Documenting the experiences of intermediaries accompanying Mayan women survivors of gross violations of human rights

• In Event: Agravio, comunidades emocionales y justicia en Guatemala

Abstract

Survivors of sexual violence in armed conflict who are presenting their stories of gross violations of their human rights to national or international audiences and rights regimes, are most typically accompanied by intermediaries, that is, lawyers, social workers, psychologists, or feminist organizers who work as a link between them and these justice- and truth-seeking systems. Despite the ubiquitous presence of such workers, their thoughts, understandings, and socio-emotional responses to their work have seldom been studied. The research presented here draws on a grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews conducted between 2011 and 2014 with intermediaries who accompanied and advocated for 54 Maya Q’eqchi, kaqchikel, Chuj and Mam women who have self-identified as survivors of sexual violence in armed conflict. Specifically it explores the meanings intermediaries make of their experiences of accompanying Mayan women survivors as the latter repeatedly re-encounter their own stories of survival. Intermediaries include lawyers, psychologists and feminists activists – Maya and mestiza – who worked in a series of alliances to accompany 54 women survivors of sexual violence in their process of breaking silence, healing, and in their struggle for reparation, truth, and justice. The research seeks to deepen our knowledge of the complex roles of intermediaries through their own words about their work as accompaniers and to explore their contributions to the meanings survivors of sexual violence make of reparations.

Author

• Maria Gabriela Távara, Boston College & Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú