Join us online as the Latin America Caucus of ICPJ continues our 2024 Speaker Series with speaker Julie Bourdorseau, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of California College of Law.

On January 14, 2024, Guatemala witnessed the inauguration of its third truly democratic government in history, despite many attempts to overturn the election results and criminalize the president-elect’s political party, the Movimiento Semilla. This transition has been made possible thanks to a citizen-driven movement primarily composed of and led by Mayan Indigenous peoples. President-elect Bernardo Arevalo ran on an anti-corruption and state restructuring platform. This new, challenging, but hopeful period has been described by many as a “new spring.” The challenges Bernardo Arevalo faces are multiple and complex, including institutional and structural racism, environmental degradation, gang violence, gender-based violence, and high levels of criminalization and corruption within the state. In 2023, unaccompanied children from Guatemala continued to represent the largest group of minors crossing the US/Mexico border without adult guardians.

Julie Bourdoiseau is a human rights attorney at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at the UC College of Law. Her work focuses on expanding their expert witness database and developing training materials to support attorneys representing asylum seekers, including universal declarations from country conditions experts. In that context, she has worked closely and extensively with experts on Guatemala, both based in Guatemala and in the U.S. Her work with Guatemalan experts focused on violence against women, including Indigenous women, and violence against Indigenous children. Julie has visited Guatemala half a dozen times for periods of as long as two months. She has presented several webinars on Guatemala for attorneys and advocates representing Guatemalan clients.

Julie has also participated in numerous human rights fact-finding delegations in El Salvador and Honduras with the UC Law San Francisco Refugee & Human Rights clinic. She recently authored a report on climate change, human rights violations, and forced displacement. She was an attorney on the national case East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden, and represents clients from Central America fleeing gang violence and gender-based violence.

Before immigrating to the United States, Julie worked and lived for six years in Colombia, South America, in the Urabá, Chocó, & Darién regions. She currently serves on the Board of the Expert Witness section of the Latin American Studies Association.

Registration Required
Registration is free, donations gratefully accepted:
https://givebutter.com/Indigenous_and_Human_Rights_Guatemala

This event is part of the 2024 series hosted by the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ) Latin America Caucus, the Huron Valley Democratic Socialists of America (HVDSA), and U-M Latin American & Caribbean Studies (LACS).

Indigenous and Human Rights in Guatemala

2024 ICPJ Latin America Caucus Speaker Series