Category Archives: Latin America

Brazil: Ecocine International Film Festival of Environmental and Human Rights

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from the Folha de Pernambuco (abridged)

The Ecocine International Environmental Film and Human Rights Festival begins today and continues until the 5th ( https://ecocine.eco.br/), an online meeting that gathers documentary series and films that focus on the environment. The virtual event brings together a list of 134 films in streaming from 35 countries, including Brazil, India, Holland, Malawi, France, USA and Iran.


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

Question for this article:

Film festivals that promote a culture of peace, Do you know of others?

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The films address issues of an urgent nature with global impact. There are special sessions for children, adolescents and educators. All sessions are free.

Freedom

According to the event’s founder and anthropologist, Ariane Porto, the themes of environmental and human rights are so many and so urgent, that the voices coming from all directions meet and sometimes clash. ”We chose this year to honor “Liberdade.” Freedom to be, to be, to come. Freedom to stay, to rebuild, to resist, to change. Freedom of body, spirit, mind. And, fundamentally, freedom to live in a socially and environmentally sustainable world, where all species, human or not, have the right to exist”, she writes on the event’s website.

Free

Among the highlights is “From trash to treasure” (photo), a documentary directed by the Brazilian Iara Lee, which portrays a community in Lesotho, Africa, which transforms tons of garbage into everyday clothes and accessories. Another one in the spotlight is “Professor Polvo”, a film that is included in the race for an Oscar statuette this year – in the Documentary category, available on Netflix. The catalog can be accessed on the event website through quick registration.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Generation Equality Forum: Mexico City, 29-31 March 2021

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An announcement from Foro Generacion Igualdad

The Generation Equality Forum will kick off in Mexico City 29-31 March 2021, hosted by the Government of Mexico.

With civil society at its core, the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico will reinforce the power and voice of feminist movements and youth and the commitment and action of different stake holders, including high level representatives from Member States, the private sector, and international organizations.

By analyzing progress and gaps since the 1995 Beijing Women’s conference, including the heightened urgency posed by the COVID crisis, the event will make the case for strengthened intergenerational and transformative feminist leadership and accelerated action on gender equality.

As the kick-off for the Generation Equality Forum journey, the event will:

– Launch the work of the Action Coalitions, and their calls for action for urgent implementation and investment

– Develop a multilateral feminist agenda to sharpen the Generation Equality Forum vision towards Paris

– Integrate the formation of a multilateral alliance of countries to promote the gender equality agenda

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(Click here for a Spanish version.)

Questions for this article

Does the UN advance equality for women?

Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?

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The event will include a series of dialogues that will address the structural and systemic obstacles that prevent the achievement of gender equality and fulfillment of the human rights of women and girls.

This event presents a historic opportunity to promote the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and is aligned with the feminist foreign policy promoted by the Government of Mexico.

The Generation Equality Forum is a civil society–centred, global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. Kicking off in Mexico City, Mexico, on 29–31 March 2021, and culminating in Paris, France, in June 2021, this landmark effort will bring together governments, corporations and changemakers from around the world to define and announce ambitious investments and policies. The Forum will propel concrete, ambitious, and transformative commitments for gender equality.

Registration for the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City is now open at this link, and an FAQ about the event is available here.

The Forum responds to the fact that—despite the commitments made in Beijing in 1995 to take strategic, bold action on gender equality—progress and implementation has been slow. Not a single country today can claim to have achieved gender equality. With women’s rights at risk of rolling back further as a result of the COVID-19 crisis—due to heightened poverty and risks of gender-based violence—the Forum is a rallying point to finally achieve the human rights of all women and girls.

The Generation Equality Forum will also fuel a powerful and enduring coalition for gender equality, bringing together governments, activists, corporations, feminist organizations, youth and allies to achieve transformative change.

To learn more about the Forum in Mexico, the Action Coalitions and to stay up-to-date on all the latest developments, visit the Generation Equality Forum website.

global, Latin America, United Nations, WOMEN'S EQUALITY, ,

Spain: First-person testimonies: this is how we fight for gender equality by activism and participation

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Toledo Diario (translation by CPNN)

The fight for gender equality is global and transversal. Mutual support, collaboration networks and alliances are essential for the achievement of rights that in some countries have advanced more than in others. For all this, activism and social participation have become a powerful tool that Development NGOs now want to show as an example of these global actions.


Image by Antonio Cansino from Pixabay

The multimedia project “Weaving Alliances for Gender Equality” has as its objective to collect, both online and in a printed publication, about fifteen projects around the world. It has been prepared by the Coordinator of NGOs in Castilla-La Mancha in collaboration with groups from various countries and with the support of the Women’s Institute of this autonomous community. And the result is dozens of testimonies to learn, raise awareness and fight for this International Women’s Day, and every day of the year.

This project is part of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that constitute the roadmap to achieve sustainable development where “no one is left behind”, especially SDG 5, which seeks to achieve equality between gender and empower all women and girls by 2030.

The Coordinator highlights that in a context of global inequality, the alliances between local and regional governments, NGDOs, local counterparts, unions, universities and citizens, are needed to promote the principles of the 2030 Agenda and enhance its most transformative elements. “These alliances reinforce the capacities of governments, civil organizations and citizens that defend human rights; they sensitize and mobilize the commitment and involvement of citizens towards sustainable development and promote effective actions to combat inequalities ”.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?

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

The proof is this multimedia project, where we can hear from its protagonists first-hand.

One of them is Elena Emperatriz Santiso, participant in the SOLMAN and ADICOMAR equality project for the empowerment of women, to improve their economic independence and know their rights. Various trainings adapted to the context were designed to empower women, to improve economic independence and to know their rights. These training in dressmaking, beauty or hairdressing, accompanied by training in rights, not only allowed for greater economic independence, but women began to recognize that they had rights and, if they were violated, there were legal mechanisms to report them. Click here for her testimony in Spanish

Another testimony is that of the Alianza de Mujeres en el Corredor del Cribe Project, in which SodePaz participates, and which develops within the framework of an agreement between non-governmental organizations of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba to address issues related to the social and solidarity economy from an environmental perspective. It incorporates the cultural and gender dimension, and everything that implies sustainable development in that region. Olita Jean is a participant in this initiative in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. Here is her testimony in Spanish.

Oxfam Intermón develops the “Together We Victory” initiative to support Colombian women who fight for the protection of civil rights and the environment. In this context, women defenders, rural women, involved in a reality of inequality, risk and abuse in the exploitation of natural resources of their land, are united in the Platform for Political Advocacy of Rural Women of Colombia. They can obtain support from Oxfam Intermón to raise their voice and increase the visibility of their actions and the dangers they face. Thanks to this campaign, a joint circular has been signed for the first time between the different control entities of the Government of Colombia to guarantee the rights of rural women. In it, public servants are urged to comply with the regulations that are already in place and whose non-compliance will generate disciplinary actions. Laura Victoria Gómez Correa, from the Right to Equality Program in Colombia, speaks. Here is her testimony in Spanish.

Nurses for the World is the protagonist of another of the initiatives of these alliances. It is about their work in the fight and prevention of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Bolivia. In the last workshop “It’s about you”, held within the framework of the II International Forum “Toledo, Culture of Peace”, the proposal was very well received and the people who initially attended out of curiosity, ended the workshop being more aware the meaning, causes and consequences of human trafficking and smuggling. Miriam Montero Gómezes technician of Nurses for the World projects speaks here in Spanish.

Finally, the Assembly for Cooperation for Peace (ACPP) contributes to this project the experience of the women protagonists in 2011 of the so-called Arab Spring. They raised their voices to demand social and political improvements that would consolidate human rights. With them, this NGO works in the Maghreb, to support and strengthen civil movements and associations that promote women’s rights, so that they are the engine of change in their countries. Anna Rispa is a reference of the Assembly of Cooperation for Peace in the Maghreb. Here is her testimony in Spanish.

Europe, Latin America, Mideast, WOMEN'S EQUALITY, ,

Mexico: Second Edition of the International Festival of Cinema for the Culture of Peace

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Asi Sucede

The second edition of the International Festival of Cinema for the Culture of Peace will take place from 17-21 March as a virtual event free of charge.


The Festival will have three sections. First is the Rally in which nine production teams are given 72 hours to produce short films. The teams will have access to a collection of films in order to create their unique stories. Their films will be screened at the end of the Festival.

The second section is the International Exposition with projection of films from over 19 countries.

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

Question for this article:

Film festivals that promote a culture of peace, Do you know of others?

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The third is the “Territory without Repose” in which the film producers share their experiences.

A press conference took place this Wednesday [March 3] with the organizers of the Festival. They explained how it will be available virtually on social media.

Ricardo Braojos, the festival director explained that “We are going to hold a series of round tables. Two roundtables will be with the producers and directors of the short films who will present the films in four programs. Four round tables will be concerned with women in cinema, how they have been portrayed and also how the image of women on the screen has changed throughout history, as well as the role of women as filmmakers ”

One short film and one feature film will be screened each day and will be available on line for 24 hours. At the end of each screening, the filmmakers will share their experience filming their project.

All the activities and screenings of the International Film Festival for a Culture of Peace will be broadcast through their social networks; on Facebook FICCPAz; as well as on its website, where the complete program will also be available.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

The Rotary Club of Pétion-Ville : promoting the culture of peace in Haiti

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from Le Nouvelliste (translation by CPNN)

In line with the February priority of Rotary International for peace and the prevention and resolution of conflicts, the Rotary Club of Pétion-Ville held the first edition of its symposium for education to promote the culture of peace. It was held at the hotel Montana with the paarticipation of several representatives of organizations that work with children.


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(Click here for the original article in French.)

Question related to this article:

 
Are the people of Haiti making progress toward a culture of peace?

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Carine Cléophat, the president of the Rotary Club considered that it was a successful day. In her remarks to open the symposium, she said, “The Rotary Club of Pétion-Ville is launching a project to promote the culture of peace in the schools affiliated with the Club as well as the general public in order to commemorate the month of February, the month of peace for Rotary International.” As a first experiment, it was considered a success by the organization with regard to the different themes that were debated, and the testimonies of the participants who said in conclusion that they appreciated the idea that it will be continued in future years.

The symposium was organized around three dimensions (themes): Father Marc Henry Simeon took charge of the spiritual dimension. The psychologist Melodie Benjamin dealt with the family dimension. And the economist Etzer Emile considered the economic dimension of peace.

Following the interventions of the panelists, the organizers proposed practical applications. Groups were created to participate in workshops.

Means to establish a real peace were proposed. They were considered, studied and recorded by the organizers from the Rotary Club, according to President Carine Cléophat.

The next symposium is planned to take place in February 2022, to include a wider range of participants and additional publicity.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Over a Million Mobilize for International Women’s Day in Latin America

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article with photos from Left Voice

Millions across Latin America took the streets on March 8 for International Women’s Day. All over, the message was clear: women want an end to all violence and oppression.


Video

Throughout Latin America, people mobilized on March 8 and/or 9 for International Women’s Day. International Working Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, commemorates a textile workers strike in New York City. Inspired by the actions of the women’s worker movements in the United States and elsewhere, German Socialist Clara Zetkin proposed to designate March 8 as International Women’s Day during the International Socialist Women’s Congress of 1910.



In the past few years, the day has taken on new life with massive mobilizations around the world. Here, we highlight some of the biggest mobilizations in Latin America.

Chile

In Chile, millions gathered across the country for a historic International Working Women’s Day demonstration on March 8. In the capital city of Santiago alone, over a million people took to the streets and squares. A giant green bandana was laid in the heart of the square by the socialist-feminist group, Pan y Rosas, and read a central demand for women across Latin America — that of free, legal, and safe abortions.


The massive protest in Santiago, Chile

The mobilizations in Chile are particularly noteworthy since they occur amidst ongoing protests against the political regime. In the days leading up to Sunday, March 8, hundreds of thousands gathered in the central square in Santiago and the front-line of the protests, Plaza de la Dignidad, chanting “Chile Despertó”, that “Chile has woken up”. The marches and demonstrations before and on March 8 put the demands of the movement front and center. Chants and slogans amplified the months-long demand for the resignation of the President, Sebastian Piñera, and against the repression by the police who have mercilessly unleashed violence on the protesters for months.

