All posts by CPNN Coordinator

About CPNN Coordinator

Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Pretoria, South Africa : Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

Excerpts from the website of Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress

The Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress (SRI) unites more than 2000 global sustainability research leaders, government and civil society experts, funders and innovators to inspire action and promote a sustainability transformation.

A joint initiative of Future Earth and the Belmont Forum, this truly global, annual event sparks meaningful conversations, provides a platform to share innovative ideas, and creates an inspiring and inclusive space for collaboration and action.

This year, hosted by the Future Africa Institute in Pretoria, South Africa, and online, the second edition of SRI offered a program of over 200 interactive sessions, workshops, trainings, networking events, innovation demonstrations, satellite events, and much more. 

Highlights from Day One – June 21

Transdisciplinary research in Africa could be the turnkey that unlocks progress in the research and scientific innovations that address climate change, gender-based violence and achieving net zero targets – but collaboration is pivotal.

This was the consensus among speakers at the opening plenary session on the first day of the Sustainability, Research and Innovation (SRI) Congress in Pretoria.

Highlights from Day Two – June 22

The second day of the SRI Congress saw many diverse topics take center stage as a series of transdisciplinary hybrid content sessions showcased sustainability’s impact on culture, art, and finance.

(Continued in right column)

Question for this article:

How can we ensure that science contributes to peace and sustainable development?

(Continued from left column)

In a special session held in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) titled The role of Biodiversity Finance in a changing world post the pandemic, key stakeholders and leaders in the biodiversity finance space participated in a lively discussion on government initiatives across Southern Africa to improve investment into biodiversity, and also showcased innovative approaches to Biodiversity Finance globally.

Highlights from Day Three – June 23

The ethical concerns around the development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), harnessing Africa’s natural capital, and taking healthcare solutions to where they are needed most, local communities, were just some of the insightful discussions held on the third day of the Sustainability, Research and Innovation Congress (SRI) 2022.

Highlights from Day Four – June 24

As extreme weather events continue to have an increasing and intense impact across Africa and the world, governments along with the private sector will have to join hands in planning for the “cities of tomorrow” that allow for healthy environments with access to clean power, air and water.

The fourth day of the Sustainability, Research and Innovation Congress (SRI) 2022, saw engaging sessions that addressed these broad yet interconnected issues and crucially, what sustainable strategies and solutions could be implemented.

Highlights from Day Five – June 25

Predicting the future is hard. Scientists and foresight experts work with data and stakeholders to build scenarios, historians lean on their knowledge of the past to peek into the present and beyond, investors read weak signals – yet more often than not, we are surprised by life.

At the Sustainability, Research and Innovation (SRI) Congress’s closing plenary session, a group of leading professionals actively engaging with the future, scientists and science fiction writers, as well as foresight analysts, convened to give a taste of the future – or at least their makings of it.

SRI2023 to be held in Panama

The National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt) will host the congress in collaboration with its co-host, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI).

(Note: Thank you to Uzma Alam for calling this event to the attention of CPNN.)

Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Is language a human right?

Language as a human right is not explicitly mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For this reason, a commission of the international organization PEN drafted a document on linguistic rights that was submitted to UNESCO in 1996.

One of the articles in the document declared the following collective rights for language groups:

* the right for their own language and culture to be taught;

* the right of access to cultural services;

* the right to an equitable presence of their language and culture in the communications media;

* the right to receive attention in their own language from government bodies and in socioeconomic relations

The document was “ noted with interest” by the UNESCO Executive Board, but was not adopted as official policy, perhaps because it was so long and complicated.

The question may be raised again now that we enter the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032..
.
_____________

Below are articles in CPNN about this question:

Africa confronts linguistic imperialism with Kiswahili

d-human rights

Africa confronts linguistic imperialism with Kiswahili

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from the Monitor

The move by the African Union — the apex organisation for African states — to adopt Kiswahili as one of its official working languages, is not only culturally and political significant, but a shot in the arm in its global spread.

This comes just three months after the United Nations on November 23, 2021 designated July 7 as the World Kiswahili Language Day.

It becomes the first African language, which is spoken by more than 200 million people, to be honoured by UNESCO.

