Guatemala Constitutional Court Case: relationship between Indigenous peoples and water

Location:Guatemala

Status:Approved in 2019

Governance Level:National

Legal Provision:Court Case

Natural Entity:Water

Initiating Actor:Rolando López Crisóstomo (municipality of Comitancillo); José Luis Ramírez (Indigenous Mayor of the municipality of San Juan); Victor Manuel Sales Ortiz (Maya Mam Saq Tx'otx Council); Angel Roblero Bravo (ADIMA); Juan Lucas Díaz (Mam Council); Ramón Clemente Ixcol Chávez (Indigenous Mayor's Office of the municipality of Santa Lucía Utatlán); Miguel Angel Manuel Alvarado (ancestral Maya Achí authorities of the municipality of Rabinal); Pedro Benjamín Barreno Zapeta and Santiago Domingo García Chamorro (department of Totonicapán); Seledonia Vicente Vicente (Maya K'iche' Women's Network of the municipality of Momostenango); personal capacity: Silvia Elizabeth Conoz Téllez, Irma Yolanda Tuc Quemé, Favián Enrique Castañeda Barrios, Narciso Nicolás Cua Culuz, Orla Marina Siquiná de Siquiná and Rigoberto Juarez Mateo

Initiating Actor Type:Government, Indigenous

Summary

In 2019, a decision of the Constitutional Court of Guatemala established the partial unconstitutionality of several articles of the Civil Code, the Mining Law, and the Agrarian Transformation Law. The court also ordered the Parliament to create legislation in order to develop a right to water as well as the recognition of the diverse relationships that exists between indigenous peoples and water.

Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2026. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/relationship-between-indigenous-people-and-water/.

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