Since March 8 was on a Sunday, various women’s organizations as well as coordination groups called for a strike on Monday, March 9. However, due to the lack of support from unions, these strike actions were confined to particular workplaces, as opposed to last year’s general strikes against the Pinera government. The Chilean state prepared for the strike actions by gathering its repressive forces, putting up road blockades  in key neighborhoods in Santiago, and violently attacking and arresting school students  who were making their way to Plaza de la Dignidad. In the Antofagasta, a town that has become central to the coordination of the anti-government movement, teachers, education workers, and students are playing a central role to ensure the success of the strike. In addition to demanding an end to the Piñera regime, they’re making historic demands for better working conditions, including free public education.

Mexico

In Mexico, hundreds of thousands gathered across the country for demonstrations on March 8. In Mexico City, over 150,000 women turned out to protest inequality, violence, and oppression, while the march in the western city of Guadalajara was over 30,000 strong. This was the biggest March 8 protest in Mexican history. On March 9,  many women walked off the job for “A Day Without a Woman.”


Massive protest on March 8 in Mexico City.

The primary motor for the protest was the indignation with femicides, which are all too common in Mexico. Femicides in Mexico have increased by 137% in the last five years. In 2019 alone, about 10 women were killed every day. Thousands more have gone missing. 

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Questions for this article

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?

How can we be sure to get news about peace demonstrations?

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Protesters also spoke out against the precariousness of work and layoffs due to austerity measures. In Mexico City, over 1,000 people marched with Pan y Rosas, the socialist feminist group with a clearly anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal message that for the end of women’s oppression and for socialist revolution.  

These demonstrations have been the largest mobilizations since the beginning of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency in 2018. López Obrador overwhelmingly won his election on the basis of progressive rhetoric and promises . However, while in office López Obrador has maintained austerity measures and has not taken steps to stop the epidemic of femicides in Mexico— in fact, femicides have increased during his mandate. The right to an abortion is still confined to Mexico City and Oaxaca, leading to countless deaths due to illegal and unsafe abortions. 

Uruguay

Nearly 300,000 people took the streets in Montevideo, Uruguay on March 8. This year, March 8 was particularly important due to the rise of a right-wing government in Uruguay. As La Izquierda Diario Uruguay writes, “The threat that all these reactionary sectors make is the loss of our historical conquests such as the right to abortion or marriage equality. They are religious and anti-rights sectors that today feel impunity to wave their flags provocatively because they are backed by the State.” In fact, in the days before the march, police repression increased against street vendors and youth in working class neighborhoods. 


At the International Women’s Day March, the police were out in full force, with water cannons and riot gear, prepared to act against the marchers. 

Argentina

Over a hundred thousand people across Argentina mobilized on March 9 for International Working Women’s Day. A Catholic mass against the right to an abortion on March 8 and there were smaller actions for the right to an abortion by left and feminist groups. One of the primary debates among organizers o the feminist movement had to do with the day of protest. Feminist groups that support the Alberto Fernandez government argued against a confrontation with the Catholic church on March 8, while other left and feminist groups stated that it was important to rally on International Women’s Day. 


Even so, on March 9, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country mobilized, demanding the separation of church and state, the right to an abortion, as well as against femicides. The official statement also said “The debt is owed to us, not the IMF and not the church.”  This is particularly important in the context of a massive economic crisis in Argentina and the massive inflation rate. 

Members of the socialist feminist group Pan y Rosas began the day with an action and road blockage in solidarity with teachers that are currently fighting for a salary increase and better working conditions in smaller cities in Argentina. Nathalia González Seligra, a leader of the teachers union in the neighborhood of La Matanza said “While the government wants to negotiate with the IMF and the bondholders, who take millions of dollars from the country, the education workers — overwhelmingly women — have no choice but to work two or three charges to make ends meet.” 

