The United Kingdom promotes gender equality and tackles violence against women and girls as a matter of principle. So, as part of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence we have a guest blog from Sara Del Cid, our Security and Justice Officer. Over to you Sara…
Since the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, launched the initiative to prevent sexual violence in conflict (PSVI), we have been working closely with the Guatemalan government and NGOs. Foreign Minister, Fernando Carrera, is an international “champion” to help to promote the campaign.
To support Guatemalan efforts to tackle sexual violence in conflict and violence against women and girls, we are running a project with the NGO Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG) and Artistas Trabajando.
The project will use participatory theatre and artistic workshops to focus on helping victims and survivors be empowered to improve communication within the community by breaking taboos. This will happen in three regions of the country: western (Sololá, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango), north-east (Izabal, Alta Verapaz) and central (Guatemala, Chimaltenango).
This means that during a full year we will be working to tackle sexual violence in conflict. So for Guatemala and the UK: it’s time to act!