychiatric institution.
DRI and activists from the Americas to testify March 25, 2014 before Inter-American Commission of the OAS on abuses of people with disabilities throughout the Americas
February 27th, 2014 – Washington, DC – A delegation of DRI staff and experts is in Guatemala this week to negotiate with the government on the implementation of an Accord to protect the rights of people with disabilities detained in the Federico Mora psychiatric hospital in Guatemala City.
March 15, 2013 -Disability Rights International (DRI), partnering with the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala City (ODHAG), visited the Federico Mora Hospital this week where we had documented life-threatening abuses against children and adults in the facility, including sexual and physical abuse. The Archbishop of Guatemala City, Oscar Julio Vian Morales visited Federico Mora at our invitation and spoke to the Guatemalan press, signaling his support for the community integration of people with disabilities.