On this page, you will find:
To find organisations working for LGBTQI+ rights, visit our Guatemala LGBTQI+ Resources page.
For Guatemala country of origin information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries, and relevant documents visit our Guatemala COI page.
Refugee protection
Click here to see the numbers and origins of refugees hosted by Guatemala.
The following sections contain information on the most important international treaties and agreements of which Guatemala is signatory, as well as national legislation relevant to the protection of refugees.
Since 1983 Guatemala has been both a party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and to its 1967 Protocol. It has also accepted the UN Statelessness Conventions since 2001.
Regionally, it incorporated the refugee definition according to the Cartagena Declaration in its internal law.
The Guatemalan legal framework on asylum protection is based on the provisions of the National Constitution. It is also complemented by the Migration Code (Decree 44-2016) and its regulations (National Migration Authority Agreement 7-2019), the Internal Regulatory Organic Law of the Guatemalan Migration Institute (National Migration Authority Agreement 8-2019), the Internal Regulation of Operation of the National Migration Authority (National Migration Authority Agreement 1-2018) and the Law of the National Council for Migrant Assistance (Decree 46-2007). Also, the Government passed a National Decree on Refugee Protection in 2001, in which gender-based persecution is recognised as a ground for granting refugee status.
Legal aid organisations
Website
Address: 13 calle 2-73 zona 1, Guatemala, Guatemala.
Tel: +502 22 30 51
Email: info@url.edu.gt
The legal Clinic or “bufete Popular” of Universidad Rafael Landívar is part of the Social and Legal Sciences Faculty. We provide legal advice and practical training of students en their professional development. We provide legal advice in diverse matters, including advice to refugees. Legal advice is free to those that lack means to pay.
Address (Headquarters): 7a. Avenida 10-35, Zona 1, Guatemala.
Tel: 2501-5757
Guatemalan law guarantees that any person who cannot retain the services of a lawyer and cannot pay for legal proceedings has the right to free legal assistance. In Guatemala, the Institute of Public Criminal Defense is responsible for providing legal advice and guidance to people who cannot pay these costs. Asylum seekers and refugees are also entitled to receive help from this institution. This is an institution that is present in many municipalities – you can find all the addresses and contact information here.
Address: Km. 15, Calzada Roosevelt, 4-54, zona 3, Mixco, Ciudad de Guatemala.
Tel: (+502) 2432-5654
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Pastoral de Movilidad Humana can provide you with free legal advice on all the procedures to request recognition of refugee status in Guatemala, including the case in which you have to file an appeal.
Address: Lote 8, Sector “C” Lotificación Villa de Santa Barbara zona 1, Jutiapa, Jutiapa.
Tel.: (+502) 4096-1657, (+502) 4476-8051 and (+502) 4828-4365
Email: gt.comunicacion@savethechildren.org
Save the Children Guatemala can provide refugees and asylum-seekers with legal assistance.
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Organisations providing other support to refugees
Their aim is to protect people in situations of violence, risk and vulnerability, depending on restitution and full exercise of their rights.
Address: Av. Centroamerica 14-30, Zona 1, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Tel: +502 2251 9216
Email: direccion1.lambda@gmail.com
This is an association that provides support to people from the LGBTI community. The services it provides are: shelter/ legal advice / psychosocial support.
Address: 3rd Avenue 0-80, Colonia Bran, Zone 3, Guatemala City
Tel:+502 2238 0905 ,+502 2251 5716
Email: info@asociacionpopnoj.org
It is an NGO that informs about the risks and dangers on the path of undocumented migration.
Orientates migrants or people who want to migrate so that they know their rights, how to defend them and enforce them, about the organisations and institutions that can support and protect them, and how to take care of themselves along the way. It provides assistance to people who have suffered abuses during migration, and guidance on where to go if their rights are violated.
It also provides legal advice and accompaniment in cases that require it (to file complaints, seek refuge, identify people, etc.), guidance on how to locate missing migrants and, when necessary, how to transfer the remains of family members who have died while migrating. Lastly, it gives guidance on organisations and institutions that can support you on your return to Guatemala and your community.
Address: 11 Calle 10-56 zona 1, Edificio Santo Domingo, 5to. Nivel, Oficina 501. Ciudad de Guatemala.
Tel: (+502) 2220-3295
Email: comunicacion@nimajpu.org , asociaciondeabogadosmayas@gmail.com
An Indigenous rights NGO based in Guatemala City. Although its main focus is not immigration, they do some legal and policy work related to indigenous migrants.
Address: Guatemala, 15 Avenida “A” 01-94 Zona1 , Guatemala, 10001
Tel: 2230-2781
Email: cscalapm@gmail.com
Casa del Migrante (Migrants’ House) in Guatemala City, provides assistance to migrants who are passing through, as well as asylum seekers, internally displaced people, deportees, and returnees from the United States and Mexico. Its services include ransfer to the Migrant House / Legal advice / Hospitality and Food / Psychosocial, Medical and Dental Care / Labor Orientation / Telephone and Internet service / Outfit.
Tel: 1546 – 24 hours service.
It can aid in the search, location and immediate protection of children and adolescents who have disappeared or been abducted.
Guatemala LGBTQI+ Resources
Find organisations working for refugee LGBTQI+ rights in Guatemala.
Guatemala COI
Find Guatemala Country of Origin information (COI) experts, reports, commentaries, and relevant documents.
We are always looking to expand the resources on our platform. If you know about relevant resources, or you are aware of organisations and/or individuals to include in our directories, please get in touch.
Last updated June 2023