Argentina has had one of the strongest feminist movements in the world over the past five years, starting with massive protests against femicide under the banner of Ni Una Menos (not one less) in 2015. March 8 was revived as a day of massive protest bringing out hundreds of thousands of people starting in 2017. And last year, well over a million people took the streets for the right to an abortion, which was narrowly denied due not only to votes from the right wing parties, but also votes from the “progressive” Peronist coaltion that is now in the government. 

A few days ago, the President of Argentina announced that he would present a law to Congress to legalize abortion — seemingly a different law than the one written by the feminist movement and presented to Congress last year. The new law hasn’t been made public yet, although there was some speculation that it would be presented yesterday for International Women’s Day. 

From Santiago to Mexico City, millions took to the streets waving green bandanas for abortion rights. Throughout Latin America, the message was overwhelmingly similar — women want an end to violence and oppression. As the anger at the demonstrations show, even “progressive” governments have been inadequate in addressing even the most basic demands of the feminist movement. The growth and interventions of groups like Pan y Rosas, however, show us a path to victory: one built with a coalition of working class women, students, and youth that can challenge the very capitalist system that exploits and oppresses us.

This article was based on articles from the La Izquierda Diario news network. 

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Emails Reveal: U.S. Officials Sided With Agrochemical Giant Bayer to Overturn Mexico’s Glyphosate Ban

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Kenny Stancilde from Ecowatch

While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has given farmers in the country a 2024 deadline to stop using glyphosate, The Guardian reported  Tuesday that agrochemical company Bayer, industry lobbyist CropLife America, and U.S. officials have been pressuring Mexico’s government to drop its proposed ban on the carcinogenic pesticide.


”

The corporate and U.S.-backed attempt to coerce Mexico into maintaining its glyphosate imports past 2024 has unfolded, as journalist Carey Gillam detailed in the newspaper, “over the last 18 months, a period in which Bayer was negotiating an $11 billion settlement of legal claims brought by people in the U.S. who say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma due to exposure” to glyphosate-based products, such as Roundup.

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Question for this article:
 
Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

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Roundup, one of the world’s mostly widely-used herbicides, was created by Monsanto which was acquired by Bayer in 2018.

According to The Guardian, which obtained internal documents via a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), “The pressure on
Mexico is similar to actions  Bayer and chemical industry lobbyists took to kill a glyphosate ban planned by Thailand in 2019. Thailand officials had also cited concerns for public health in seeking to ban the weed killer, but reversed course after U.S. threats about trade disruption.”

In addition to instructing Mexico’s farmers to stop using glyphosate by 2024, the López Obrador administration on Dec. 31, 2020 issued a “final decree” calling for “a phase-out  of the planting and consumption of genetically engineered corn, which farmers often spray with glyphosate, a practice that often leaves residues of the pesticide in finished food products,” the news outlet noted.

The Mexican government has characterized  the restrictions as an effort to improve the nation’s “food security and sovereignty” and to protect its wealth of biological as well as cultural diversity and farming communities.

Mexico’s promotion of human and environmental health, however, “has triggered fear in the United States for the health of agricultural exports, especially Bayer’s glyphosate products,” Gillam wrote.

Latin America, North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,

Colombia: Impulse Travel – Sustainable tourism committed to Peace

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from Caracol Radio (translation by CPNN)

Impulse Travel, a sustainable tourism company that has been working in the industry for 10 years, was a winner in the category of “Peace, Social Justice and Solid Institutions” in the SDGs Global Startup Competition, a competition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Since the signing of the Peace Agreement, this company has focused on peace-building.  They have worked with different post-conflict populations for peace, productivity and sustainability processes, adding them to their value chain and giving them a share of the tourism market.

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(Click here for the Spanish version)

Questions related to this article:
 
How can tourism promote a culture of peace?

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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“We see these communities as partners, as a social enterprise that are part of the Value chain.  We work with social leaders who are leaders for changes in a community that are productive, cultural, gastronomic (…) we seek these social transformation projects and adapt them to our business ”, says Rodrigo Atuesta, CEO of Impulse Travel.

