Category Archives: Latin America

16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates

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Press release form the 16th World Nobel Peace Prize Summit (translated by CPNN)

With their final declaration, gathering their thoughts and messages to the world, the 30 or so laureates participating in the 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates formally closed their meeting, which for the first time took place in Latin America.


Click on photo to enlarge
At the closing ceremony of the Summit, held on Saturday, February 4, at 5:30 p.m. in Corferias, their Peace Prize was presented as a recognition to an important world leader for his Actions oriented to peace; as well as the Social Activist Medal for a Colombian leader, and the Social Transformation Award for a youth project that promotes positive change on a local or global scale.

Culture, as an integral and transversal part of this Summit, was also present at the closing ceremony, with presentations by the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, artists César López, Marta Gómez and other special guests that surprised the audience.

FINAL DECLARATION

We, the Nobel Peace Prize laureates, gathered in Bogota to promote world peace and support the efforts of the Colombian people’s to achieve a just and lasting peace, welcome President Juan Manuel Santos to the Nobel family. We congratulate him on the agreement reached to end the internal armed conflict of 52 years. We thank the people, the Colombian civil society, and in particular the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, for their extraordinary support for this Summit.

We are also here in Colombia to share with the Colombian people our own experiences in building peace and to seek a consensus on the fundamental principles that should guide the paths that lead to it.

We welcome the recent signing in November 2016 of the agreement between the Colombian Government and the FARC guerrillas, which ended the last and longest armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere, a conflict that left more than 8 million victims and displaced persons, as well as more than 220 thousand dead.

We highlight some characteristics of the peace process in Colombia, which can be taken as lessons for other conflicts to be resolved in the world:

– The positive and negative experiences of other processes were considered and taken into account.
– The negotiation started from a fundamental postulate: central to the solution of the conflict is the claim and guarantee of the rights of the victims to the truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition.
– An innovative model of transitional justice was achieved that, while respecting international standards, seeks to achieve maximum justice without sacrificing peace.
– The process was carried out in an environment of discretion, patience and seriousness, with periodic communications to the media, avoiding the pressure to produce news or results every day.

We call on the international community to accompany and support the implementation of the peace process in Colombia. This includes ensuring the presence of the State and its services in areas most affected by the conflict; demining of the territory; implementation of the transitional justice system; rural development programs, replacement of illicit crops and reparation for victims; the fight against violence generated by criminal gangs, such as those formed by former paramilitaries, and the reincorporation of ex-guerrillas into civilian life, including the participation of FARC in the political process, once disarmament has been completed.

The agreement to terminate the conflict in Colombia has been the best news of peace on the planet in a long time. That is why, as laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize, we pledge to support the consolidation of that peace, for the benefit of Colombians, the Latin American region and the world.

We also receive with special consideration “The Charter of Colombia: 10 Principles for Peace”, which President Santos has proposed to this Summit for support by his fellow laureates and for international dissemination.

We are confident that the example of Colombia will inspire peoples who face other conflicts to persist in their efforts to find a just and lasting peace.

Challenges to world order and peace have been increasing in recent years and represent a huge challenge for the international community and multilateral institutions. We are deeply concerned about the threat to global cooperation of the new wave of populism, exclusionary nationalism and protectionism. The threats facing humanity can only be addressed if we continue to cooperate globally.

The greatest existential threats to humanity today are climate change and environmental degradation, and the continued existence of more than 14,000 nuclear weapons. The arms race, the continuing wars, the dictatorships, the terrorism – including the terrorism of State -, in their diverse facets and denominations, have sowed and continue to sow death and pain in many countries. We recognize that terrorism can be better combated if social justice, democratic institutions and good governance are guaranteed. The war in Syria and the drama of its population is a wound in the consciousness of humanity that does not stop bleeding. The crisis of refugees and migration continues to escalate. The various migratory waves that we have experienced in recent decades require an unprecedented effort of human solidarity and long-term strategic planning. We must be on our guard to avoid politicizing humanitarian aid. We express our extreme concern about the bombing of hospitals and schools. Other global crises, such as endemic poverty, social injustice, child labor, urban violence, sexual violence against women and children, trafficking in persons, drug trafficking and the devastating effects of the war on drugs continue to claim victims In various regions of the world, and impede sustainable development. In the face of these threats and challenges facing peace, we issue a CALL TO ACTION by the international community, by governments, civil society, youth and the private sector – to:

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

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Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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* Implement the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and advance a coherent global strategy that will ensure the long-term protection of our precious planet;

* Work for inclusive development and sustainable peace, addressing the root causes of poverty and war, giving priority to the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and urge the international community to allocate the necessary financial resources for its implementation;

* Renew the vision of a world without nuclear weapons and support the urgent negotiation of a new treaty to prohibit them, leading to their complete elimination;

