ECPAT Guatemala’s work focuses on child protection and the prevention of commercial sexual exploitation of children through training sessions for officials and organisations involved in combating CSEC; coordinating programmes that provide direct care to child victims of CSE; researching and developing literature and other materials on the subject; technical consulting; promoting public policies on social and organisational protection; and lobbying for legal reforms to help children and young people who are victims of CSE.
Contact: Dra. Maria Eugenia Villarreal
Phone: (+502) 2254-7916, 2254-8689
Address: 11 avenida 10-67 zona 2, Ciudad Nueva Ciudad de Guatemala Guatemala, C.A. 01002
Email: info@ecpatguatemala.org
Website: https://ecpat.org.gt
Reportedly, in Guatemala children belonging to ethnic minorities and indigenous groups are more vulnerable to SEC.
The production and dissemination of child sexual abuse material has been reported in the regions of Huehuetenango, Jutiapa, Retalhuleu and Guatemala City, among others. Often child victims are recruited as masseurs or masseuses through advertisements in newspapers.
Year: 2022
Year: 2022
Year: 2022
Year: 2022
Year: 2020
Year: 2014
Partial
Age of sexual consent is 16. The national legislation does not provide for a close-in-age exemption.
Analysis of country legislation on age of sexual consent, 2024
No
Active extraterritoriality is provided in the case of a Guatemalan national whose extradition to another country has been denied. No information is provided on specific provisions with relation to SEC crimes or the applicability of the double criminality requirement.
No detailed information is provided with regards to extradition for SEC-related crimes or on the double criminality principle in extradition cases.
SECTT Legal Checklist Guatemala, 2020
Partial
The national legislation provide a definition of CSAM which is partially in line with international standards, as it does not cover material depicting a person appearing to be a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Law against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons Decree Number 9-2009, 2018
Yes
There is a mandatory provision for criminal background check for people to work with minors, in permanent or personal activities.
Decree Number 22-2017 Law on Genetic Data Bank for forensic use, 2017
Partial
Guatemala has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.
Guatemala has not ratified the OPIC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics nor the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.
SECTT Legal Checklist Guatemala, 2020
No
There is no Child Advocacy Center in Guatemala. While two organisations, Asociación La Alianza and Asociación Refugio de la Niñez, support children and adolescents in their processes of protection and criminal prosecution of offenders, they do not enable for cooperation between law enforcement, criminal justice and child protection services.
ECPAT Guatemala, 2021
Partial
There is a Specialised Unit against Trafficking in Persons of the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the National Civil Police, which investigates, among other things, the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. They are also part of the Immediate Response Team. There is no unit dedicated to all types of SEC.
UNODC, 2020
Partial
Guatemala has implemented a national code for child protection in travel and tourism as a non-binding requirement for industry operators.
SECTT Legal Checklist Guatemala, 2020
No
Data on SEC cases is not publicly available. Data on SEC cases is available through a request to the Public Prosecutor’s Office however a specific reason for accessing the information is needed.
