Tag Archives: Latin America

Building peace from Colombian universities

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An article from Fundacion Escuelas de Paz, reprinted by the Global Campaign for Peace Education

“Peacebuilders” is a program that seeks the integral formation of 1,200 university students in Colombia, involved in the scholarship program “Dreams of Peace” of Bancolombia Foundation, in knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes conducive to building Cultures of Peace.

Colombia
Click on the photo to enlarge

Peacebuilders is carried out by Escuelas de Paz (Schools of Peace) Foundation based on the six components proposed by UNESCO in the 2000 manifesto for a culture of peace and non-violence. Also it works on the six pillars raised by the methodology of education for peace, known as “The Flower for the Culture of Peace”. Finally, as a transversal axis the Guiding Principles of UN Secretary General on the Participation of Youth in Peace Building were taken.

These participants will implement impact actions on their university communities through collective nonviolent actions that enable a more just society. Due to the national situation of peace talks between the government and the FARC guerrilla in Havana, Cuba, it was formed a group of 70 students leaders in building and advocacy of cultures of peace, historical memory and reconciliation, with capabilities for replication in the next semesters and to design and implement new actions for peace within the institutions in which they were formed.

In a first stage, 320 students have been trained in three cities in the country: Bogotá D.C, Cartagena y Manizales since July 2015. The scholarship program of Bancolombia Foundation is an initiative developed from the line of social management of Bancolombia, who have an interest in developing a program of high social impact, which aims to provide resources and conditions that allow students with specific characteristics as vulnerable conditions, to access to higher education in technical, technological and university programs nationwide.

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Mexico City: A system of mediation to be applied in all 16 delegations

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

An article by Lemic Madrid, Azteca Noticias

In Mexico City a system of mediation will be applied as an alternative means to resolve conflicts in the communities of the 16 delegations; With this action, citizens in the capital city will be able to reach agreement with authorities to resolve issues of security, services and urban infrastructure.

Mexico
City Prosecutor Rodolfo Ríos Garza

The Superior Court of Justice and the Attorney General of the capital will promote the training of mediators who will work to ensure access to justice and the rights of all parties in conflict, seeking a satisfactory solution for the benefit of the community.

“The major objective of community mediation is to consider all people as citizens with rational capacity to voluntarily settle their conflicts, so that they do not need to reach the courts … They will be supported by a community mediator who legitimizes the process,” according to the President of the Capital City Court of Justice, Edgar Elias Azar.

During his participation in the signing of the agreement to implement the system in the 16 delegations of the capital, he said that in criminal matters, this strategy has generated savings of resources and time by establishing a dialogue between the conflicting parties.

As for the city prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios Garza, he said the mediation system has generated dividends by ensuring compensation for damage and by shortening the time required for the settlement of a conflict by means of a dialogue between the two sides.

“This can be seen through the activity carried out by mediation units in law enforcement, which, from January 2015 to February 2016, recorded 7,326 processes, leading to the signing of 1,871 agreements and 860 agreements with reparations, thus achieving the proper settlement of disputes between the parties involved in a conflict of criminal content,” said the city prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios Garza. He indicated that these results led to the decision to extend mediation to other areas of public life.

(Click here for a Spanish version of this article)

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DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Colombia: National Meeting on Education for Peace

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Presentation of the final report

Thinking about Education for Peace is the fruit of the National Conference on Education for Peace, held in Colombia on 1 and 2 October 2015. In this gathering there emerged ways of building and living life, led by youth, women, men weaving their daily lives amid resilient and creative practices that challenge and redefine the imaginary and cultural references that have sustained various types of violence.

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The National Meeting on Education for Peace, was undertaken with the following objectives: 1) to articulate experiences and facilitate exchange of knowledge on education for peace among different actors and sectors of society from the perspectives of education for peace and building cultures of peace; 2) Generate a reflection with a broad spectrum on the challenges that the current situation presents to education for peace, in both social organizations and educational institutions at all levels, and 3 ) Promote a consensus to generate public policies in education for peace.

We have considered it essential to collect the experience of the National Meeting on Education for Peace. Therefore, we set out to investigate the question: What is the agenda of peace education that was proposed at the national meeting? Of course it is ambitious goal to record all the wealth, conversations, practices, concerns, desires and diversity of this meeting. However, this report, Thinking about Peace Education, aims to highlight the main commitments emerging from the many conversations that took place on 1 and 2 October at the National Meeting on Education for Peace. Therefore, we have structured this publication as follows:

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(Click here for the original Spanish of this aricle.)

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What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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CROSSROADS, to account for the genesis of this meeting and its coordinates in the processes of peace building, which for more than two decades have been promoting different actors in Colombia, in the context of education for peace, from the convergence of diverse, new synergies, dynamics and actors scenarios evidence.

METHOD, to account for the methodological proposal for the meeting, which involved 652 assistants, from twenty departments, representatives of two hundred eighty organizations that take actions for peace education.

COMMITMENTS for peace education, to account for the hopes and commitments that emerged at the National Meeting on Education for Peace, from a reading exercise of the conversations were in the meeting and can guide actions and processes different scenarios.

SOME PROPOSALS to account for proposals for concrete actions that emerged in several of the workshops. The actions are grouped into several areas: social mobilization, generation and strengthening of public policy, university chairs for peace, human rights education and administrative and institutional framework.

OTHER PERSPECTIVES, to account for reflections and perspectives by the foreign and domestic guests at the National Meeting on Education for Peace: The professors Alicia Cabezudo, Rosa Ludy Arias Campos, Marina Caireta Sampero, Janet Gerson, David Adams, and Carlos Eduardo Martinez Hincapie, wanted to bring some elements from what they felt and observed in relation to their own experiences and studies on education for peace.
This publication was edited by a group of people from several of the founding organizations of the National Conference on Education for Peace, who collected the agreements and proposals from the table convenors in order to guide the methodological and systematic processes.

We hope this publication Thinking about Peace Education will be a contribution to building cultures of peace in Colombia, as an effort to contribute to the many initiatives and processes that are interwoven in the search for a country reconciled and peaceful.

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Book review: Hilary Klein’s Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

A book review by Alicia Swords, North American Congress on Latin America

Hilary Klein (2015) Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories. New York: Seven Stories Press.

When poor, indigenous people and peasants took over land and municipal governments in Chiapas, Mexico on January 1, 1994 just as the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, the uprising shook the world. Through individual interviews and collective interviews at women’s assemblies, Hilary Klein’s book, Compañeras, charts the changes in women’s roles, leadership, rights, and power in intimate relationships, families, and communities that the Zapatista movement brought.

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Zapatista collectve bakery, Olga Isabel, Chiapas, Mexico. (Hilary Klein)

The title Compañeras captures the core of Klein’s project, which both describes her subject, Zapatista women and their political relationships, as well as her approach of being a compañera herself by building relationships of trust and mutual support. From 1997 to 2003, Klein worked in collaboration with women’s collectives in Zapatista communities in Chiapas. She co-developed a project called Mujer y Colectivismo, which supported Zapatista women’s cooperatives with leadership development, popular education materials, regional gatherings, and rotating loan funds. Regional authorities asked her to teach basic mathematics to women who needed these skills to run their cooperatives. In times of heavy state repression, she joined human rights delegations to interview women after military attacks on their communities. In the process Klein developed a high degree of trust with women leaders; she “slept in their homes, worked in their cornfields with them, and played with their children” (p. xxii). The richness of the interviews and collective testimony through group interviews is based on thattrust.

Other sympathetic outsiders-with-inside-perspectives and engaged scholar-activists in Chiapas have written about the Zapatistas, including June Nash, Rich Stahler-Sholk, Leandro Vergara-Camus, Mariana Mora, and Shannon Speed, to name a few. Klein’s work in Compañeras reflects this sort of committed engagement at its best.

With so much outside interest, Zapatista authorities developed criteria for engagement and meaningful involvement for scholars. In 2001, Zapatista women authorities in Morelia and La Garrucha asked Klein to conduct a set of interviews in more than two dozen communities to document and teach about the movement’s history from women’s perspectives. It is significant that Compañeras grew out of these interviews, driven by the movement participants’ own desire to teach the history of their organizing. Unlike descriptions of movements intended solely to inform outsiders, Compañeras addresses questions that clearly matter to the Zapatista women themselves, along with questions that matter to outsiders hoping to bring lessons from the Zapatista movement to their own spheres.

Each chapter uses both individual and collective interviews. The first three chapters outline the history and emergence of the Zapatista movement. We learn the history of injustices in Chiapas through interviews with mothers and grandmothers of Zapatista insurgents. Women military commanders describe their experiences of the 1994 uprising, and insurgents discuss the challenges of clandestine organizing. Participants explain the complex relationship between the liberation theology and the Zapatista movement, women’s struggles to rid communities of alcohol, the first above-ground organizing, the 1994 uprising, and the passage of the Women’s Revolutionary Law.

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

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Chapters four and five address how women have changed power dynamics in Chiapas through struggles over land and militarization. Building on historical struggles for land, we see how women participated in the Zapatista land takeovers and current struggles against neoliberal land privatization policies. We learn of the militarization, the failed San Andrés dialogues, and of confrontations with the military in their communities in 1998.

The remaining chapters, six through nine, reveal women’s experiences within the process and structures of the Zapatista movement. “Women who give birth to new worlds” chronicles the evolution of women’s participation and leadership in the Zapatistas’ political structure, economic cooperatives, and regional gatherings, along with changes in the Zapatistas’ own gender analysis. “Zapatista Autonomy” describes a range of women’s experiences in the emerging autonomous systems: Good Government Councils, the community justice system, health care and education. “Transformation and Evolution,”depicts the unevenness of changes in women’s rights and their ability to exercise those rights, acknowledging challenges and gaps between rhetoric and reality. It also highlights new strategies, such as consciousness-raising with men, shifting expectations for men’s involvement in domestic work, and raising children with new gender ideas. “Beyond Chiapas” shows efforts by Zapatista women to connect with women beyond Chiapas to build a broader movement for justice and dignity.

Maps, a timeline, glossary, and a list of suggested readings make this book an accessible introductory resource on the Zapatistas for students, organizers, and scholars. Throughout, Klein’s account reflects deep respect, comprehension, complexity, and nuance. She combines systematic research, a genuine desire for the movement to achieve its goals, and the honesty to carefully examine its shortcomings.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

The peace process in Colombia: A Chronology

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Taken from Deutsche Welle (translated by CPNN)

The following is a chronology of the highlights of the peace process begun three years ago and culminating in March. The countdown starts from the expected date for the final signing.

Colombia
Juan Manuel Santos shakes hands with Timochenko in Havana during the peace dialogus. Photo by Reuters

The Government of Colombia and the FARC negotiated in Havana, Cuba an accord to end the armed conflict after more than half a century that has cost the lives of 220,000 people, has left about 7 million victims, 62% of its territory affected by landmines and incalculable damage to the environment due to massive clearing for coca cultivation, illegal mining and attacks on the national pipeline.

Five points are on the table: agrarian reform, abandoning arms, political participation of the ex-insurgents, drug trafficking and reparation for victims. Additional agreements concern implementation, verification and countersignature of the accords.

2 0 1 6

March 23: Expected date for final signing of the peace process

January 13: The negotiating teams of the Government of Colombia and the FARC began the last stage of the peace talks, which will work in permanent session to accelerate the process and meet deadlines.

2 0 1 5

December 15: Agreement about victims including a comprehensive system for reparation, justice, truth and guarantees of non-repetition. This step was, according to President Juan Manuel Santos, “the most important advance in the negotiating agenda.”

November 22: The Colombian government announced pardon of 30 FARC prisoners in different jails for the crime of rebellion.

November 10: “Timoshenko”, spokesman of the FARC, announced that on September 30 he ordered all structures of the guerrillas to suspend arms purchases in order to reduce the intensity of the armed conflict.

October 28: President Santos said the government and the FARC can reach an agreement to start a bilateral ceasefire before January 1, 2016, to which the FARC suggest to start before Christmas.

October 23: The High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia, Sergio Jaramillo said the FARC promised to deliver remains of people who died when they were in their possession for which they have the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC ).

October 17: The government and the FARC announced an agreement to jointly seek more than 25,000 people who have been reported missing by various sources as a result of the armed conflict.

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(click here for the Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

See the CPNN bulletin for September 1, 2015, concerning the Colombia Peace Process.

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October 10: FARC spokesman Timoshenko stated that the FARC must suspend recruitment in order to facilitate the peace process.

September 23: President Santos met in Havana with the FARC leader, Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timoshenko”. They made an historic handshake and agreed that peace will be signed no later than March 23, 2016, after presentation of the basic agreement on justice.

September 15: The government presented to Congress a legislative bill to facilitate rapid implementation of peace agreements.

July 10: The negotiators announced a plan to reduce the intensity of the conflict and accelerate the achievement of agreements that allow reaching a bilateral and definitive cease-fire.

June 4: The parties agreed to the creation of a Truth Commission that will be launched when peace is signed.

March 7: The government and the FARC announced an agreement for joint humanitarian de-mining.

2014

December 17: The FARC announced an indefinite cease unilateral ceasefire starting on December 20.

August 16: A first group of twelve victims of armed conflict met with the negotiators, followed by another four groups totalling 60 people.

June 7: The government and the FARC announced that five delegations of victims would attending hearings with negotiators in Cuba over the coming months.

May 16: The Government and FARC reached an agreement on drug trafficking and illegal crops, the third item on the agenda.

2 0 1 3

May 26: The government and the FARC announced the first agreement of the negotiating agenda at the point of land and rural development.

August 20: The FARC acknowledged for the first time their “share of responsibility” for the casualties caused by the armed conflict.

November 6: The parties announced the second agreement of the five items on the agenda, political participation of the guerrillas.

2 0 1 2

October 17: Government negotiators and the FARC established in Oslo that the roundtable would begin in Havana the following month.

August 26: Start of negotiations for the final signing of the peace process. Government delegates and the FARC decided that Havana would be the host for negotiations towards a “General Agreement ending the conflict and building a stable and lasting peace” with the support of Cuba and Norway as guarantors.

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President Creates Ministry of Indigenous People in Chile

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from Prensa Latina

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed today at La Moneda Palace the laws that create the Ministry of Indigenous People, the National Council and the Indigenous People”s Councils.

Chile
Photo from Latercera

In a simple ceremony, Bachelet congratulated herself on benefiting, at last, the original Chilean indigenous people, who include new ethnic groups recognized by the State, with a ministry devoted to them.

We have the duty of making our nation a country where its multiculturalism and plurality, the president asserted.

She said the ides was generating more spaces for the cultural richness of our identities to be expressed and to guarantee respect and equal treatment to all men and women, something that all people and beliefs deserve.

According to an official press release, to create these authorities, representatives of the ethic groups Aymara, Quechua, Atacameños, Diaguitas, Kollas, Rapa Nui, Kawesqar, Yaganes and Mapuche were consulted.

The president explained that the new ministry would collaborate with the presidency of the Republic to design, coordinate and assess policies, plans and programs aimed at encouraging and strengthen the rights of the original people.

The new institution would also work in favor of their socioeconomic, political and cultural development, as well as to seek elimination of all forms of arbitrary discrimination.

In Chile, there is a conflict with the indigenous people, especially with the Mapuche, who demand the return of their lands, seized by transnational companies.

( Click here for the original version in Spanish.)

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Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Latin America: Pedagogical Movement: new phase, new impetus

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Education International

The third meeting of the Pedagogical Movement renewed the cohesion and agenda for the future of education in Latin America, with a plan to strengthen the influence of the trade union movement on public policies.

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The meeting was held in San José, Costa Rica, between 1 and 3 December, and was attended by 500 people from 18 countries and 34 education trade unions in Latin America, as well as international guests from the United States, Norway, France and Sweden.

Hugo Yasky, Chairman of the Regional Committee of Education International for Latin America, indicated that the path that the Pedagogical Movement has to embark on represents a new stage  in which all trade unions have to assess the school experience together with the teaching experience and practice, in step with the social struggle and movements. “We have to advance to include other social sectors in the practice, move forward and seek a common cause with representatives from sectors involved in the grass-roots movement of the peoples of Latin America. This construction of alliances is key,” Yasky argued.

The declaration which resulted from the meeting cited the Pedagogical Movement as a platform for meeting and collective construction, determined to embody a contrasting vision of society in the field of education to that which is imposed by the dominant force, by the economic, media, financial and military power.

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(click here for the French version of this article or here for the Spanish version)

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What is the relation between peace and education?

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Against the commercialisation and privatisation of education

One of the key themes of the meeting that the affiliated organisations of EI debated concerned the strategies used by multinationals to privatise education. Thus, Antonio Olmedo, researcher at the University of Roehampton in the UK, illustrated the topic with his lecture “The Education privatisation and commercialisation process.” He analysed the approach of large companies to impose their mercantile proposals on governments, thereby contributing to insecurity about the quality of education and teaching. “We have to think of other solutions, because neoliberalism is like a chameleon and is more regulated than the public sector itself,” he reassured.

Similarly, Professor Luiz Fernandes Dourado, of the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil, underscored that privatisation is a sophisticated process and, as a result, leads to the weakening of the trade union movement and breaks with democratic management in schools. This runs counter to the vision of the Latin American Educational Movement, which sees education as a social right.

Inspiration behind the international campaign

David Edwards, Deputy General Secretary of Education International, pointed out that the new worldwide campaign conducted by his organisation against the business of education promoted by multinational corporations and multilateral organisations drew inspiration from Latin America. The campaign is a new tool to defend public education and to show the real intentions behind privatisation.

“At the Ottawa Congress, we were instructed to launch a campaign against the privatisation of education and to unmask those behind it. We started the campaign to analyse what is happening in other parts of the world. In education, the world market amounts to more than 3 billion and the governments in certain countries are facilitating access to this ‘booty’ for private groups. We are trying to show citizens what these multinationals are really doing,” Mr Edwards said. 

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

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Porto Alegre, Brazil: Fifteenth anniversary of the World Social Forum

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An article by Suzy Scarton, Jornal do Comércio

From 19 to 23 January next year, Porto Alegre will host the 2016 Thematic Social Forum (TSF) which aims to address challenges and perspectives under the theme “another world is possible .” In addition to taking stock of the actions taken in the last decade and a half the event also celebrates the 15th anniversary of the first World Social Forum that was held in Porto Alegre in 2001. The opening march will be held on January 19, at 15h, from Glênio Peres.

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Jonathan Heckler/JC

Topics of the meeting include the crisis of capitalism, domestic and international political context, youth participation, culture of peace, racism, Latin American integration, activism and how to combat xenophobia and homophobia. Mayor Jose Fortunati reaffirmed the importance of the event to consolidate ideas that can change the world. “Just changing the current system is enough to allow us to move forward,” he said yesterday to the social and trade union leaders who are organizing the event. He reiterated that the city will contribute to the organizational and structural support.

The activities will be carried out mainly in the old Gasometer factory, at the City Council, in the Park of Redenção, at the Legislative Assembly and in the plaza Zumbi dos Palmares. The Deputy Municipal Secretary for Local Government, Carlos Siegle added that while the guidelines have changed in the space of 15 years, “we need to reflect for a profound debate on the role of the citizen.”

Registration to participate in the forum is now open and can be made on the site www.forumsocialportoalegre.org.br.

The first forum in 2001 was considered a novelty in the international arena by its coordination capacity in the anti-capitalist struggle as well as for its radical policy proposals regarding social, economic and environmental issues. Among the guests this year will be former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , former Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica, the writer and sociologist Manuel Castells Spanish, the Brazilian activist against violence to women Maria da Penha and the Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai.

(Click here for the original version in Portuguese.

 

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UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport wraps up humanitarian mission in Colombia

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from The official website of the Olympic Movement

The IOC Honorary President and Special Envoy of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Youth Refugees and Sport, Jacques Rogge, this week concluded a two-day humanitarian mission to Colombia, where he had the opportunity to get a first-hand look at the challenges faced by Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the country.

Colombia
Click on the photo to enlarge
caption: ©Coldeportes (5)

His visit was also an opportunity to announce a new sport-based project in the Quibdò and Buenaventura areas located in the Pacific region, highly affected by the issue. The project, jointly funded by the IOC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), aims at protecting young people and children from the risks of armed conflict and other forms of violence through sport.

Jacques Rogge was accompanied on his trip by Colombian Sports Minister and former IOC Member Andrés Botero Phillipsbourne, Colombian National Olympic Committee (NOC) President Baltazar Medina, Colombian wrestler and double Olympic medallist Jackeline Rentería Castillo and a UNHCR team led by Country Representative Stéphane Jaquemet.

The mission started with a visit to the UNHCR office in Bogotá to discuss the displacement of the local population, which has stemmed from 50 years of internal conflict, resulting in more than 6.9 million IDPs in the country, of which an estimated 38 per cent are children and adolescents. The UN Refugee Agency works on solutions to address the heavy consequences faced in particular by children and women in the area. The meeting was followed by a visit to the Ministry of Sports – Coldeportes – and the NOC to discuss possible synergies around the implementation of sports programmes for the IDPs.

Special Envoy Rogge also visited the UNHCR Office in Quibdó and the community of Villa España, which currently hosts a hundred IDP families. He had the opportunity in the field to speak with representatives from local youth association AJODENIU, who expressed their strong desire for sports infrastructure and programmes to be developed in light of the current lack of the most basic facilities.

The new project unveiled by the Special Envoy is called “The alternative of sport: protecting children and young people from the risks of armed conflict and other forms of violence”. Its precise goal is to address these needs while using sport to create a safe environment and a place of exchange, where young people can receive appropriate support and develop increased awareness of their rights and self-protection mechanisms. For young people who have experienced conflict, war and displacement, participation in sports and recreational activities can provide a constructive outlet and much-needed psychosocial support. Sport also provides a healthy alternative to potentially harmful or risky lifestyles and role models.

(Click here for the original French version.)

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Question for this article

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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As mentioned by Ingrid Palacios, a young displaced representative of the youth association: “Displacement has not killed our dreams and I am sure in our community there are many potential Olympic medallists, we only need the opportunity to prove it. We know this dream can become a reality, because sports will motivate us to become better persons, provide us with a sense of teamwork and foster a culture of peace which we really need in our country.” Additionally, in the specific case of indigenous communities, support for the practice of traditional sports will contribute to the strengthening of community identity and social cohesion.

The joint IOC-UNHCR project, to which Coldeportes and the NOC have pledged their full support – starting with the provision of a multi-sport infrastructure provided by the Ministry – is expected to last three years. Its launch next year will coincide with the expected signature of a peace agreement in Colombia between the Government and the long-warring factions in March 2016.

Commenting on these historic developments, Special Envoy Rogge said: “It is our duty to help the youth and the local population, and to support the ongoing peace efforts. And what better way is there to do it than through sport, which is a recognised strong enabler of youth empowerment, health, education and social inclusion”

UNHCR Country Representative Jaquemet said: “Athletes are role models for the unprivileged and displaced youth, and we believe in the powerful role that sport can play, not only in their personal reconstruction, but also for the peace process at large.”

For the last 20 years, the IOC and UNHCR have been using sport to support healing and development among young refugees in many camps and settlements around the world. Following the approval of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, and in light of the current global refugee crisis, the IOC has created a special fund of USD 2 million to develop relief projects through sport in collaboration with NOCs around the world. Details of some of the projects already under way can be found here and here.

With the help of NOCs and the UNHCR, the IOC is also in the process of identifying a number of athletes living in forced displacement, and will help them through its Olympic Solidarity programmes to take part in the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016. The IOC is confident that this initiative will bring hope to the refugee athletes who wish to return to training and compete at the Games. It is also intended as a symbol of hope for all refugees around the world, which will help raise awareness of the magnitude of the crisis.

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Latin America heeds the cries of refugees

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Laura Bécquer Paseiro, Granma

Despite the differences in culture, religion and language, Latin America has offered a prompt response to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean caused by wars in the Middle East and North Africa, specifically the conflict in Syria which has threatened the population there since 2011.

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Foto: AFP

Despite the differences in culture, religion and language, Latin America has offered a prompt response to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean caused by wars in the Middle East and North Africa, specifically the conflict in Syria which has threatened the population there since 2011.

The unstable situation in this country has led to the displacement of some four million people, the largest such humanitarian crisis since WWII.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 350,000 persons have crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe. While authorities there continue to discuss how to repatriate immigrants, a new opportunity is available on the other side of the Atlantic.

Countries like Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have established programs to receive refugees. Some 6,000 Syrians have been received thus far in Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Employment opportunities and access to health and education are some of the advantages the region offers those fleeing violence in their native countries.

Legislation protecting refugees in many Latin American countries has been described by the United Nations as excellent.

The fundamental principles of this policy were adopted last December in Brasilia, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees.

The action plan adopted expressed the commitment of Latin American and Caribbean governments to approach the problem from a humanitarian point of view. Examples of this effort include the implementation of programs such as Quality Asylum, and Borders with Solidarity and Security, which address the needs of people who live, cross or return to border areas.

Brazil is the Latin American country which has received the greatest number of Syrians, 2,077 since 2011. Some 1,700 are in shelters and 4,000 have requested asylum, according to the Justice Ministry’s National Refugee Committee (Conare), as the European crisis continues.

The more than 10,000 kilometers which separate the region from the epicenter of conflict are not an impediment. Latin America is an alternative, a place to start anew.

( Click here for a version in Spanish.)

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Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY