Q’eqchi indigenous youth lead recovery of ancestral lands in Guatemala

Organisation: COMITÉ CAMPESINO DEL ALTIPLANO

Location: Guatemala

Guatemala has a violent history of civil war and dispossessing Indigenous peoples of their lands, leaving them without access to basic amenities such as land, water, and health services. The 1996 Peace Accord sought to remedy the situation by defining commitments to legal reform to improve the agricultural crisis and restore indigenous peoples’ historical right to land. In implementing the agreement, the government created a land fund to facilitate access, adjudication, and land regularisation for Indigenous peasant communities. Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA) worked with the Indigenous peoples and youth of Pomarrosal to recover and manage seventy-eight farms on ancestral territories in the area.