* Confirm the need to eradicate other weapons that particularly affect the civilian population, such as anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, as well as to preemptively prohibit fully autonomous weapons, and to control the possession and use of small arms;

* Advance in the development and implementation of coherent and interrelated policies that promote a harmonious and sustainable development of our societies and that generates peace, prosperity and well-being for all – particularly for marginalized children, young people and women -, emphasizing the importance of reducing inequality;

* Work on the compelling evidence that our world will only achieve higher levels of peace, prosperity and development if the rights of women, children and minorities are reflected in peace processes, public policies and budget allocations with clear commitments that lead to more inclusive leadership;

* Promote integrated and inclusive policies that generate productive and quality education and employment that benefit young people, women, victims and those displaced by violence, who are reintegrated into society after a peace process, as well as those discriminated against for ethnic, racist, religious, gender, disability or any other reasons, so that they can be incorporated into the labor force; We call upon States to combat hate speech based on any of these motivations;

* Call on all sectors to make concerted action to end human trafficking, modern slavery, sexual exploitation, child labor and all forms of violence against women and children;

* Advance concerted actions at the global, regional, national and local levels to combat drug trafficking, narco-politics and corruption, and accelerate the process of civil disarmament, always within parameters of protection and guarantee of human rights; We must not allow the criminalization of human rights defenders and we must resolutely oppose new forms of racism, discrimination or xenophobia;

* Promote campaigns and program development in which youth, teachers, civil society, social and technological networks take a responsible and active part in order to strengthen a culture of peace;

* Urge States to include public policies that promote and strengthen education for peace;

* Develop a complete, modern and effective operational peace architecture, including improving the means for resolving international disputes and disputes, for sustainable peace and for advancing a broad, common and inclusive strategy to end conflicts, war and the threat of war;

* Defend and revitalize the United Nations, strengthening the supremacy of law at the international level and at the level of the member countries of the organization, and condemning impartially and forcefully all violations of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law, repression and persecution of peaceful opposition, and the massacres of civilians carried out with impunity; We call upon States and the international community to ensure the rule of law;

We invite the States, peoples and religions of the world to recognize and understand the interdependence between people, communities and nations, in a sense of unity, compassion and solidarity. Only in this way can we transform the Earth – the common home of the human family – into a world in peace.

Nobel Peace Laureates who confirmed their participation in the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Bogota:

Lech Wałęsa
Óscar Arias Sánchez
Rigoberta Menchú Tum
José Ramos-Horta
Jody Williams
David Trimble
Shirin Ebadi
Mohamed El-Baradei
Leymah Gbowee
Tawakkul Karman
Kailash Satyarthi
Juan Manuel Santos

Click
here to see a history of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

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2017 Declared the Year of the Promotion of the Culture of Peace in El Salvador

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An article from Prensa Latina

The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador declared today [January 12] that 2017 will be recognized as the Year of the Promotion of the Culture of Peace. The initiative was presented to parliament by the Executive and backed by negotiators and signatories of the Peace Accords, in the context of the 25th Anniversary of the Peace Accords, signed in 1992, Mexico, which ended 12 years of armed conflict.

According to the endorsed motion, 25 years after the signing of the Peace Accords, it is necessary to return to the spirit of the Accords and to raise awareness in the present and future generations of preserving peace in a firm and lasting way.

The declaration aims to promote civic and ethical values ​​in Salvadoran society, to lead to the promotion of solidarity in a framework of harmonious and peaceful coexistence.

It also seeks to transmit the values ​​of peace and non-violence to the population, understanding peace not only as an absence of war, but as the result of a state of equality, justice and solidarity and the eradication of any kind of violence, either direct or structural.

Click here for the original Spanish version of this article.

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Haiti: Artist profiles: Boukman Eksperyans

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from World Music Central

The revolutionary music of Boukman Eksperyans is a unique blend of roots, Vodou jazz, Zairian soukous and reggae, built on a foundation of traditional African rhythms and Caribbean melodies.


Video of Boukman Eksperyans

The band also promotes a spiritual message of freedom, unity, and faith, taking its name from a Haitian revolutionary named Boukman Dutty, a slave and Vodou priest who helped unify the Haitian slaves in a revolution against the French colonists in 1791.

Boukman’s first CD, Voudou Adjae, introduced traditional Vodou to a worldwide audiencetheir second, Kalfou Danjere (Dangerous Crossroads), was a direct response to the military overthrow of then Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The group’s third release, Liberte (Pran pou Pran’l!) was recorded while the group was in exile in Kingston, Jamaica.

On July 29th, 2002, lead singers Theodore “Lolo” Beaubrun, Jr. and his wife, Mimerose “Manze” Pierre Beaubrun of Boukman Eksperyans were named official United Nations Ambassadors for Peace and Goodwill by the World Association of Former United Nations Interns and Fellows (WAFUNIF).

