DIGNITY’s partner CIPREVICA will train the staff of the Guatemalan human rights ombudsman
In March, DIGNITY’s Guatemalan partner CIPREVICA entered into an important cooperation agreement with the country’s ombudsman for human rights.
»The agreement can be very important for ordinary people’s opportunity to have their human rights respected in Guatemala«, says DIGNITY programme manager Finn Kjærulf.
He points out that it is vitally important to strengthen respect for human rights in the run-up to this year’s election in late June. Guatemala is marked by 36 years of civil war, violations of basic human rights and difficult conditions for civil society organisations.
The agreement between CIPREVICA and the ombudsman implies that CIPREVICA will train 45 members of the ombudsman’s staff, who will later teach human rights from regional offices across Guatemala.
Within the agreement, human rights workshops will be held in 2023 for staff members who deal with complaints from citizens, whose human rights have been violated. There will be three seminars for the ombudsman’s trainers, who will later teach human rights, violence prevention and resilience. The agreement further includes a university-accredited diploma course.
The Ombudsman’s trainers will be working with students, teachers, women’s groups and local leaders. They will also train public servants and civil society actors, who subsequently will use their new knowledge of human rights in their work.
For 2024, it is being negotiated that CIPREVICA will deliver a comprehensive local management development programme for the ombudsman’s human rights teachers. The programme will equip them to help oppressed and marginalised groups.
DIGNITY’s collaboration with CIPREVICA is financed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The abbreviation CIPREVICA means Centro de Investigación para la Prevención de la Violencia en Centroamérica (Centre for Research on the Prevention of Violence in Central America).
