The humanitarian crisis in prisons in Latin America is marked by violence (torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment), coupled with precarious health and nutrition, the absence of specific measures for the protection of vulnerable groups and the high level of overcrowding. This situation has been further aggravated by the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 virus.

A preliminary regional diagnosis concluded that in the case of Argentina there are difficulties in drawing attention to cases of institutional prison violence and for the victims to obtain reparation or recognition of their situation.

The Public Ministry of Defence, with the support of the EUROsociAL programme of the European Union, has designed a Registration, Communication and Comprehensive Care System for Victims of Institutional Prison Violence (SIRCAIVI), with the aim of identifying, registering and providing integral assistance to victims of institutional prison violence and their family members.

This system, which is being implemented in three countries in the region: Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica attempts settle a historic debt with people deprived of their liberty in terms of ill-treatment and torture in prisons with a specific public policy for which an effort has been made by various state institutions, through the constitution of the Inter-institutional Network against Institutional Violence-Table for dialogue and intersector action (Red-MEDAI).

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The Protocol is part of the technical support that EUROsociAL+ provides to the Costa Rican Judiciary to create a mechanism whereby adolescent convicts serving sentences have access to training and employment opportunities that enable their social insertion for socio-educational, integration and equality purposes, including Juvenile Criminal Justice and Restorative Juvenile Justice. The Costa Rican Judiciary is developing public policies on restorative justice, and in this context, an inter-institutional integration and coordination protocol has been devised. The protocol establishes guidelines for creating a mechanism of articulated institutions for generating training and employment opportunities for people sentenced in the execution phase of juvenile criminal sentences, considering the characteristics and vulnerability of these people. The activity ended with two training and awareness-raising workshops on the Protocol.

The first workshop, on 18 March, was aimed at court officials, with the aim of preparing them for the process of building an inter-institutional mechanism for enabling social insertion of young people in the execution stage of juvenile criminal sentences.

The second workshop (25 March) was designed to encourage community organisations and public institutions to take part in the mechanism.

Migration is a complex phenomenon that has been particularly worrying at the international level due to its scale and speed. Migrants and refugees go through very difficult circumstances and it is necessary to define and develop better conditions so that they can claim their rights outside their countries of origin, where they generally find themselves without support networks. Legal assistance for migrants and refugees is a fundamental right that can change these peoples’ destiny. Access to justice, also understood as access to rights, enables the insertion and integration of these people in the host societies, in short, for social cohesion and a more inclusive society.

In this context, at the end of 2019, in coordination with AIDEF, a regional action promoted by Chile, Brazil and Argentina was conceived to guarantee legal assistance and protect the rights of people in a situation of mobility, consisting of the definition of a regional model and the creation of a regional network of legal assistance for migrants and refugees from Public Defender’s Offices.

As a derivation of the regional model at the national level, an Action protocol has been defined with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina for public defenders, with the aim of facilitating access to justice for people in the context of human mobility in Argentina.

In this session, the Training Course on Theoretical Approaches and Practical Tools of the Housing First Methodology will begin. This is specially designed by the AIRES Association of Spain for the Uruguayan context based on the technical advice carried out within the framework of the alliance between the European Union EUROsociAL+ Programme and the Ministry for Social Development of Uruguay.

The course is aimed at all people who work in the Supported Housing Programme, the staff of the National Directorate of Social Protection of the Ministry for Social Development of Uruguay and other partner institutions.

Registration for the course is now closed.

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A discussion organised by the EUROSociAL+ Gender Equality policy area in commemoration of 25 November: the day for the elimination of violence against women. In this space, experiences and success stories from Latin America and Europe will be exchanged, with the aim of learning from each other and designing better public policies to react to digital violence against women. Consideration will be given to how such policies can contribute to eliminating this phenomenon.

The EUROsociAL+ programme in alliance with the Gabo Foundation convenes the virtual workshop ‘Coverage of the challenges for social cohesion in Latin America’, which will be led by the journalist, teacher and member of the Governing Council of the Gabo Foundation, Mónica Gonzalez (Chile).

Journalists from Latin America and Europe, with at least three years of experience in permanent coverage on topics related to the activity’s theme, linked to some media outlet or freelancers can apply to this call. Up to 20 participants will be selected by public call.

The workshop will take place virtually, in six synchronous sessions of two hours each, in which the teacher will present the topics to be discussed and will open the conversation with journalists, so that they can present comments, doubts and experiences that everyone can learn from. Invited experts will participate.

More information here

In 2019, the Inter-American Association of Public Defender’s Offices (AIDEF), aware of the current migratory reality in the region and of the need for cooperation between Public Defender’s Offices to guarantee access to justice for people on the move, with the assistance of the European Union’s EUROsociAL+ Programme, launched an action for the creation of an Inter-American Network for the Defence of Persons in the Context of Mobility whose main objective is dialogue and joint work between entities that make up the AIDEF, to improve access to justice for migrants and refugees, through collaboration and reciprocal assistance, the exchange of information and experiences and the development of common activities.

The European Union’s EUROsociAL+ Programme together with AIDEF, invite you to the presentation of the Inter-American Network for the Defence of Persons in the Context of Mobility and the Action Protocol for the request of information between Public Defender’s Offices of the region for the defence of migrants and refugees.

The Regional Meeting on Climate Change and Gender Equality will be held virtually at various sessions throughout September 2021 (a total of 8 sessions every Tuesday and Thursday during the month). These sessions will showcase the experiences, good practices, challenges and opportunities that seek to integrate gender equality in climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the roadmap of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) of the Framework Convention on the United Nations on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

It is organised by the government of Chile in its capacity as COP25 Presidency through its Ministries of the Environment, Foreign Relations, Women and Gender Equity and is developed thanks to the support of the European Union, through its EUROsociAL+ and EUROCLIMA + programmes, with technical support from ECLAC as key strategic partners in climate action, joining up the dots between the 2030 Agenda and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The project also has the collaboration of the United Nations System of Chile, with financial contribution from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The meeting is aimed at decision-makers at a national, regional and global level, the academic community, the media and civil society.

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The Argentine Ministry of Social Development has been carrying out, with support from the European Union EUROsociAL+ programme, an initiative to strengthen the National Argentina Against Hunger Plan (PACH), through technical assistance activities and exchange with international experiences from Latin America and Europe that: (i) strengthen the implementation of the Plan; (ii) improve the food production and marketing component of the PACH and (iii) design adaptations to the component to the reality of post-pandemic events; in addition, (iv) facilitating the institutionalisation of inter-institutional and jurisdictional coordination with other civil society actors.

As part of this initiative, the Ministry of Social Development undertook, together with the European Union EUROsociAL+ programme and other international organisations, a series of meetings to exchange and reflect on social policies and especially food policies. This Dialogue lies within this series, and expects to contribute, through sharing different perspectives, to identifying the main challenges and opportunities that arise around the production and marketing of food.

The spaces for dialogue between judicial institutions in Europe and Latin America promote good practices for a digitalised justice capable of dealing with cases of gender violence. In this sense, the Council of the Judiciary in Ecuador and the EUROsociAL+ programme organise the European Union-Latin America exchange webinar “Online trials in cases of gender violence”, which, in addition, seeks to guarantee compliance with judicial processes through the use of technological tools with a gender perspective.

This international meeting will delve into topics such as implementing the virtual module of protection measures in the national system; the Report by the Ibero-American Judicial Summit on COVID-19 and the administration of justice in the region; technology, criminal process, hearings and oral trials and the diagnosis of innovative practices for carrying out online trials in cases of gender violence. During this webinar, specific experiences such as the cases of Spain, the Dominican Republic or Chile will also be addressed.