The Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) was established on June 23, 1994 as part of the Oslo Agreement of 1994 and the peace settlement in 1996 that ended the 36 year long civil war in Guatemala, between the government and the National Guatemalan Revolutionary Unit (URNG). The mandate of the commission was to "clarify, with full objectiveness, equity, and impartiality, human rights violations and incidents of violence related to the armed confrontation that have caused suffering to the Guatemalan population." The commission estimated that 200,000 people were killed or disappeared, an overwhelming majority of which were indigenous Mayans. The commission concluded that acts of genocide and crimes against humanity had occurred against the Mayan population. The Guatemalan government contested this charge, and many of the report's recommendations were never implemented due to a lack of political will.
Status of Archives:
All documents and records from the CEH are housed in the United Nations Archives and Records Management Section in New York, with a stipulation that no documents may be open to the public until January 1, 2050, or unless the Secretary-General authorizes it. The CEH archive consists of individual and collective testimonies, electronic and paper files, tapes of 150 key witnesses, and photos. According to Final Acts: A Guide to Preserving the Records of Truth Commissions, the archive needs to be preserved and some documents should be made accessible: "All records transferred to the archives are sealed, and no use--including no preservation activity--has been made of them...Not all records require protection for fifty years...the UN Archives needs to be able to review the records and make recommendation to the Secretary-General on records that can be made available now."