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Sources :

The facebook page of the Dirección General de Cultura de Paz y Derechos Humanos

The official gazette of the Gobierno de Veracruz

An article in El Sol de Cordoba

The latest campaign of the General Directorate for the Culture of Peace and Human Rights of Veracruz is called the Blue Heart Mexico campaign, as announced on its Facebook page:

What is the Blue Heart Mexico campaign: #AQUIESTOY against human trafficking?

* Contribute to preventing crime among those sectors identified as most vulnerable.

* Give voice to victims of human trafficking and make visible the situations in which they find themselves.

* Raise awareness among the population so that people understand how they contribute to human trafficking, even without knowing it.

* Provide specific information on crimes and what society can do for their prevention, detection and combat.

The General Directorate of Culture of Peace and Human Rights was established in the government of Veracruz in 2019 in order to contribute to institutional strengthening through the design, implementation, management, strengthening and consolidation of public policies on culture and education for peace.

As described in their program for 2019-2024, the General Directorate responds to the emergency of addressing human rights violations and the deterioration of the social fabric in a context of high rates of violence. It establishes guidelines to deal with everything related to violence prevention through culture and education programs for peace and nonviolence, and existing programs related to prevention.

The program contributes to the public policy regarding the disappearance of persons, trafficking of people, torture, attention to human rights defenders and journalists, violence against women, girls, and adolescents, with special attention to the two Declarations: the Alert on Gender Violence against Women (one for femicidal violence; and the second for Comparative Tort). It is also concerned with care for victims of human rights violations.

It is also concerned with care for all who are in vulnerable situations, such as the LGBTTTI population, the elderly, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, persons deprived of liberty, as well as monitoring of the care and protection measures for the migrant population.

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

How can we develop the institutional framework for a culture of peace?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

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The objective on human rights includes six strategies, which refer to the following topics:

1. Coordinate search actions regarding the disappearance of persons;

2. Coordinate comprehensive care for victims of crimes and human rights violations;

3. Evaluate compliance with international recommendations, as well as those issued by the national and state human rights commissions;

4. Coordinate in Veracruz the State Zero Tolerance Strategy for Violence against Women and Girls;

5. Follow up for the fulfillment of the actions of the Work Program
of the Declarations of Alert on Gender Violence against Women
(DAVGM).

6. Implement comprehensive care in the area of ​​human rights to the population historically violated from the differential approach.

The objective on culture of peace comprises four strategies;

1. Construct a short-term community and situational intervention model, with the participation of local actors, civil society, academia and instances of the 3 levels of government in contexts of crisis of violence, to rebuild the social fabric, focused on a specific population or territory.

2. Construct with local actors education programs for peace and non-violence based on popular education and a psychosocial approach, for vulnerable groups or populations (especially in regions with indigenous populations), to enable reconciliation and / or healing, and based on empowerment of actors who contribute to the reconstruction of the community social fabric.

3. Construct programs for peace and nonviolence in educational institutions, based on a differential approach that allows a considerable reduction of different types of violence.

4. Strengthen mechanisms for security, social prevention and combating criminal acts, in order to reduce risk factors that generate violence and crime in the areas with the highest incidence of crime.

The lines of action planned for each of the strategies can be synthesized as follows: collaboration, promotion, dissemination, prevention, training, development of diagnostics, database generation, statistical analysis, design and implementation of protocols, models and mechanisms for care, monitoring and evaluation.

To sum up, this program sets an important precedent. For the first time, in the state of Veracruz an extremely complex problem is recognized and addressed: the violations of human rights in a context of structural violence that has damaged the social fabric. To face this crisis, the program proposes the construction of an original public policy, through the culture of peace and respect for human rights, based on solidly supported objectives, strategies and actions, and oriented towards a radical transformation of the guidelines of social coexistence. Likewise, and as far as we realize, this program represents a national benchmark at a time when the State’s greatest obligation for the population is precisely in matters of human rights and citizen security.

