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by Helena Lourenço

At a meeting on August 25 in Agrestina (Pernambuco, Brazil), representatives from nine communities agreed to create a provisional commision that will lead to the formation of a Culture of Peace Council in the region of Agreste.

Photo by Jocelim Valdemar / Decom – PMA

The event was held by the Women’s Thematic Chamber of the Agreste and Mata Sul Municipalities Consortium
 
Among those present were the coordinator of the Women’s Chamber of Comaqsul and regional coordinator of the Central Agreste of the State Women’s Secretariat, Betânia Ribeiro, Agrestina’s Secretary of Public Policies for Women, Emilia Alves, the president of the Brazilian Association of Women Folklore Festivals of Brazil – ABRASOFFA, Helena Lourenço, the representative of the Public Policy Managers for Women in the Agreste Central Region, Claudia Roberta, the mayor of Lagoa dos Gatos, Edmilson Moraes, and the invited speaker, David Adams.

The theme of the speech by Dr. Adams was: The Culture of Peace and Non-Violence. He spoke out of his experience as the Director of the United Nations International Year for the Culture of Peace (2000). During the international year, 75 million people worldwide, 15 million of them in Brazil, signed the Manifesto 2000, as part of the initiative to promote a culture of peace. This shows a great awareness of the need to change our culture for a change of culture of peace, “he said.

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(Click here for a Portuguese version of this article)

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

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The proposal of the culture of peace seeks alternatives and solutions to these issues that afflict humanity as a whole, focuses not on the issue of violence, but on peace as a social state of dignity where everything can be preserved and respected. These points are one of the great challenges of building a culture of peace.

According to the United Nations, the culture of peace has eight aspects:
1. Education for a culture of peace. Tolerance and solidarity3. Democratic participation 4. Flow of information 5. Disarmament 6. Human rights 7. Sustainable development 8. Equality of gender

Dr. Adams said that “It is necessary to replace the culture of war with a culture of peace. This can be done by cities because they have no need for nuclear weapons, there is no need for war culture.

The speaker concluded that he has a dream to see Brazil recognized for spreading the culture of peace. “Brazil will be known worldwide for being a country that seeks a culture of peace, thanks to the young people who go to communities and favelas to work and learn about a culture of peace.

According to UNESCO, the culture of peace “is intrinsically related to the prevention and non-violent resolution of conflicts” and is based on the principles of tolerance, solidarity, respect for life, individual rights and pluralism. This discussion is strengthened by the growing vision of universal responsibility for the construction of a new world and places this theme as one of the main educational actions that promote effective sources of peace in the world.

COMAGSUL – It is the Consortium of Agreste and Mata Sul Municipalities and was born of the common needs between Agreste and Mata Sul municipalities, with populations below 70,000 inhabitants. The consortium’s mission is to promote regional integration, foster the socioeconomic and cultural development of Agreste and Mata Sul de Pernambuco, as well as strengthen Municipal Management through joint actions, seeking the exchange of experiences and cost reduction of public services management between two or more municipalities that are part of the consortium. Currently, the group of municipalities consortium is of 22 municipalities.

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By the coordinator of the CPNN

I recently visited two cities in Brazil, Santos and Caruaru, where participatory budgeting is being practiced.

Participatory budgeting is an important instrument for promoting democratic participation, as it allows the citizen to debate and define the future of a city. In it, the population decides the priorities of investments in works and services to be realized each year, with the resources of the budget of the city hall. In addition, it encourages the exercise of citizenship, the commitment of the population to the public good and the co-responsibility between government and society on the management of the city.

Here are two examples.

Santos, Brazil: Participative Budget has already received 43 thousand votes

An article from the City of Santos

About 43 thousand people have already expressed their views on the priorities that the City Hall should adopt for 2018, through the Participatory Budget process. Next week, the total should reach 50 thousand participations (more than four times the goal, of 12 thousand, established in the PDR – Direct Participation in Results).

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(Click here for the original article in Portuguese)

Participatory budgeting, How does it work?

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An Ombudsman team was present today at the UME Auxiliadora da Instrucção, in Macuco, for elementary students to vote on the benefits they expect for Education. Teams were also present at the health units, street markets and supermarkets.

To vote, click here. Just enter, identify the neighborhood where you live and vote. The alternatives are provided within the fields of Citizenship and Social Action, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Environment, Public Services, Education, Health and Urban Mobility. You can choose one option in each of them.

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Caruaru, Brazil: Municipality to launch an application for popular participation

An article from Te Amo Caruaru

On Friday (25), the Secretariat for Planning, Budget and Management will hold a public hearing for the General Consolidation of “Mobiliza Caruaru”, in the auditorium of the Shopping Center Difusora, at 9:00 am, attended by the mayor of Caruaru, Raquel Lyra.

The main purpose is to show citizens the final result of the nine public sessions held in the Agreste capital, four in the rural area and five in the urban area. This process contributes to the structuring of municipal budget planning, which also includes the Budgetary Guidelines Law and the Annual Budget Law for 2018. The multi-year plan will be forwarded to the City Council by October 05, according to the legislation.

At that time, the application “Mobiliza Caruaru” will also be presented, initially available for Android phones. This mobile application will be another tool for the population to interact, as well as consolidate participatory and collaborative processes between the municipal government and civil society and its various organizations.

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An article from Milenio Diario, dated May 28.

Autonomous organizations and secretariats of the Government of the City of Mexico have joined the campaign of dissemination of the Capital Electoral Institute to promote the Citizen Consultation on Participatory Budgeting 2018.

Councilors of the Capital Electoral Institute will have the support of agencies and agencies of the Government of Mexico City in the dissemination of the Citizen Consultation on Participatory Budgeting 2018 (Cinthya Stettin)

During a meeting in the facilities of that electoral body, some of the dissemination actions that were carried out were detailed:

– Placing a banner on their respective websites with information about the Citizen Consultation.

– Installation of posters about the initiative in visible places of those institutions.

– Informational talks on the subject given to staff

– Placement of itinerant modules for the registration of projects within the facilities of these agencies and secretariats.

In order to encourage project registration, the dynamic of #TuPresupuestoChallenge will be activated, which means that all staff memberrs of a unit can registerr citizen projects. Also a video will launch a challenge to other units, so that they perform the same activity, in order to replicate it and generate more citizen proposals.

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Participatory budgeting, How does it work?

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Meanwhile, electoral councilor Pablo Lezama said that “for this citizen exercise, the goal is to have better registered projects and to insure that citizens receive all the information necessary to participate actively.”

He explained that IEDF staff has worked to establish better coordination and lines of action with local institutions to ensure that citizens receive adequate information about this exercise of democratic participation.

The meeting was attended by judges from the Capital Electoral Tribunal and representatives of the local Human Rights Commission as well as the Institute of Transparency, Access to Public Information, Protection of Personal Data and Accountability.

Likewise, the various local secretariats of Urban Development and Housing are added to this initiative; including Economic Development; Environment; Works and Services; Social Development; Health; Finance; Public Security; Civil Protection; Labor and Employment Promotion; and Science and Technology and Innovation.

Others In addition include the Comptroller of Mexico City, the Urban Management Agency, the Institute for the Integration of People with Disabilities, the System for Integral Family Development, the Attorney General’s Office and the Legal and Legal Services Council

Lezama added that last year they received around 20 thousand proposals in 30 days. For this year the deadline has been extended to almost 100 days for this activity, which expires on July 14.

He informed that the projects could be registered in person in any of the 40 district addresses of the IEDF and online in the page of that body election.

(Click here for the original Spanish article.)

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An article from the AJURIS Superior School of the Judiciary of the State of Rio Grande do Sul

On August 11, in addition to marking the 73-year foundation of AJURIS [The Association of Judges of Rio Grande do Sul], as of today also marks a historic moment of strengthening ties between AJURIS, its Judiciary School, the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul and the Canadian institute Terre des Hommes, with the signing of two agreements of inter-institutional cooperation for the strengthening of Restorative Justice and the construction of peace.

The organizations are in unanimous agreement that the country is going through a perioe of great social tension and it needs the promotion of dialogue, accountability and justice for the victims through restorative methods. The event was opened by two pioneers in Restorative Justice studies in the State and in the country, AJURIS vice-president Vera Deboni and Leoberto Brancher, the Coordinator of the Restorative Justice Program for the 21st Century of the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sol.

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(Click here for the original article in Portuguese)

Restorative justice, What does it look like in practice?

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AJURIS President Gilberto Schäfer said that the words that best expressed the moment were joy and gratitude for the formalization of the partnerships: with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, for the relevance in the Justice System, and with the Terre des Hommes, an organization present in 36 countries that is internationally recognized for promoting restorative juvenile justice: “We need to think of new ways to resolve conflicts as we are losing the ability to dialogue.”

The head of the Brazilian delegation of the Terre des Hommes Institute, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Renato Pedrosa spoke about AJURIS which is recognized nationally as a reference in Restorative Justice and stressed that “the prosecution approach this way of doing justice is innovative,” he said, citing the pioneering of State. According to Pedrosa, the partnership is one of the important elements of Terre des Hommes planning, which, until 2030, aims to promote Restorative Justice in Brazil and Latin America.

Representing the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul (MPRS), the Assistant Attorney General for Legal Affairs and coordinator of the Mediar Program, Cezar Faccioli, spoke about the satisfaction of the MPRS in arriving at this moment, in which a major change of culture is being proposed: “We started from a good place,” he said. In Faccioli’s evaluation, restorative methods open “the possibility of consensus and dialogue” and it would be important to include the entire Justice System, including non-state. “Produce justice by making peace,” he concluded.

