Preventing violence by promoting peace culture with equity and development

Contact person: Finn Kjærulf

Partner: The Centre for Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and their Relatives (CPTRT) was founded in 1995 to prevent torture and organized violence and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments (TOV-CIDT) of groups at risk (detainees, indigenous people, etc.) and to facilitate health and social services to survivors of TOV.

CPTRT works to protect the human rights of Honduran people exposed to TOV-CIDT, and the centre contributes through research, documentation, education and organisation to prevent violence and to promote a peace culture.

Country: Honduras

Context: Honduras, a country with a population of 7,5 million, is marked by one of the highest levels of violence in the world and by the unstable political situation. In 2006 Manuel Zelaya was elected president, but in 2009 he was ousted by a military coup. Political turmoil followed the military coup, and many countries only reluctantly acknowledge the new de facto government elected in January 2010 with the conservative Porfirio Lobo Sosa as president. The return of Zelaya to the country paved the way for Honduras to re-join the Organisation of American States in June 2011 (Honduras was suspended from this group after the coup). The country remains divided between those against leftward tilt and those in support of changes in constitution and economic model.

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Latin America, the inequality continues to increase and according to The Economist almost 70% of the population now lives in poverty. The country has the highest homicide rate in the world, 77 per 100.000 (more than 8 times world average), and violence keeps on increasing. This affects the society and certainly also the RCTs partner organization. The CPTRT have experienced its offices being ransacked and its employees have received death threats. The RCT continues to support its partner in this violent environment.

Project:
The Project "Preventing Violence by Promoting Peace Culture with Equity and Development" aims to contribute to reduce violence, particularly torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and organized violence. This will be done through intersectorial efforts to promote a peace culture and economic development with equity in Honduras.

The objectives of the RCT and the CPTRT partnership:

• To reduce violence in the communities of Nueva Suyapa and Villa Nueva, through an intersectorial effort that promotes changes in pedagogical school models, awareness and organisation of the communities.  Active participation of community organizations in decision making at several levels will be promoted.
• To advocate for policy and law initiatives on violence prevention and peace culture, with a human security, public health, rights based and co-responsibility approach.
• To research and generate knowledge on good practices in violence prevention and peace culture building in Honduras. This will be done using participative methodology to improve the partner organisations interventions and strengthen community practices in Nueva Suyapa and Villa Nueva.