Guatemala

Paragraph 193

Slavery as defined in the Slavery Convention of 1926 and the Supplementary Convention of 1956 on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to slavery, was abolished by the Government of the United Provinces of Central America at the dawn of the Provinces’ independence, by a Decree of the National Constituent Assembly of 24 April 1824.

Paragraph 198

The present Constitution of the Republic, which was promulgated on 15 September 1965… no person may be subjected to slavery or servitude or to any other condition which impairs his dignity or standing (article 43).

Paragraph 199

The Law on Alienage develops the foregoing principles which, as we have pointed out, have remained unchanged throughout Guatemalan constitutional history. Article 99 of this law provides that “Piracy, white slave traffic, blackbirding and the slave trades… and other offences of the same nature against international law, committed on the high seas, in the air, or in territories not yet organized in States, shall be punished by the authorities of the Republic in accordance with its criminal laws.”

Article 1: Protection of the Person:

The State of Guatemala is organized to protect the person and the family; its supreme objective is the realization of the common good.

Article 2: Duties of the State:

It is the duty of the State to guarantee to the inhabitants of the Republic the life, the freedom, the justice, the security, the peace, and the integral development of the person.

Article 4: Freedom and equality:

In Guatemala[,] all [of the] human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights. The man and the woman, whatever their civil status may be, have equal opportunities and responsibilities. No person can be subject to servitude or to another condition that diminishes his or her dignity. The human beings must exercise [guardar] brotherly behaviour among them.

Article 43. Freedom of industry, trade, and work

The freedom of industry, trade, and work is recognized, except for the limitations that due to social motives or the national interest are imposed by the law.

Article 101. Right to work

To work is a right and a social obligation of the person. The labor regime of the country must be organized in accordance with the principles of social justice.

Article 102. Minimum social rights of labor legislation

The minimum social rights that form the basis of the labor legislation and the activity of the tribunals and [the] authorities [are]:

a. The right to the free choice [elección] of work and the satisfactory economic conditions that guarantee a dignified existence for the worker and his [or her] family;

b. That all work be equitably remunerated, except with what the law determines in that regard;

d. The obligation to pay the worker in currency of legal tender. However, the field worker [trabajador de campo] can receive, by choice [a su voluntad], food products until up to thirty percent of his [or her] salary. In this case the employer will provide those products at a price no superior than their cost;

e. The freedom from lien [inembargabilidad] of the salary in the cases determined by the law. The personal work implements may not be subject to a lien for any reason. Nevertheless, for the protection of the family of the worker and by judicial order, part of the salary can be retained and delivered to the corresponding [party];

f. The periodic establishment [fijación] of the minimum salary in accordance with the law;

g. The ordinary effective workday [jornada] can neither exceed eight hours of work per day, nor forty-four hours per week, equivalent to forty-eight hours for the exclusive purpose of the payment of the salary.

The ordinary effective workday on the night shift can neither exceed six hours per day, nor thirty-six hours per week. The mixed ordinary effective workday can neither exceed seven hours per day, nor forty-two hours per week. All work effectively performed outside [of the] ordinary working hours, constitutes an extraordinary workday and must be remunerated as such. The law will determine the very qualified situations of exception where the provisions relative to the workdays are not applicable.

Those that by provision of the law, by custom or by agreement with the employers work less than forty-four hours per week during the day, thirty-six hours during the night, or forty-two hours in mixed-schedule workdays, will have the right to receive the weekly salary in its entirety.

It is understood that effective work means the entire time that the worker remains under the orders or at the disposal of the employer;

1. Minors under fourteen years of age may not be employed in any type of work, except for the exceptions established by the law. It is forbidden to employ [ocupar] minors in works that are incompatible with their physical capacity or that endanger their moral formation.

The workers older than sixty years of age will be the object of a treatment [that is] adequate to their age;

1. The State will participate in international or regional agreements and treaties relating to labor matters and which grant better protection of conditions to [the] workers.

In such cases, what is established in said agreements and treaties will be considered as part of the minimum rights enjoyed by the workers of the Republic of Guatemala.

Article 106. Irrenouncability of the labor rights

The rights consigned in this section are irrenounceable for the workers, susceptible of being exceeded [superado] through individual or collective contracting, and in the form established by the law. For this objective the State will encourage and protect collective negotiation. The stipulations that call for the renunciation, reduction, distortion [tergiversación], or limitation of the rights recognized for the workers in the Constitution, in the law, in the international treaties ratified by Guatemala, in the regulations or in [any] other provisions with regards to work, will be void ipso jure and will not obligate the workers, even if they are expressed in a collective or individual labor contract, in an agreement or in another document.

In case of doubt in the interpretation or scope of [the] legal provisions, regulations, or contractual [provisions] within the labor matters, they will be interpreted in the most favorable sense for the workers.

Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala (PDF)

Article 107

5. For the double time period of the maximum penalty indicated for offenses Referred to in Chapters I and II of Title III of Book II of the Penal Code.

Article 150 bis: Abuse against minors.

Anyone who, through any action or omission, causes a person who is a minor or with a volitional or cognitive disability, physical, psychological or illness damage or places the child at serious risk of suffering, shall be punished with imprisonment of two to five years, Penalties applicable for other offenses. ” . The limitation period shall begin to run from the time the victim reaches his majority ” Article 23 Article 150 bis of the Penal Code, Decree 17-73 of the Congress of the Republic, which is thus added: ” Article 150 Bis. Abuse against minors. Anyone who, through any action or omission, causes a person who is a minor or with a volitional or cognitive disability, physical, psychological or illness damage or places the child at serious risk of suffering, shall be punished with imprisonment of two to five years, Penalties applicable for other offenses. ” . The limitation period shall begin to run from the time the victim reaches his majority ” Article 23 Article 150 bis of the Penal Code, Decree 17-73 of the Congress of the Republic, which is thus added: ” Article 150 Bis. Abuse against minors. Anyone who, through any action or omission, causes a person who is a minor or with a volitional or cognitive disability, physical, psychological or illness damage or places the child at serious risk of suffering, shall be punished with imprisonment of two to five years, Penalties applicable for other offenses.