The Director of the School of AJURIS, Judge Cláudio Luís Martinewski, also highlighted the relevance of the agreements and expressed the expectation that, increasingly, the result of these actions will expand and produce changes in society. The event also celebrated the 13 years of creation of the AJURIS School of Restorative Justice, where Martinewski also formalized the investiture of judges Fábio Vieira Heerdt and Andrea Hoch Cenne as vice-coordinators.

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An article by Myrian Castello, Fábrica dos Sonhos

Through initiatives and projects, some cities in Brazil have been promoting a culture of peace. The Culture of Peace, as opposed to the culture of war, aims to promote education for peace, human rights, sustainable and equitable development, participatory democracy, gender equality, free flow of information, tolerance and solidarity as a means of achieving and building peace.

Research about initiatives, commissions and councils made for this article found activities including interviews, forums, trainings, talk wheels and courses, in the cities of Londrina, Curitiba, Itapecerica da Serra, Santos and Recife.

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

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In Londrina there is Compaz, a council that works to develop the culture of peace and non-violence and the Peace Media that is the media vehicle to spread the news of this culture in the region. More information can be found at this link.

In Itapecerica da Serra, there was a Peace Walk in honor of women.

In São José dos Campos through the education secretary, in the axis of Human Rights Education, activities were promoted for a culture of peace, including a Festival of Circular Dances and Culture of Peace.

Santos officially has an active Peace Commission and recently promoted the 1st Peace and Non-Violence Forum within the schedule of Education Week. The city has the potential to become a reference to the world on a culture of peace.

In Recife, the Community Center of Peace, COMPAZ Eduardo Campos, offers various services and activities with the purpose of guaranteeing social inclusion and community strengthening. More information can be found on their Web site and Facebook page.

Actions and initiatives like these and others are important to promote a culture of peace, which is necessary and urgent to change the culture of war in which we are inserted.

(Click here for the original article in Portuguese.)

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An article from La Prensa Grafica

About 25 municipalities, belonging to the departments of San Vicente, Cuscatlán and Cabañas, participated in a training workshop organized by the Corporations of the Republic of El Salvador (COMURES) in Cojutepeque (Cuscatlán), with the objective of strengthening the role of municipal governments in the prevention of violence and their capacities to respond to the problems that are currently affecting the country.

The activity, which is part of the national day that COMURES develops from July 18 to August 29, 2017, at the scale of the 14 Departmental Councils of Municipalities (CDA), is carried out in coordination with the Secretariat of Governance of the Presidency, with the participation of the Legislative Assembly and the accompaniment of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

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

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The purpose is to facilitate coordination between municipalities with various instances, such as public security, mainly to carry out actions and initiatives to prevent violence and crime in the territory.

Carlos Roberto Pinto Guardado, executive director of COMURES, explained that because of their impact on economic and social development, citizen security and violence prevention are issues that have been prioritized by municipal governments in the National Congresses of Municipalities, and incorporated In the permanent agenda promoted by the corporation.

“The approach of the theme seeks to strengthen a strategy that allows strengthening the leadership and role of municipal governments, for the construction of a sustained culture of peace with the participation of communities,” COMURES said in a statement.

“This is important,” said Pinto Guardado, “since municipal councils, as the first state authority in the municipalities, know the most sensitive needs and problems of the population, invest resources and implement policies and actions that are coordinated, organized and planned to reduce the factors that generate social violence in the territory.

Along these lines, COMURES with the support of cooperation agencies has created different instruments and tools.

(Click here for the Spanish original of this article)

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An article from Cuarto Poder (translated by CPNN)

Judge Rutilio Escandón Cadenas, president of the Superior Court of Justice and the Judiciary Council, considers that justice in Chiapas is now perceived in terms of transparency, promptness, sensitivity and impartiality thanks to the new judicial system throughout the country.

In the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the presiding magistrate spoke about the commitment of the Judicial Power to alternative means of conflict resolution which allows greater flexibility through the use of mediation, arbitration and conciliation, a new culture for security and justice.

Rutilio Escandón considers that there is no time for confrontations and discord, which should not be part of the human condition and environment in which we live; instead, it is time to adopt more fertile paths, with consistent and rational contributions that give a better vision of what we want for Chiapas.

With this new way of imparting justice, said the magistrate, the state is consolidating a culture of peace that can unite all peoples and communities. Through dialogue we can construct a system of justice that that is transformative and uplifts human rights .

“I invite everyone to take advantage of the State Center of Alternative Justice, instead of using the old judicial system. In this way, we can live in harmony, which is possible as long as we have the enthusiasm to work for unity among all of us and the conviction that we can achieve it”, concluded Rutilio Escandón.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

Restorative justice, What does it look like in practice?