PERSPECTIVE Guatemala in the UN Security Council A New Experience for a Founding Member State GABRIEL AGUILERA PERALTA June 2012 n Despite being a founding member state of the United Nations and having played an active and positive initial role, Guatemala had not been a member of the Security Council because of the country’s domestic situations during the 20 th century: armed conflict, the authoritarian nature of its political system and human rights violations. These circumstances changed with the peace process and democratisation and Guatemala regained prominence in both the international arena and the United Nations. This made it possible to be elected as a member of the Security Council from 1 January 2012. n Guatemala’s desires to be a member of the Council was based not only on its right to a seat, but also on the conviction that the country was ready to share the responsibility of participating in decisions of major importance to the preservation of world peace and security. n Guatemala brings to the Council its knowledge of the promotion of peace processes – acquired through its own experience – and its belief in the effectiveness of the United Nations’ participation in promoting peace-building and democratisation. This is also based on the positive experience of the United Nations Verification Mission, known as MINUGUA, which performed a role as a third actor in the peace negotiations and was subsequently overseer of the consolidation of the process. Finally the presence of the International Commission Against Impunity(CICIG) in the country was a pioneering experience on an international scale, through which the United Nations were involved in the strengthening of justice. n Human rights is one of the cornerstones of Guatemala’s internal and external policies and it is therefore presumed that Guatemala’s representative on the Council will be persistent in this area.