For Indigenous peoples, conflict means so much more than war

Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996, disproportionately affected Indigenous Maya people through genocide and violence, with ongoing structural conflicts like land dispossession and political repression persisting. Indigenous leaders, including Mario Simón Chávez, highlight unresolved issues of self-determination and collective rights as critical to achieving peace, while the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) addresses broader definitions of conflict linked to colonization and resource extraction.