Agreement between Guatemala and the U.S. on Cooperation Regarding the Examination of Protection Claims On July 26, 2019, the Guatemalan Minister of the Interior and the Interim Secretary of National Security of the United States signed the Agreement between Guatemala and the U.S. on Cooperation Regarding the Examination of Protection Claims.
In general terms, the the agreement establishes that the United States may send to Guatemala people requesting refuge or asylum in its territory to carry out the process and await its resolution. Under the Agreement, Guatemala undertakes two obligations: 1) not expel or deport those people from Guatemala until this process is completed; and 2) to adjust the immigration system for this purpose.
While it is true that it has been indicated that this is a Safe Third Country Agreement, the Agreement does not specify it. It can be said that the agreement has an effect similar to that of a secure third country agreement, but does not comply with the formalities necessary to be officially it. This is because the 1951 Convention Relating the Status of Refugees establishes in Article 31 that the countries that sign the Agreement must grant refugees who are illegally in the country of refuge a reasonable period of time and all the necessary facilities to obtain their admission in other country. According to the Convention Relating the Status of Refugees, such refugees may legally remain in the country of refuge enjoying certain rights, these being paid employment, housing, health and public education, among others. In the case of the Agreement signed between Guatemala and the U.S., such obligations are not contemplated.
The Agreement was signed by the Guatemalan Minister of the Interior, Enrique Degenhart. Article 173 subsection o) of the Guatemalan Constitution provides that it is up to the President of the Republic to direct foreign policy and international relations, as well as to celebrate, ratify and denounce treaties and conventions in accordance with the Constitution. It is important to clarify that article 3 of the Law of the Executive Branch provides that the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for formulating the policies, complying with and enforcing the legal regime related to the immigration regime.
In addition, the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties must be observed. According to Article 6 of said Convention, the State must represent and express its consent by a person with full powers to adopt said agreement. Also the Convention in article 2 indicates that "full powers" means a document that emanates from the competent authority of a State and by which 30