This distinguished title of United Nations Goodwill Ambassador was bestowed on Lolo and Manze in recognition of their tireless efforts to promote Love, Peace, Respect and Unity through their music, which has transcended all cultural barriers. They were also been asked to spearhead the creation of WAFUNIF’s Culture of Peace Learning Center in Haiti, which will be a school designed to introduce modern technology to poor countries around the world.

The school will provide poor, underprivileged children with computers, books, music and dance programs, and other digitally enhanced approaches to learning. The schools are created as part of a mandate for a Culture of Peace established in the UN General Assembly resolution 53/25 on the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World 2001-2010.

While the members of Boukman Eksperyans survived the devastating Earthquake to their homeland of Haiti, each has been personally affected as all Haitians have been.

 

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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Cherán. 5 years of self-government in an indigenous community in Mexico

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Alejandra González Hernández and Víctor Alfonzo Zertuche Cobos for openDemocracy (Translation by Andrea Janet Serna Hernández and Itzel Cruz Ruiz)

The struggle of Cherán is one of the most important emerging social movements of recent years in Mexico, both for its visibility and for the political, economic, social and cultural alternative that the community is building. It is a lively movement, with its campfires still burning, still fighting and resisting. Its experience has inspired indigenous communities throughout Mexico, who seek respect for their rights, territory, institutions and culture.


The second Council took charge on September 1st, 2015.
Authors’ photograph
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San Francisco Cherán, is an indigenous community of the Purépecha town located in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. It has a territorial extension of 221,000 square kilometers and a population of 14,245 inhabitants, making it the largest Purépecha community in terms of territory. It originally counted some 27,000 hectares of forest. The main economic activities are agriculture, livestock farming and the production of wood and cork products.

Cherán is the only municipality inhabited mainly by indigenous Purépecha, a culture that seeks to preserve its identity and cultural traits, which are closely linked to concerns about the fertility of the land and care of resources. The community of Cherán has occupied this territory since before the colonization process. It has conserved its own institutions to organize itself in the political, cultural, economic and social sphere, and this has been reflected in its social dynamics. The inhabitants of the municipality have combined their own practices with the national law, in a dual law regime.

However, recently, particularly between 2008 and 2011, this community experienced one of its worst periods of crisis due to the insecurity and violence arising from the municipal authorities’ complicity with organized crime. They cut down a wide swathe of Cherán’s forests unannounced and extorted, threatened, kidnapped and murdered the villagers. They carried out these activities in broad daylight.

The state and federal authorities showed no will to address the resulting mayhem and violence suffered by the community and to protect the common patrimony of the people (territory, forests and water). The Purépecha community of Cherán decided to take the problem into their own hands.

Beginnings of the movement

The movement of the indigenous community of Cherán emerged at dawn on April 15, 2011. Ordinary people decided to confront the criminal organizations that came down from the hill with several vans loaded with wood. Thus began the resistance of the Purepecha community of Cherán. Women and men, children and adults concentrated on the site named “Calvary” to defend life, their security, territory, forests and the dignity of the community. Regardless of political affiliation, belief or religion, all the inhabitants of Cherán joined together on that April 15 without thinking where their insurrection would lead them.

From that day on, the “comuneros” decided to organize under their own scheme, driving away organized crime. After the expulsion of the municipal authorities, an “organizational structure” composed of a general coordination and 12 commissions took over the control of the entire community. They built barricades on all the accesses to the municipality and started to establish guard posts to enable comuneros to defend themselves in the four neighborhoods of the municipality. Some 200 campfires – of which several have remained active up to this day – were set up at these guard posts and became the symbols of the resistance, and the will of the comuneros to free themselves from organized crime and corrupted authorities. With the slogan “for the defense of our forests, for the safety of our comuneros” they aimed at defending their natural resources, valued as a heritage and as a sacred good of the community.

At the same time, the problem of Cherán became visible to several sectors of Mexican society and resonated with them. Similar problems were suffered by indigenous communities throughout the country, including the devastation of natural resources, human rights violations and social exclusion. All of this was aggravated by the involvement of organized crime and the lack of will or any action on the part of the authorities to solve the situation.
From the spaces known as “campfires” and the “organizational structure”, the comuneros began to discuss, to reflect on alternative projects and actions to solve the problems they were suffering. They quickly identified that political parties did not guarantee the security and cultural continuity of Cherán. On June 1, 2011, the community general assembly decided not to take part in the elections for the state governors and legislators and the municipal presidents that were to be held in 2011 and not to allow the installation of polling stations in the municipality. Instead, they decided to exercise their right to appoint their own authorities through their own normative systems.

The rights to autonomy and self-determination had been recognized by international treaties as well as by the national legal system. Cheran thus decided to move forward along this path and to eliminate the local political party system, with the slogan of “No more political parties in the community”. It thus asked the electoral institute of the state of Michoacán to organize the appointment of new municipal authorities of the community under the traditional system of “uses and customs”.