Kiswahili, mainly spoken in the East African region, is a fusion of the dialect born of Bantu and Arabic languages, has earned its place of pride as one of the world’s top 10 most spoken languages and Africa’s most widely used native lingua. It enjoys official status national in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It is also widely spoken in parts of DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

Officially, it was being used in the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional blocs before AU’s adoption.

Over the years, Kiswahili has spread south of the continent, to parts of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, while Burundi, Madagascar and the Comoros islands have also adopted it.

In June 2020, South Africa introduced Kiswahili as an optional subject in the hope that the language could become a tool to foster cohesion among Africans.

And it’s in this light that the AU move to adopt Kiswahili is a milestone in mainstreaming it– and eventual launch globally.

Proponents of a single language for Africa are hoping that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTFA) will be the catalyst required to launch Kiswahili as Africa’s language of trade and continent-wide communication.

“Aside from fostering shared identity, Kiswahili as a language is a very important tool in the geopolitics of things. It will unite Africa just as other languages like French, Spanish or English have united those who speak them,” said Prof Macharia Munene, a history lecturer at the Nairobi-based United States International University Africa.

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Question related to this article:

Is language a human right?

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“Although it will take a few decades before Kiswahili gains a foothold in every African state, the recent developments are important catalysts.”

An expression of culture 

According to him, language is intrinsic to the expression of culture, arguing that’s why American culture is quite dominant in the world.

It is on that premise that he argues China is doing everything to promote mandarin, hoping it will use it to stamp its cultural influence in the world.

Kenya, Uganda and South Africa are some of the states where China has made initiatives to popularise mandarin.

But China and France –– which also announced plans to make French the language of Africa –– encounter a continent increasingly conscious about its identity.

The diplomatic use of Kiswahili in Africa, and its subsequent introduction into schools’ curricula across the continent is expected to help forge friendships, cultural and economic relationships.

According to Global Voices—an international multi-lingual organisation of writers, translators, academics and digital rights activists—currently, there are more than 7,100 languages spoken around the world, 28 per cent of which are spoken on the African continent.

Despite the existence of some 2,140 local languages in Africa, English, French and Arabic reign supreme.

English on the other hand dominates online spaces in the region.

But this has shrunk to between 51-55 per cent as opposed to 80 per cent on online dominance two decades ago. Projections indicate that Kiswahili, which is now online, will become an increasingly important instrument of trade.

Renowned author Stanley Gazemba asserts that the language has the potential to forge strong trading ties between the people of eastern, central and southern Africa and to promote cultural cohesion.

“If widely promoted in these regions, the language can single-handedly remove the artificial barriers and boundaries imposed by imperial powers,” he wrote in The Elephant.

“There are an estimated 2,000 languages spoken on the continent. Colourful as this may appear, it also poses a challenge in marshalling all these diverse cultures into thinking and working towards a collective goal, which necessitates the creation and promotion of a lingua franca that can be used seamlessly across political and administrative borders, and which can ultimately allow the African people to speak in a single voice.”

“Kiswahili has proved to be a useful tool in unlocking the potential of this sleeping giant in the regions south of the Sahara.”

Kiswahili is taught in universities around the world, including in China, while in the USA, an estimated 100

Africa, HUMAN RIGHTS

The Era Of Northern Hegemony Over Mexico Is Coming To An End

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Rodrigo Guillot / Globetrotter from Scoop Independent News (reproduced as creative commons – no commercial purpose or end)

In 2010, Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro said: “López Obrador will be the person with the most moral and political authority in Mexico when the system collapses and, with it, the empire.” He was referring to Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), who is the current president of Mexico and head of the Morena  (National Regeneration Movement) political party.


Photo by Edgard Garrido / Reuters

Despite the wide lead  he had in all the polls before the elections, López Obrador’s victory in 2018 took almost everyone by surprise. Even the Morena militants remained doubtful for some days, since the dynamics of electoral fraud in Mexican politics had made defeat seem inevitable.

