Guatemala has one of the highest rates of femicide, or gendermotivated killing of women, in the world. It is estimated that more than 6,500 women have been the victims of violent killings since 2000, and thousands more raped and battered. In 2011, more than 20,000 cases were filed with the courts under Guatemala’s 2008 Ley contra el femicidio y otras formas de violencia contra la mujer [Law Against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women] [hereinafter 2008 Law], including cases of femicide and other physical, sexual, economic, and emotional violence against women. Less than three percent of the cases that reached the courts resulted in a judgment. The Guatemala Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated in its latest report that femicide and gender-based violence are “of utmost concern” and that “[t]he cruelty with which some of these crimes [have been] perpetrated [in Guatemala] shows how deeply rooted patterns of discrimination are in society, and also reveals the lack of institutional measures to tackle them.” Similarly, in May 2012, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) sent the first ever Guatemala femicide case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, admonishing the Guatemalan government for “creating an environment conducive to the chronic repetition of acts of violence against women.” Indeed, much international attention has been drawn to the phenomenon of violence against women in Guatemala and the lack of an effective government response.