“The proposal for a commission has the support of all the key actors in Guatemala,” said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. “Everyone is now hoping that the U.N. team of experts will find the best way to make it work.”

The role of the proposed commission is to investigate political violence committed by clandestine groups. Over the past three years, there have been an alarming number of attacks and threats against human rights defenders, academic researchers, justice officials, lawyers, witnesses, journalists, and union leaders in Guatemala. There is a widespread consensus among local and international observers that the perpetrators of these acts of violence and intimidation belong to—or are affiliated with—clandestine groups of some form.

The clandestine groups believed responsible for such acts appear to have links with both state agents and organized crime. Human Rights Watch said they pose a significant danger, not only to specific individuals and organizations, but also Guatemalan society as a whole, given their capacity to corrupt public institutions and undermine the rule of law.

In recent weeks, Guatemala has seen a wave of attacks and threats against journalists, including José Rubén Zamora and Juan Luis Font, directors of the newspaper el Periódico.