Few of us knew what to expect from Mexico’s new government since AMLO is the first leftist president in our country’s modern political history. The first two years of his term were marked by the absence of any concrete foreign policy, at least publicly. The theory that the best foreign policy is domestic policy led President López Obrador to concentrate his efforts on trying to solve the larger problems being faced by the Mexican people, as well as dealing with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration policy that was mainly directed toward the Mexican migrant population entering and already in the United States.

Fourth Transformation

The only noteworthy Mexican public diplomacy initiative undertaken by López Obrador during the first three years of his six-year term was to advocate for the Comprehensive Development Plan for Central America. This plan was developed by El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). President López Obrador’s government began working on the plan from the day he took office. The initiative addressed both issues, the attacks faced by migrants from Central America in the United States and the real needs of the people who are compelled to migrate to other countries from the region. The structural causes of migration—poverty, inequality and insecurity—framed the discussion by the stakeholders who worked on finalizing the initiative. The plan challenged the U.S. border security doctrine, which treats socioeconomic problems as military problems.

The triumph of Morena in one of Latin America’s largest countries opened a cycle of hope among progressive forces in the region; Latin American leaders and intellectuals have spoken of Mexico as the epicenter of the new progressive wave in the hemisphere. But Morena’s triumph was met by three complexities. First, the difficulties being faced by López Obrador as he has tried to lay the foundations for national development and address the glaring inequalities in the country (10 percent of Mexicans hold  79 percent of its wealth); this included a national project  to end inequality and discrimination, which would be funded by the revitalization of the oil industry, the nationalization of lithium, and the implementation of various infrastructural works.

Second, because the pandemic accelerated the process of the neoliberal crisis at a global level, including in Mexico, López Obrador has spoken  about the need to “end” neoliberalism by 2022 in the country.

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Questions related to this article:
 
Can Latin America free itself from US domination?

(article continued from left column)

Third, there has been a renewed aggression by the United States through its blockades and sanctions campaigns against several Latin American countries, including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. López Obrador’s fourth transformation  (4T), which is the name of his political project—referring “to a moment of change in the political system”—has led to disputes with the U.S. government and U.S.-controlled institutions (including the Organization of American States). This is what gradually drew Mexico’s government into a more prominent role in the Americas.

López Obrador’s Public Diplomacy

The increase in López Obrador’s activity relating to international diplomacy has been gradual and well-calculated. López Obrador gradually introduced some of these foreign policy matters into the arena of national political debate before he tested the waters in the region with them. Each morning he holds a press conference, where many of these ideas are first introduced. López Obrador’s commitment to building a revolution of conscience has transformed Mexican diplomacy into a public phenomenon.

Before López Obrador, foreign policy matters were discussed behind closed doors. Now, López Obrador uses his press conference to provide the public with the historical and political reasons for Mexico’s position on, for instance, the U.S. blockade of Cuba and its economic war against Venezuela, the violent anti-immigrant policy of the United States and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Because López Obrador has tried to explain the reasons for the diplomatic decisions taken by Mexico regarding various global matters, it has helped build a consensus among large sections of the population for these decisions, including the most recent decision taken by him to not attend the Summit of the Americas.

Summit of the Americas

United States President Joe Biden announced  in January that the United States and the Organization of American States (OAS) would host the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles from June 6 to June 10. López Obrador toured  Central America and the Caribbean, which ended in Cuba, before the summit. During the tour, López Obrador developed Mexico’s position on the summit. This viewpoint was also apparent earlier when Mexico hosted the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit in September 2021, where Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were able to participate—unlike during the Summit of the Americas where these countries were banned from attending the event. At that 2021 summit, López Obrador proposed  to shut down the OAS and replace it with “a block like the European Union,” such as CELAC.

Before the Summit of the Americas began, López Obrador announced that Mexico would not attend it because of two principles of Mexican foreign policy: First, the United States’ decision to not invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela violated the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. Second, the principle of legal equality of all countries should allow all people to be represented at the international level through their governments. López Obrador’s decision to withdraw from the summit surprised both Washington and Latin American capitals; his decision was followed  by both Bolivia and Honduras and was backed up by countries such as Argentina.

Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, meanwhile, tried to negotiate to ensure the presence of the Mexican president at the summit, but without  any success. The hegemony of the OAS had begun to decline after the CELAC summit in 2021 but seems to have reached its end with these latest developments during the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.