The state authorities tried to stop the movement of Cherán. In September 2011, the Electoral Institute of Michoacan issued a negative response, declaring it had no authority to authorize such a mode of elections. To the social and political mobilizations that were the bases of the movement until then, the comuneros now decided to add the adoption of a legal strategy to defend its autonomy and alternative project.

The legal strategy of the movement

Cherán decided to mobilize the law as a political and legal strategy. They used state (and hegemonic) law in a “counter-hegemonic sense” to materialize their struggle for self-determination and to form their self-government. In response to the EIM (Electoral Institute of Michoacan), the community decided to judicialize its right to “autonomy and self-determination”. They demanded in the courts the right to choose their own authorities based on the system of “uses and customs”, through a “Trial for the Protection of the Political-Electoral Rights of the Citizen” in the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (ETJPF, or TEPJF by their initials in Spanish).

Two months later, on November 2, 2011, the Superior Chamber of the ETJPF ruled in favor of the indigenous community of Cherán. It recognized that Cherán had the right to request the election of its own authorities through its “uses and customs” and ordered the EIM to organize this election, after free and informed consultation with the entire community.

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(Click here for the Spanish version of this article)

Question for discussion

The understanding of indigenous peoples, Can it help us cultivate a culture of peace?

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Following this triumph of a counter-hegemonic use of state law and the ETJPF decision, a “free, prior and informed consultation” was organized in the community to decide whether or not it wanted to appoint its new authorities through its “uses and customs”. The result of the consultation was positive. In January 2012, a democratic election was duly held, giving rise to the constitution of a new government figure: the first indigenous municipal government, called “Mayor Council of Communal Government” (Concejo Mayor de Gobierno Comunal), composed of 12 “K’eris” (seniors) chosen among the “comuneros” and “comuneras” (members of the community), three for each of four districts. There is no hierarchy among them, that is to say, all occupy the same position within the communal government. They were appointed for a 3-year period 2012-2015.

The first time, a “uses and customs” election was organized by the EIM and by the community itself, respecting its own procedures, through a kind of ritual, without ballot boxes and without political parties. It differs from the model of “uses and customs” in the Southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, as the later system only serves a procedural function in the election of its authorities. In the case of Cherán, there was a “transformation in the structure, logic and relations of the municipal government”, when the hierarchical figures of “president, elected representatives and councillor” disappears and the government becomes a genuinely collegial body.

The new communal government

Following these elections, the seat of the city council or municipal palace was transformed into the “Communal House of Government”. The police were replaced by a “community round”. The municipal president, representatives and councillors take part in a “Common Council of Communal Government”; Likewise, “operational councils” have been constituted as well as “commissions” for civil affairs, social development, procurement and conciliation of justice, education, culture, health, identity, campfires, water, cleanliness and youth. All them are aware that the maximum authority is the “General Assembly” composed of all the inhabitants of Cherán.

From April 2011 to February 2012, Cherán’s social movement moved considerably forward, both in its political and legal struggles. Winning the right to elect its own authorities and exercise their right to self-determination allowed them to establish a solid basis – the communal government – for the continuation of the emancipatory movement. The path towards autonomy was set up. But the journey went far beyond constituting a government under the system of “uses and customs”.

Other legal struggles of the movement and the second Council

In 2012, shortly after the appointment of the first mayoral council and already as Cherán’s authorities, the community returned to the courts to start another trial, this time in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), against the Governor and the Congress of the State of Michoacán. The latter had overhauled the Political Constitution of this region in matters of indigenous rights without having consulted the Cherán community, thereby overlooking another of the core rights of indigenous peoples and communities.

The ruling given by the SCJN in the trial of 2014 secured the dual character of Cherán, as both a municipality and as an indigenous community. This was officially recognized for the first time. As a result, the tribunal also established that in its capacity as an “indigenous municipality”, Cherán must be consulted on all legislative and administrative matters that interest or affect them as a community and as an indigenous municipality.

The issues brought to trial by Cherán and given legal backing by the highest courts in Mexico represent a major achievement. However, despite these judicial successes that have ratified the indigenous rights of the community, lawmakers in Michoacán have refused to amend the laws on matters integral to the municipality which involve recognition of Cherán’s indigenous municipality. Likewise, in electoral matters, the elections and authorities by “uses and customs” have also not been recognized.

Given the refusal of the state to cooperate, Cherán has continued to resist through communal organization in its campfires, neighborhood assemblies, and general assembly. Comuneros and comuneras get involved in the decisions of their community and support their local authorities. In 2014, Cherán had to go back to court once more, to remind the authorities of the rights it had won. Following that trial, the process of elections by “uses and customs” has finally been incorporated into the Electoral Law.

In 2015, Cherán’s struggle succeeded in integrating “previous, free and informed consultation” into state law. It prevented the state Congress from approving a “Law of Mechanisms of Citizen Participation” which did not recognise the consultation rights of indigenous peoples and communities. This mechanism is essential to ensuring communities’ participation in decision-making processes through their traditional procedures. Cherán made the consultation “binding”, which has opened a door for all indigenous communities in the state of Michoacan to get their voices heard in decision making processes

2015 was also the year of the appointment of the second Mayoral Council of Communal Government. The community decided to continue with its project of autonomy, self-determination and self-government. The political parties tried to interfere in the process of the renewal of the Council. Their failure to do so and the successes of Cherán in the tribunals gave considerable strength to the second election of the local authorities and to the second Council of Communal Government that took charge on September 1, 2015.

5 years of resistance and struggle

On April 15, 2016, the movement of Cherán celebrated its fifth anniversary. They organized an event with a strong cultural dimension and forums of dialogue fostering conversations on topics such as dispossession and war against the peoples, women and territory, autonomy, education for the defense of the territory. The celebration was closed with an event on the main square of the community, where the inhabitants remembered their dead companions and recalled the difficult road that they had travelled, the fear of living under insecurity, the impotence they felt when their forests were devastated. They also remembered the purpose of their struggle, a movement “for justice, security and the reconstitution of their territory”.

The movement has found many allies and support, notably among indigenous communities and progressive movements in Mexico. It has notably been accompanied in its struggle by the “Collectivo Emancipaciones”, that gathers young researchers who share a “political position committed to progressive social movements and from judicial support of social processes where the defense of human rights is relevant”. Since 2011, this Collective has been providing judicial support to the indigenous community of Cherán and has been working benevolently with the community as well as with other indigenous communities in the state of Michoacán.

To build and rebuild a lifestyle based on a communal government through its “uses and customs” has been the major task of these five years. The road has not been easy. The community continues to face a broad list of systemic enemies including the administrative bureaucracy, political parties, organized crime and state resistance to recognizing the rights of indigenous communities. The achievements of the community of Cherán remain under constant threat.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

City Peace Commissions in Brazil and the US: A Comparison

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

By Helena Lourenço, Santos City Peace Commission (Brazil) and David Adams, City Peace Commission of New Haven, CT (USA)

As members of the City Peace Commisions in Santos, Brazil and New Haven, USA, speaking at the New Haven Public Library on December 15, we have found much in common.


Helena Lourenco (center), David Adams (right), and Aaron Goode (left, member of the City of New Haven Peace Commission)

For example, both commissionss are in favor of promoting restorative justice practices in schools and other institutions of their cities. In Santos, 80 teachers received training in restorative justice, while in New Haven the number is more than 200, of which 44 are already qualified to train other coaches. Although it is difficult to quantify the results, there is a general agreement in schools that have both cities as it has improved the atmosphere of trust and fairness as a result. In New Haven, a problem remains that teachers have no time in their heavy schedules to engage in restorative circles, while in Santos, these have been recognized practices as an integral part of the teacher’s work.

Both committees meet monthly and their membership includes both municipal officials and representatives of civil society organizations.

Other priorities of the Santos Peace Commission include: interreligious dialogue; gender equality, including respect for homosexuals and sexual orientation; environmental sustainability: and public safety. For the latter, the city police have a course proposed for their municipal police focused on mediation. In Brazil, city police (unlike state police and federal police) do not carry weapons.

Other priorities of the New Haven Peace Commission include: protecting undocumented immigrants; the development of a civilian review board for police practices; and converting the national budget priorities. For the latter, the Commission sponsored a referendum in which 85% of the city’s voters demanded that the national budget for social services be given priority rather than military expenditure.

The New Haven Peace Commission is older, having been established during the 1980s, while the Santos Commission is new, created in 2016 after six years of preparation, which is taking its first steps.

For the month of March, a forum is being discussed in Santos to discuss topics that are important for the development of the Commission.

One of the issues discussed was how to develop the exchange and ongoing relations between peace commissions of different cities around the world.

(Click here for a Portuguese version of this article)

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El Salvador: Discussions to include culture of peace in national educational curriculum

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from La Prensa Grafica (translated by CPNN)

The Culture of Peace forum, held by the Ministry of Education (MINED), brought together teachers and representatives from various organizations.


Photo: Cortesía.
Click on photo to enlarge

For MINED, Carlos Canjura, considers that it is the task of teachers to evaluate “how we are building citizens”. Likewise, he affirmed that “citizenship and productive capacities are indispensable for the construction of a culture of peace”.

Carlos Rodríguez, of the National Center for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities (CENICSH) of the Central American University José Simeón Cañas (UCA), said that the forum has proposed six working groups such as society and violence, curriculum, teacher training, and school environments, among others.

The working groups of this forum will work in 2017 and are related to moral, urban and civic matters.

