Guatemalan legislators should protect all families by voting against the “Integral Protection for Marriage and Family Act,” Human Rights Watch urged today in a letter to the Guatemalan Congress.

The Guatemalan authorities should promptly and thoroughly investigate the killing of José Emanuel Méndez Dardón, the son of a prominent human rights advocate, Human Rights Watch said today.

Domestic workers face a wide range of grave abuses and labor exploitation, including physical and sexual abuse, forced confinement, non-payment of wages, denial of food and health care and excessive working hours with no rest days.

Ongoing rights abuses are undermining efforts to fight the HIV pandemic and threatening the few, hard-won successes, Human Rights Watch said today, a month before the XVI International AIDS Conference opens in Toronto.

The Guatemalan government must take immediate steps to stop a pattern of deadly attacks and possible police violence against transgender women and gay men, and end impunity for these crimes, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Guatemalan President Oscar Berger.

The U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote before the end of this week on the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The House should reject the accord for falling short on workers' human rights because it does not require countries to protect women workers from discrimination or to have laws that meet international labor standards.

By recognizing the state’s role in the 1990 murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger today took an important step in promoting accountability for past human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said.

Casa Alianza executive director Bruce Harris was acquitted on January 30, in Guatemala on criminal defamation charges, in a move welcomed by Human Rights Watch. The plaintiff in the case had requested a prison sentence and a fine of U.S.$ 125,000; instead, Harris was cleared of wrongdoing.