But the more important outcome of the summit was the reaction of the different Latin American leaders who joined Mexico’s show of dignity and displayed the strength of popular power and assumed positions of support for a new form of regional organization, which does not require the support of the United States. The general mood in Latin America is that the U.S. should not waste its time interfering south of its border but should, instead, spend its energy trying to resolve its cascading internal crises.

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Satish Kumar to Receive the 2022 Goi Peace Award

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from The Goi Peace Foundation

The Goi Peace Foundation will present the 2022 Goi Peace Award to Satish Kumar, peace activist and environmental thought leader.

The selection committee has chosen Satish Kumar for the Goi Peace Award in recognition of his lifelong dedication to campaigning for ecological regeneration, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment. Through his writings and educational activities, and as an embodiment of ecological and spiritual principles of living simply, he has inspired many people to transform themselves in order to transform the world.


Photo from the Dartington Trust

Satish Kumar will receive the award during the Goi Peace Foundation Forum 2022 to be held on November 23, 2022. (More information about the event will be announced soon.)

Satish Kumar, a former monk and long-term peace and environment activist, has been quietly setting the global agenda for change for over 50 years. He was just nine when he left his family home to join the wandering Jains, and 18 when he decided he could achieve more back in the world, campaigning for land reform in India and working to turn Gandhi’s vision of a renewed India and a peaceful world into reality.

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

How can just one or a few persons contribute to peace and justice?

In 1973 Satish settled in the UK becoming the editor of Resurgence magazine, a position he held until 2016, making him the UK’s longest-serving editor of the same magazine. During this time, he has been the guiding spirit behind a number of now internationally respected ecological and educational ventures. He cofounded Schumacher College, an international center for ecological studies, where he continues to serve as a Visiting Fellow.

His autobiography, No Destination, first published by Green Books in 1978, has sold over 50,000 copies. He is also the author of You Are, Therefore I Am; The Buddha and the Terrorist; Earth Pilgrim; Soil, Soul, Society and Elegant Simplicity: The Art of Living Well.

He continues to teach and run workshops on reverential ecology, holistic education and voluntary simplicity and is a much sought-after speaker both in the UK and abroad.

About the Goi Peace Foundation and the Goi Peace Award

Based in Japan, the Goi Peace Foundation  is a public benefit organization supported by members around the world working together to create a culture of peace. Its mission is to foster a sustainable and harmonious global society by promoting consciousness, values and wisdom for creating peace, and building cooperation among individuals and organizations across diverse fields, including education, science, culture and the arts.

Established by the Goi Peace Foundation in 2000, the Goi Peace Award  is an international award presented annually to honor individuals and organizations in various fields that have made outstanding contributions toward the realization of a peaceful and harmonious world as envisioned in the Declaration for All Life on Earth.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Dominican Republic : CDP and Sinarec sign agreement to promote a culture of peace and reduce violence

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Noticias Sin (translation by CPNN)

The Dominican College of Journalists (CDP) and the National Conflict Resolution System (Sinarec) have signed an agreement to promote a culture of peace at the national level through workshops, courses, seminars and other forms of education.

The agreement was signed by Aurelio Henríquez, president of the CDP, and Petronila Rosario Adames, director of Sinarec. They will promote a broad program of awareness at the national level through continuous education of the Culture of Peace with the aim of reducing violence in the Dominican Republic.

(Click here for the original Spanish version).

Question for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

Both organizations will work in all the sections of the country to strengthen non-violent communication that facilitates a culture of peace, through seminars, workshops, talks, forums, workshops, conferences, congresses and any other way that educates for peaceful and non-violent coexistence in society.

Sinarec is a body attached to the office of the Attorney General of the Republic and was created by the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, with the aim of implementing a system at the national level that allows the culture of peace to be carried out through social organizations, along with neighbors, professional associations and non-profit organizations.

The two organizations agreed to create a monitoring commission to ensure the development and execution of this agreement. The commission will include made up of two people, who will plan the programs to be executed, prepare logistics and make the invitations.