“For us it is fundamental to put good practices on the agenda for building a culture of peace,” he said.

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

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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Guatemala: Transforming justice for women in Latin America

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article by Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey and Melanne Verveer in openDemocracy (Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey was attorney general of Guatemala from 2010 until 2014)

In order to effectively reduce female murders, Latin American nations must combat one of the leading causes of death for women—gender-based violence—whereby perpetrators target victims because of their gender and act in the context of unequal power relations between men and women.

Guatemala presents a case study of how innovative 24-hour courts and revised trainings for law enforcement can increase convictions related to gender-based violence and ultimately reduce the number of female murders.


Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey
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Guatemala’s high female murder rate—9.1 murders for every 100,000 women between 2007 and 2012—is impacted by regional crime, drug trafficking, and gang violence. But at least half of female murders in Guatemala are femicides.

Guatemala was the first country to officially recognize femicide—the murder of a woman because of her gender—as a crime in 2008. Four years later, the country created a national database to record basic data on all cases of violent deaths of women. This database allowed the Attorney General’s office to identify weaknesses in the investigation of femicides and the gender-based violence that often precedes them, and subsequently to develop pilot programs to address crimes associated with violence against women before they escalated to murder.

Most notably, the Attorney General’s office and the Supreme Court of Justice collaborated in 2012 to establish a 24-hour court to handle urgent investigative measures required in gender violence crimes immediately. The court operated inside the Comprehensive Care Model (Modelo de Atención Integral) created in 2009, and offered a model of comprehensive services: forensic experts, police, psychologists, clinical physicians, and prosecutors were all brought together in a single space in Guatemala City to serve the survivors of gender-based violence.

In the Comprehensive Care Model, it was the institutions that revolved around women, rather than women having to travel to each institution or worse, having to choose between medical care and access to justice. The 24-hour court, one of the first in Latin America, immediately increased the number of protection measures and arrest warrants authorized, and led to an increase in the number of people sent to prison for violence against women and sexual exploitation.

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

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

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At the same time, Guatemala also took efforts to address prejudicial or inadequate investigations, which limited women’s access to justice. The Attorney General’s office had found that officers in charge of gender-based violence investigations tended to blame the victim because of her way of dressing, her prior conduct, or her prior or family relationship with the perpetrator. It was common to hear “algo haría” (she must have done something) or “ella se lo buscó” (she was looking for it).

Investigators also failed to take account of the context of crime: they frequently neglected to inquire whether there had been prior acts or reports of violence against women or sexual violence concurrent with the murder, or whether the victim resided in an area where any criminal organization operated.

Further, violence against women was treated with little importance by judges. This translated into delays before evidence could be collected or an arrest warrant or a search warrant was issued; these cases were the last in line on the agenda of court hearings.

In response, Guatemala began to offer specialized training for prosecutorial officers investigating cases of sexual violence, violence against women, and femicides. Once a victim approached the Attorney General’s office, she was made to feel protected. New instructions guided the investigations of intimate femicide, sexual femicide, and femicide in the context of a criminal group or organization, especially gangs or organizations associated with drug trafficking.

In the year following these innovations, the convictions for female murders in Guatemala rose from 55 to 91. This increase in convictions translated into far fewer cases, from 393 (178 resulting in death) in 2010 to 193 (103 resulting in death) in 2013 in Guatemala City.

The trend in convictions and cases was not observed at the national level, where the model has yet to be fully implemented. This must be done: Guatemala must expand 24-hour courts and trainings for law enforcement around the nation, and throughout the region. This deployment should be accompanied by non-criminal measures for preventing violence against women, such as educational policies and those aimed at greater gender equality in economic and political matters.

Many survivors of gender-based violence in Guatemala have told us that, today, they know justice is possible in Guatemala. While Guatemala is still struggling to effectively combat violence against women, these localized interventions present a promising model for expanding women’s access to justice in the region.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Nicaragua: Culture of Peace Proposed to Eradicate Violence

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article in El Nuevo Diario (translated by CPNN)

Karla Miranda, a third year psychology student, speaking about violence against women, said that aggressors should be evaluated by psychologists to understand the cause of their attitude. “Violent behavior often originates from childhood, so it is important that we know the history of these people in order to assess the origins of violence,” she said.

This was said yesterday at the fair called Growing a Culture of Peace, held at the University Cátolica (Unica), in the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, with the aim of promoting values ​​in society and raising awareness on this topic.


Rosa Salgado, with microphone, speaks before students of the Catholic University. (Photo: Melvin Vargas)
(Click on photo to enlarge)

Johnny Hodgson, career coordinator for the campus, explained that the fair was developed with different talks, information stands and cultural events so that students and experts could address the issues of violence.

“We did not just want to be part of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, but rather to do something more integral, where everyone is involved. In addition, we promote spaces to come and share how to face, understand and avoid violence, “said Hodgson.