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An article from Diario Extra (translation by CPNN)

Congressmen from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador are visiting the country to promote the value of tolerance and the culture of peace, fight against discrimination, religious sectarianism and ethnocentrism and to develop the norms of international law and human rights, to strengthen the principles of tolerance and achieve peace. The meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Group of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace, takes place in our country from Wednesday the 16th to Friday the 18th,.

The representatives of the parliaments gathered in front of the National Monument, in the National Park to deliver a flower arrangement. (Photo David Barrantes).

The meeting has the participation of the president of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, Ahmed Bin Mohmed Aljarwan (United Arab Emirates) and the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Duarte Pacheco (Portugal).

Also, the Argentine Walberto Allende, President of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace.

On the part of the Legislative Assembly of our country, the hosts are the deputies David Gourzong and Jorge Fonseca of the PLN and Rodolfo Peña of the PUSC.

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(Click here for a version in Spanish.>

How can parliamentarians promote a culture of peace?

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On Thursday morning they delivered a wreath in front of the National Monument, in the National Park to celebrate the opening ceremony of the meeting.

“We are proud to work with them on issues of peace, on issues of consensus in the world such as the health crisis, and on economic problems in the countries where we have to restore normalcy and to have access to vaccines,” said Gourzong.

This is the first official meeting of Duarte Pacheco, the new President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), who was very excited about the opportunity to build an agenda for peace and tolerance in the world.

“Costa Rica is a small country, but a good example for the world with its culture of peace and building bridges between peoples. I am sure that important agreements will emerge from here to address the global challenges we now face,” said Duarte Pacheco.

For Rodolfo Peña Flores, who is also a member of the board of the fourth Permanent Commission on United Nations Affairs of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the visit of Duarte Pacheco will serve to consolidate major international agreements to promote the comprehensive recovery of the countries.

“This will be a very important and enriching space for Costa Rica, where, through a vision of solidarity and humanity, we can strengthen and establish efficient instruments for the integral recovery of the countries. I am convinced that, through effective cooperation, we can consolidate good agreements to face global challenges and tostrengthen productive ties between different nations,” said the Christian Socialist.

“The election of Costa Rica has to do with its rich history with peace, more in the current moments that we are also living as a result of the pandemic that brought about a crisis in the governments of Latin America and in the world. That is why the decision to be here. We will leave happy and enriched with the recent history of Costa Rica for the benefit of the peace of the continent,” commented the Argentine Allende.

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An article by Emanuel Landeros, El Sol de San Luis

The Civil Association, IMA Transformando Vidas, has announced the fifth edition of its Culture of Peace festival, in support of neighborhood youth during this season.

The president of the organization, Hugo Carballo Hernández, reported that the event will take place this Sunday [December 20] in Valle Dorado, “as it is one of the neighborhoods with a high rate of violence in the capital, where home robberies, transients and drug sales have grown. ”

The activist said that the struggle today is in the neighborhoods, “where the pandemic has left many people without jobs and without bread to put in their mouth.”

(Click here for the Spanish original. . )

Can festivals help create peace at the community level?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

He maintained that the solution lies, as it has always been, in actions, in street work, “not in promoting theories or conspiracies; Let’s stop texting, just publish on the networks, let’s make a change in your family, on your street and neighborhood, in your actions in life”.

Likewise, he added that a Culture of Peace workshop will be held, focused on children, and that the researcher Julio Ceballos will give a self-defense workshop for women.

He invited members of other collectives and groups to join the activities of the organization he presides.

The festival will conclude, he said, with the concert of the Imperio de la Cumbia musical group, which will take place with all preventive measures in accordance with the health protocol for Covid-19.

Finally, Carballo Hernández said: “Let’s learn to be citizens in times of pandemic, let’s reflect on how we can start to change our world, and let’s remember that good actions produce good returns.”