CDP-CINAREC committed to managing and promoting the activities they carry out together, such as courses and diplomas that they deem relevant for technical development and professional improvement for the strengthening of peaceful coexistence in our communities.

CDP and Sinarec will initiate a cycle of conferences, talks, courses and specialized training. At the end of each training which includeds more than eight hours of face-to-face classes, the participants will receive a certificate of participation.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Brazil : Peoples Committees to hold workshop on Culture of Peace and Militant Self-protection

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An announcement from the website of the PT – Partido dos Trabalhadores (translation by CPNN)

The National Training School of the PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores -Workers Party) the PT National Secretariat for Political Training and the Executive Secretariat of the Popular Struggle Committees will offer this Thursday (14 July) the workshop Culture of Peace and Militant Self-protection.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Portuguese version of this article.)

Question related to this article:

How can election violence be prevented?

(Article continued from left column)

Faced with the intensification of political violence in the country, the objective of the workshop is to analyze the current situation and the threats against the integrity of militancy and street demonstrations. The violence stimulated by the President of the Republic manifested itself in an extreme way last weekend with the assassination of comrade Marcelo Arruda, in Foz Iguaçu (Paraná,).

This scenario generates fears and anxiety than could leading to a possible state of paralysis. Understanding this logic of intimidation practiced by Bolsonarism is fundamental so that, in addition to establishing our practical and political response for the Culture of Peace and Solidarity, we can also advance in the preparation and organization of our Popular Committees of Struggles.

To be stronger and more united, with our heads held high for the important battles that lie ahead, we invite everyone to participate in the workshop.

🚩 Participate in the Workshop “Culture of Peace and Militant Self-protection”

🕐 Write it down on the agenda! Thursday, 14/7 19h in Brasilia time, by the Zoom App.

ATTENTION: Registration is open until 7/14, until 12:00 pm Brasília time

To register click here and fill in the form.

From the Editorial/Popular Struggle Committee

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Medellin, Colombia: The Week for Disarmament 2022 involved more than 1,300 participants

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from the city government of Medellin (translation by CPNN)

From June 30 to July 7, the Medellín Mayor’s Office held the now traditional Week for Disarmament. This year the slogan was “Because life is worth it “, as a way to contribute to the prevention of all kinds of violent attitudes, homicides and fatal accidents and, through pedagogy, to discourage the carrying, possession and use of weapons.

In this edition, more than 1,300 young people participated in activities in different parts of the city. For example in the Héctor Abad Gómez Educational Institution, 450 people from the student community were involved.


Photo from Mayor of Medellin

Another development was the “Culture to the park” initiative, with the discussion “Weaving from the word and the experiences on the Medellin Future for the prevention of armed violence, and how art has been a mobilizer for the transformation of the city.”

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(Click here for the Spanish original of this article)

Questions for this article:

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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“We have carried out all kinds of interventions in the territory. We develop strategies according to the premise “Because life is worth it”. In Villa Hermosa we held a discussion about the experiences of our Medellín Future and the prevention of violence, in which other Secretariats participated. To close this week we have the youth camp with the happiness strategy and the Football Culture component”, said the Undersecretary of Local Government and Coexistence, Carlos Gutiérrez Bustamante.

On July 7, a camp was held for coexistence in the Altavista corregimiento sports area, in the village of Manzanares. The staff of the Coexistence Unit of the Security Secretariat participated in this strategy leading a space for learning and reflection for the community.

The Non-Violence Secretariat also joined the agenda with armed violence prevention strategies that led by the “Partners” and Non-Violence Schools programs in which prevention actions are carried out with boys, girls, adolescents and young people at risk of being used or recruited by armed groups.

“From the Secretariat we want to strengthen the message and the commitment to consolidate a culture of peace and Non-Violence in the city of Medellín, for this reason, our territorial work with a preventive approach focuses on generating scenarios for dialogue and conversation through art. as part of a commitment from the construction of territorial peace to deconstruct violent imaginaries”, said the Undersecretary of Construction of Territorial Peace, Carolina Saldarriaga.