Article 191: Promotion, facilitation or prostitution

The exploitation of an adult person, through the promotion, facilitation Or favoring their prostitution, shall be punished with imprisonment of five to ten years, and with a fine of  fifty thousand to one hundred thousand Quetzales.

Article 192. Promotion, facilitation or favor of aggravated prostitution

The penalties indicated in the previous article shall be increased by one third, in the following cases:

a) If during sexual exploitation the person has been pregnant.

b) When the perpetrator is a relative of the victim, or responsible for his or her education, custody, custody, care, or guardianship, ie the spouse, ex-spouse, cohabiting or ex-partner of the victim, or a parent when there will be violence or abuse of authority.

Article 193. Paid sexual activities with minors.

Whoever for himself or for third persons, in exchange for any sexual act with a minor, provides or promises to this or a third person an economic or any other benefit, regardless of the achievement of the purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of five to eight years, without prejudice to the penalties that may apply for the commission of other crimes.

Article 193 Bis. Remuneration for the promotion, facilitation or favor of prostitution.

Who for himself or for third person, in exchange for any sexual act with a person of legal age, Gives or promises to a third party an economic or other benefit, regardless of whether it achieves its purpose, shall be punished by imprisonment of three to five years.

Article 202: Submission to servitude

It shall be repressed with imprisonment of two to ten years, who reduces a person to servitude or to another analogous condition and to those who maintain it in her.

Article 202 Ter. Trafficking.

It is a crime of trafficking in persons to capture, transport, amply, retain, receive or receive one or more persons for the purpose of exploitation. Whoever commits this crime will be punished with imprisonment from eight to eighteen years and a fine of three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand Quetzales.

In no case shall the consent given by the victim of trafficking in persons or by his legal representative be taken into account.

For the purposes of the offense of trafficking in persons, exploitation shall be understood as: The prostitution of others, any form of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, any type of labor exploitation, begging, any form of slavery, servitude , sales persons, extraction and trafficking in human organs and tissues, recruitment of underage persons for organized criminal groups, illegal adoption, irregular adoption process, pornography, forced pregnancy or forced or servile marriage.

Article 202 Quater. Remuneration for trafficking in persons.

Who for himself or for third parties, in exchange for the exploitation activities to which the crime of trafficking refers, provides or promises to a person or third parties an economic benefit or of any other nature, shall be punished with imprisonment from six to eight years. The penalty established in the preceding paragraph shall be increased by two thirds if the remuneration is provided or promised in exchange for the exploitation of a person under the age of fourteen; And shall increase double if it is a person under ten years of age.

Article 204. Aggravating Circumstances.

The penalties indicated in the previous articles will be increased by one third, If any of the following circumstances concur:

1. If the abduction or plagiarism, confinement or detention, lasts a month of three days.

2. If, in the execution of the crime, there is a threat of death, cruel or infamous treatment for the offended person,

3. If the offense is committed by more than two persons.

4. If the will of the victim is weakened or annulled, on purpose or by any means.

5. If the victim as a result of the fact, is affected mentally, temporarily or permanently.

If the penalties refer to the crimes referred to in articles 191, 192, 193, 193 Bis, 194, 195, 195 Bis, 195 Ter, 195 Quater, 202 Ter and 202 Quater, the penalty shall be increased by one third if Any of the following circumstances: a

A. Resorting to violence.

B. Servitude marriage, substitution of one child for another, supposition of childbirth or suppression or alteration of marital status.

C. The victim was a person with a volitional, cognitive or resistance disability or an adult.

D. The author was a relative of the victim or responsible for their education, custody, custody, care, guardianship, ie the spouse, ex-spouse, cohabiting or ex-cohabiting partner of the victim or one of their parents.

E. The author will act with the use of weapons, alcoholic substances, narcotics, narcotics, other instruments or substances that seriously injure the health of the offended person.

F. The victim will be in a state of pregnancy.

G. The perpetrator of the crime of trafficking in persons is an official, Public employee or professional in the exercise of their functions.

The penalty to be imposed shall be increased by two thirds if in the cases covered by articles 201 and 203, the action was executed with simulation of authority or if the victim is a person under eighteen and over fourteen years of age; In three quarters if he is less than fourteen and greater than ten years of age; And double if the victim is a person under the age of ten.

Article 214. Enforcement

Who, without being lawfully authorized by violent procedure,

intimidating or in any other way to compel, force this to do or not do what the law does not forbid, make or consent which does not tolerate or have someone else do it, fair or not, shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.

Article 215. Threats

Whoever threatens another to cause the same or their relatives within law degree, his person, honor or property, an evil that constitutes or not a crime, shall be punished imprisonment for six months to three years.

Article 301 Bis Illegal Disposal of Human Organs or Tissues

Whoever participates in any illegal act involving extraction Conservation, supply, trade and use of organs or tissues of living persons or corpses shall be punishable by imprisonment of five to ten years.

Criminal Code (PDF)

Article 58 Allowances

Those convicted of human trafficking offenses are obligated to compensate the victims for the damages caused, including all costs of care necessary for their complete physical, psychological and economic recovery, even if the victim has not made a private accusation Or has not expressly claimed compensation, or has abandoned the private accusation. Such items will be determined in the conviction.

The compensation will be paid to the heirs, if the victim has died.

Law against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons 2009 (PDF)