Karla Miranda added that “another important aspect is that in raising children, it is necessary to educate in values, so that the children grow up with the value to not violate either girls or children. That is why this topic must be addressed at the level of the family. ”

Miranda recalled that in 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared violence against women as a public health problem and in that sense added that psychological violence is the one that most affects and causes the most damage.

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

Question related to this article:

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

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Ana Hidalgo Mendoza, Miranda’s colleague, commented that violence is a cycle that comes from the home. “The child who sees that his father violates his mother will grow up with that profile, believing that it is normal behavior, and in the case of the girls, they will believe that they must be submissive and when they are raped, they will believe that it is ok” “He added.

VALUE FORMATION

Rosa Salgado, representative of the disabled with the Office of the Attorney General for Human Rights (PDDH), addressed violence against women with disabilities.

Salgado said that a solution is the formation in values ​​that must be started from the home and the different spaces of society and education, “so that in this way we appropriate the understanding of human rights for ourselves. and that we make use of the legal instruments “.

“To the extent that we recognize how we can help and improve the quality of life of a person with a disability, conditions will be improved by preventing violence,” she said.

SCHOOL HARASSMENT

Eliuth Martínez, a teacher at the Unica and a pedagogical advisor at the Directorate of Special Education at the Ministry of Education (Mined), commented that throughout the school year they continued to develop a non-bullying campaign, as this problem began to emerge in classrooms.

According to Martinez, since last year the campaign has trained 6,000 to 8,000 teachers.

“It was enough to have 1 to 3 cases for the Government to act immediately. Today we can say that we have good results from the center and the delegates and even a free telephone line was set up to report these types of violence,” added the teacher.

About 35% of all women will experience violence, either in or out of the couple, at some point in their lives, according to WHO data published in 2013.

Martinez recently attended a case of a visually impaired girl who was believed to experience bullying on the part of her colleagues, to which the Mined immediately acted in conjunction with the educational councils, investigated the case and began work not only with the teachers but also with the students and the school in general.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Mexico: Need to promote a culture of peace, to end violence against women: CEAMEG

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Sistema Michoacan for Radio and Television (translation by CPNN)

Mexico City.- The director general of the Center for Studies on the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (CEAMEG) of the Chamber of Deputies, Adriana Ceballos Hernández, said that violence against women harms society every day, and, although there are important advances, there is still much to be done.

In inaugurating the forum “For a culture of peace”, she emphasized that violence should be eliminated in the relations of women and men, inculcating in people the knowledge of rights from childhood, respecting political rights of gender and understanding that abuse affects everyone around, especially children.

She considers it necessary to promote a culture of harmony in all fields of action.

The director of Social Studies of the Position and Condition of Women and Gender Equality of CEAMEG, Judith Díaz Delgado, explained that their organization works mainly for the prevention of violence.

She said that “we live in a violent Mexico with an absence of peace, in which seven out of ten suffer some type of abuse, so we can not say that there is a culture of peace.”

Guadalupe Salas y Villagómez, director of Promotion and Training of Women and Equality, of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), said that the CNDH is dedicated to raising awareness of human rights, equality between women and men, as well as awareness about gender-based abuse.

Finally, Ana Paula Hernández Romano, founder of Proyecto Paz A.C, pointed out that Mexico is far down the list in the 140th place of nations for providing a state of well-being. Meanwhile, the National Survey of Victimization and Perception on Public Safety (ENVIPE) for 2016, indicates that most Mexicans perceive that the problem of violence and insecurity is even greater than the problem of poverty and unemployment.

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

Question related to this article:
Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Nobel Lecture by Juan Manuel Santos:”Peace in Colombia: From the Impossible to the Possible”

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Excerpts from the lecture published by the official website of the Nobel Prize, presented in Oslo, 10 December 2016.

Six years ago, it was hard for we Colombians to imagine an end to a war that had lasted half a century. To the great majority of us, peace seemed an impossible dream – and for good reason. Very few of us – hardly anybody – could recall a memory of a country at peace.

Today, after six years of serious and often intense, difficult negotiations, I stand before you and the world and announce with deep humility and gratitude that the Colombian people, with assistance from our friends around the world, are turning the impossible into the possible. . . .

With this agreement, we can say that the American continent – from Alaska to Patagonia – is a land in peace.

And we can now ask the bold question: if war can come to an end in one hemisphere, why not one day in both hemispheres? Perhaps more than ever before, we can now dare to imagine a world without war.

The impossible is becoming possible. . . .

I have served as a leader in times of war – to defend the freedom and the rights of the Colombian people – and I have served as a leader in times of making peace.

Allow me to tell you, from my own experience, that it is much harder to make peace than to wage war.

When it is absolutely necessary, we must be prepared to fight, and it was my duty – as Defence Minister and as President – to fight illegal armed groups in my country.