During 2021 and so far in 2022, nearly 1,500 young people and children have benefited from pedagogical spaces through training and work opportunities, as well as artistic and cultural methodologies for peace with the themes of respect for life, rejection of armed structures and the change of attitudes about the use of weapons.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Novel Approach to Nuclear Disarmament

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Received at CPNN by email from Nomad, Damon
 
Dear Colleague for Peace,
 
There are many organizations, campaigns, and initiatives for nuclear disarmament.   Unfortunately, few people can focus on the message, sounds too complex or it’s lost in the buzz of our busy lives.  I have spent the last three years working full-time on a novel way to advocate for the cause, literally novels.  I have written a three-novel trilogy, dedicated to the cause of eliminating nuclear weapons, in the framework of espionage thrillers, without gratuitous violence and wars.

Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

I want to get people interested in disarmament by reading an exciting thriller, founded on science, international relations, and policy.  I have worked and found a publisher. I have no advertising budget or social media platform. I am reaching out to the community of interested people and organizations to help.
 
Please pass the message on, see the link below to the first book published by Speaking Volumes.
 
Phantom in the Desert (Nuclear Proliferation Trilogy): Nomad, Damon: 9781645406402: Amazon.com: Books
 

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Honduras: “Mesas de seguridad ciudadana” to be developed in 298 municipalities

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from La Prensa (reprinted according to a license CC – attribution) (translation by CPNN)

The government of Xiomara Castro launched yesterday in Santa Bárbara the “Mesas de seguridad ciudadana” within the framework of the Community Police, which will be in the 298 municipalities made up of members of the National Police, civil society, private companies, non-governmental organizations, judges and fiscal authorities.

(Editor’s note: A “mesa de seguridad ciudadana” is a governance network that brings together citizens with authorities from all levels of government in the construction of a common agenda on security and justice. Through dialogue and collaboration, it builds agreements and defines action measures of local scope. Citizens exercise co-responsibility by participating in the preparation of the agenda and following up on the agreements. The work model of the “Mesas de seguridad” prioritizes a horizontal organization, similar to that of restorative justice.)


President Xiomara Castro launched yesterday in Santa Bárbara the new security model for the country. The Minister and Deputy Minister of Security and the police leadership were present. Photos: Franklyn Munoz.

According to the authorities of the National Police, the Community Police model is not new, since it already existed, but now it seeks to create a stronger link with citizens and the habit of reporting, as well as creating and developing programs that collaborate in the prevention and deterrence of crime.

This new security strategy involves five pillars, according to the police leaders:

* respect for human rights,

*return to the community,

*decentralization and autonomy,

*prevention of conflict,

*and the creation of a new public security institution.

(Article continued in the right column)

(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Discussion questions

Restorative justice, What does it look like in practice?

(Article continued from left column)

This security model of the Castro government includes the community police officers carrying out social surveillance in the intervened neighborhoods and the Military Police combating the maras and gangs through their crime deterrence techniques.

“Now we have to put it into action and put it into practice, we must attend to all the needs that arise within a social group and with the participation of all, and how the Government can collect all the data and translate it into benefits for society,” explained Ramón Sabillón, Minister of Security.

Prevention

The president of the republic, Xiomara Castro, pointed out in her speech that prevention policies “in our country are necessary, especially to reduce the levels of insecurity that we have inherited. In the past we have acted in the cases of homicides and delinquency, but now the most important action must be prevention in our communities and our peoples, which has not previously been addressed.

The president said that the actors will be the “patronatos”, the water collectives, the associations of peasants, farmers, ranchers and neighborhood collectives.

“I want to promote a culture of peace and citizen participation in our country with preventive actions, establishing bonds of trust and proximity between the Police and the community. The proximity of the police with the people is the main asset that the Community Police needs in orde to fulfill this new role that is assigned today,” Castro said.

The director of the National Police, Gustavo Sánchez, said that violence and criminality have generated 65,000 homicides in the last 12 years “due to their poor treatment and poor approach.

The launch of the Community Police with the strategy of “mesas de seguridad ciudadana” seeks the participation and co-responsibility of citizens”.

“There will be a more timely, effective and respectful service, including for the offender who will be referred to the courts or to the competent bodies,” said the director of the Community Police, Germán Sánchez.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America