In addition, Lizeth Riaño, leader of strategy and impact product, sees in sustainable tourism “an opportunity to convince travelers that their tourism contributes to these communities by generating income for the territories. We see it as an opportunity and a challenge, to convince Colombians to get to know these regions and invest in them ”

The company recognizes that these are not experiences for everyone, since most visitors from abroad come for the first time and may be very clear about the type of experiences they want to live. ” The most important thing is to find the audience that vibrates with the same frequency as us, ” continues Atuesta.

This year, after a 2020 pandemic, Impulse Travel is working in a branch dedicated to finding these initiatives in communities in the process of social transformation, and giving them comprehensive support in addition to the tourism dimension.  It’s a great challenge to understand how initiatives work and to link them directly to the market. 

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Colombia: Cultural spaces for the construction of peace

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from RPTV Noticias

Young people have a role in building peace. This is how the organizations that make up the youth fabric have understood it, a group from the town of Rafael Uribe Uribe in Bogotá, one of the towns most effected by the armed conflict in the capital.


Video of Cultural Spaces

“What we want to show is that we have a conscience, we want a change and we are doing things to make that change real. Relating to the territory gives me the sense of belonging to the place where I have grown up, where I have been and it makes me realize the realities that are around me, ”said Nicolás Chávez.

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(Click here for the article in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

How important is community development for a culture of peace?

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?, What is, or should be, their role in our movement?

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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With their actions the youth have worked to generate new ways of appropriating the territory, preventing violence and promoting inclusion through artistic expressions.

In this community work, the main protagonists are young people, who with art and culture reflect leadership as a fundamental pillar to transform their spaces.

“The initiative of the murals is the demilitarization of life. It is one of the most beautiful ways of expressing what we feel. It is a way of reaching young people since it is a part with which they identify,” said Sofia Alfonso Cantor.

Youth fabric interprerts peace as a space for exchange, based on respect and collective participation.

This is how Nicolás Chavez, resident of the Rafael Uribe Uribe town and who participates in these conferences, highlighted the importance of these spaces: “for us the construction of peace is a state of well-being, to be among everyone, in a place, a space where we can all feel good ”.

Youth fabric that is part of the research carried out by the Compaz Foundation, for its appropriation of the territory to build citizenship, to promote dialogue and collective decision-making, a clear example of the role played by civil society organizations in the building a culture of peace.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Oaxaca, Mexico: Judicial Power privileges culture of peace with alternative justice

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article from NVI Noticias (translation by CPNN)

The head of the State Judiciary, Judge Eduardo Pinacho Sánchez, affirmed that mediation, conciliation, arbitration and restorative justice are alternative methods of conflict resolution through dialogue between the people involved. This allows them to resolve their problems without the need to go to a judge, since it gives the parties the opportunity to agree through free will, cooperation and communication, strengthening the culture of peace.

“It is often thought that the judicial process is a peaceful method of resolution, but sometimes it is not like that because it re-victimizes and is more difficult. Instead, there are more friendly procedures such as alternative justice”, he emphasized in an interview for an opinion radio space.

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(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Discussion questions

Restorative justice, What does it look like in practice?

Mediation as a tool for nonviolence and culture of peace

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The president of the Superior Court of Justice and the Council of the Judiciary indicated that this is a traditional way used in Oaxaca for a long time by indigenous peoples and communities to resolve differences between their inhabitants in a daily and effective way.

After emphasizing that alternative methods of conflict resolution contribute to a peaceful environment, he pointed out that it is also an issue that must be promoted from the family and the basic levels of education to instill in young people the culture of peace and dialogue.

Among the challenges that persist is this issue, Judge Pinacho Sánchez mentioned the strengthening of training for mediators and having more human, material and technological resources.

For her part, the director of the Alternative Justice Center of the State Judicial Branch, Betzzaida Cruz Mendoza, commented that in Oaxaca the experience in conflict resolution through alternative methods has been positive in allowing to address neighborhood issues and matters of family, civil and even criminal conflict with good results since the objective of mediation is to promote the culture of peace.

The Alternative Justice Center of the State Judiciary is located on Madero road number 908 letter K. Former marquesado, Centro. The telephones are: 951 514 9191 and 800 821 67 89 and the services provided are free.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America