By Laura Cárdenas, consultant for the EUROsociAL+ Programme in its Democratic Governance Area.
Photo: Larissa Estevan, Community Mediation Agent in Brazil
Larissa Estevan became a community mediation agent “out of love and commitment to the city where I grew up”, Samambaia, a region of Brasilia. “I became a community mediation agent after seeing a group of agents who facilitated a horizontal dialogue between collectors of recyclable materials, a very precarious profession in Brazil, university students and representatives of the State. At that meeting I fell in love with the Community Justice Programme”, explains Estevan.
Every day, Larissa Estevan works to “provide spaces for dialogue, law and justice in my territory.” One such case was that of Doña Ana, who came to her in the middle of the pandemic because her son had been arrested and she did not know what to do. “She came to us in desperation because a month had passed since he was arrested and she had no information about him, she did not know where to go or how to seek help. We listened to Doña Ana and took the case to an assembly of the Community Justice Programme so that, together, we could think about possible guidance, referrals and contacts to allow her to exercise her right to have information about her son. Finally, we put her in contact with the Federal District Public Defender’s Office. A few days later, she called to thank us because she had found out where her son was being held and the Public Defender’s Office had provided her with a public defender”.
“Clearly, as long as there is inequality in power, social justice will be necessary. The Community Justice Programme works to ensure that our community enjoys at least some of the social justice to which it is entitled”, said Estevan.
European Union programmes such as EUROsociAL+ are working for greater social justice in Latin America so that citizens can have legal services and, ultimately, a better life. Specifically, the Democratic Governance Department of the EUROsociAL+ programme, which is managed by FIIAPP through its Inclusive Justice line, is providing technical assistance to the Community Justice Programme of the Brazilian Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories with technical support from the General Council of Spanish Lawyers.