When the roads to peace were closed, I fought these groups with effectiveness and determination

But it is foolish to believe that the end of any conflict must be the elimination of the enemy.

A final victory through force, when nonviolent alternatives exist, is none other than the defeat of the human spirit.

Seeking victory through force alone, pursuing the utter destruction of the enemy, waging war to the last breath, means failing to recognize your opponent as a human being like yourself, someone with whom you can hold a dialogue with.

Dialogue…based on respect for the dignity of all. That was our recourse in Colombia. And that is why I have the honour to be here today, sharing what we have learned through our hard-won experience.

Our first and most vital step was to cease thinking of the guerrillas as our bitter enemies, and to see them instead simply as adversaries. . .

A few lessons can be learned from Colombia’s peace process and I would like to share them with the world:

You must properly prepare yourself and seek advice, studying the failures of peace attempts in your own country and learning from other peace processes, their successes and their problems.

The agenda for the negotiation should be focussed and specific, aimed at solving the issues directly related to the armed conflict, rather than attempting to address all the problems faced by the nation.

Negotiations should be carried out with discretion and confidentiality in order to prevent them from turning into a media circus.

Sometimes it is necessary to both fight and talk at the same time if you want to arrive at peace – a lesson I took from another Nobel laureate, Yitzhak Rabin.

You must also be willing to make difficult, bold and oftentimes unpopular decisions in order to reach your final goal.

In my case, this meant reaching out to the governments of neighbouring countries with whom I had and continue to have deep ideological differences.

(Click here for a Spanish version of the speech)

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Question(s) related to this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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Regional support is indispensable in the political resolution of any asymmetric war. Fortunately, today all the countries in the region are allies in the search for peace, the noblest purpose any society can have.

We also achieved a very important objective: agreement on a model of transitional justice that enables us to secure a maximum of justice without sacrificing peace.

I have no doubt this model will be one of the greatest legacies of the Colombian peace process. . . .

And I feel that I must take this opportunity to reiterate the call I have been making to the world since the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena in 2012, which led to a special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in April this year.

I am referring to the urgent need to rethink the world War on Drugs, a war where Colombia has been the country that has paid the highest cost in deaths and sacrifices.

We have moral authority to state that, after decades of fighting against drug trafficking, the world has still been unable to control this scourge that fuels violence and corruption throughout our global community.

The peace agreement with the FARC includes their commitment to cut all ties with the drug business, and to actively contribute to fighting it.

But drug trafficking is a global problem that demands a global solution resulting from an undeniable reality: The War on Drugs has not been won, and is not being won.

It makes no sense to imprison a peasant who grows marijuana, when nowadays, for example, its cultivation and use are legal in eight states of the United States.

The manner in which this war against drugs is being waged is equally or perhaps even more harmful than all the wars the world is fighting today, combined. It is time to change our strategy. . .
In Colombia, we have also been inspired by the initiatives of Malala, the youngest Nobel Laureate, because we know that only by developing minds, through education, can we transform reality.

We are the result of our thoughts; the thoughts that create our words; the words that shape our actions.

That is why we must change from within. We must replace the culture of violence with a culture of peace and coexistence; we must change the culture of exclusion into a culture of inclusion and tolerance. . . .

In a world where citizens are making the most crucial decisions – for themselves and for their nations – out of fear and despair, we must make the certainty of hope possible.

In a world where wars and conflicts are fuelled by hatred and prejudice, we must find the path of forgiveness and reconciliation.

In a world where borders are increasingly closed to immigrants, where minorities are attacked and people deemed different are excluded, we must be able to coexist with diversity and appreciate the way it can enrich our societies.

We are human beings after all. For those of us who are believers, we are all God’s children. We are part of this magnificent adventure of being alive and populating this planet.

At our core, there are no inherent differences: not the colour of our skin; nor our religious beliefs; nor our political ideologies, nor our sexual preferences. All these are simply facets of humanity’s diversity.

Let’s awaken the creative capacity for goodness, for building peace, that live within each soul.

In the end, we are one people and one race; of every colour, of every belief, of every preference.

The name of this one people is the world. The name of this one race is humanity.

If we truly understand this, if we make it part of our individual and collective awareness, then we will cut the very root of conflicts and wars.

In 1982 – 34 years ago – the efforts to find peace through dialogue began in Colombia.

That same year, in Stockholm, Gabriel García Márquez, who was my ally in the pursuit of peace, received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and spoke about “a new and sweeping utopia of life, (…) where the races condemned to one hundred years of solitude will have, at last and forever, a second opportunity on earth.”

Today, Colombia – my beloved country – is living that second opportunity; and I thank you, members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, because, on this occasion, you have not only awarded a prize to peace: you helped make it possible!

The sun of peace finally shines in the heavens of Colombia.

May its light shine upon the whole world!

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