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BRITISH HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE FACES TRIAL

Joan Lombardi shares this story from the Reuters News Service (www.reuters.co.uk; January 21):

"Guatemala's new government faces its first high profile human rights case this week when a prominent British child rights activist goes on trial for defamation.  Bruce Harris, honoured for his work with Central American street children, could be handed a five-year prison sentence. The charges were brought against him by Guatemalan adoption lawyer Susan Luarca following a 1997 news conference in which Harris accused a number of lawyers of child trafficking. Human rights groups believe a conviction would set a dangerous precedent against the freedom of expression, and want the new government to speak out against the trial which is set to begin on Thursday.

"President Oscar Berger is keen to shed Guatemala's international image as a human rights violator but the government cannot be seen publicly intervening in the independence of the judiciary. Berger, a landowner and businessman, took office a week ago after four years of controversial rule by a party led by former dictator Efrain Rios Montt.  Guatemala has a poor rights image dating back to a 36-year civil war that ended in 1996. Some 200,000 people, most of them poor Maya Indians, were killed . . .

"Harris, who runs child care agency Casa Alianza in Central America and has long been an outspoken opponent of illegal adoptions, was awarded an OBE in 2000.  His organisation, a branch of the U.S. group Covenant House, cares for homeless children on the streets of Central American nations.

"With nearly 3,000 babies leaving the country last year, Guatemala has the highest per capita rate of international adoptions in the world. Attempts to implement stricter laws governing the practice have repeatedly been frustrated in Congress."

Late Development:  After two days of deliberations, the 12th Tribunal of Criminal Sentencing absolved Bruce Harris of all responsibility for the accusations of defamation, calumny and slander placed against him by Susana Luarca de Umaˆa. The judges determined, unanimously, that Bruce Harris never had the premeditated intention to slander the notary, an indispensable requirement for the crime. The judges felt that Harris demonstrated that he used his right of freedom of expression to denounce situations of public interest such as the irregularities in the international adoptions of Guatemalan babies.

Response from Harris:
"Casa Alianza will continue to investigate cases of illegal international adoptions and push for a just legislation and transparent judiciary that guarantees the human rights of the adopted children and their parents. The agency promised to continue to fight any efforts that would turn adoptions into a mercantile operation.

"I would like to thank the thousands of people around the world who can share this victory for universal human rights. So many people have written and called their elected officials, the media and the Guatemalan authorities insisting that one of the most important pillars of a democracy - freedom of expression - be respected in the country. We have all, together, taken a significant step forward towards our dream of a Guatemala based on social justice."
 

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