Honduras: Judicial and Community leaders working together for crime prevention

To kick off this week, we have another guest blogger. This time it’s Sara Del Cid, our Security and Justice Officer who has written about her recent visit to Honduras. Over to you Sara.

One of the Embassy’s priorities in Honduras is to support the security and justice sectors.   LA couple of weeks ago we attended a roundtable about “Inter-American Programme of Judicial Facilitators”. Since 2007, with the support of the OAS (Organization of American States), the Inter-American Programme of Judicial Facilitators has been developing the experience of Judicial Facilitators across Latin America. In Honduras, the programme started in October 2012, and until now it has been executed in 7 out of 18 departments, impacting 212,000 beneficiaries.

But, how does it work? The Judicial Facilitators are volunteers, selected by community members and appointed, trained and monitored by a local judge in order to become leaders who can work closely with the judicial authorities in their own communities. However, they do not have judicial capacities; instead they play an important role in terms of giving advice and guiding people about the law and administrative process. They also intercede and give training to the community focusing on civic and legal topics. With this, the programme develops an innovative model of security and justice, which has the strength to transform a violent and impunity culture, into a culture of peace and legality.

As they are empowered by the judiciary, the judicial facilitators seem to be the answer to tackle common crime, reducing conflicts and increasing access to justice by the most vulnerable communities and then to the whole country. The programme also contributes to democratic governance and Human Rights protection.

In conclusion, this commitment to peacekeeping is the first step towards a 360° change in one of the most violent countries in the world.