Human rights and democracy

EuropeAid
Human rights and democracy
Torture prevention in Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala Education, awareness raising and dissemination of practices
of torture prevention for military and police authorities “We work with persons deprived of
liberty, which is the only right that they
have lost - they have all the rest of their
rights in force”.
EC Partners Instituto Peruano de
Educación en
Derechos Humanos y
la Paz – IPEDEHP
Comisión Ecuménica
de Derechos Humanos
(Ecuador) – CEDHU
Instituto de Estudios
Comparados en
Ciencias Penales de
Guatemala – ICCPG
Arístides Castillo, National
Penintenciary Institute Officer, Peru
Context Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala lie in a region with a political history
marked by acute periods of human rights violations, with the practice of
torture and other cruel and ill treatment reaching alarming levels.
Consolidation of democracy in Latin America must take into account this
situation, implementing adequate mechanisms to prevent such practices
in the future. It is therefore important to educate police and military
authorities against torture, as required by Article 10 of the UN
Convention against Torture.
Facts and Figures EC contribution:
€697,181 (73% of
the project)
Duration: 2007-2009
Objective Engage local authorities, military, policemen and social leaders in
the eradication of torture practices.
Impact Elaboration, validation and dissemination of awareness-raising and
educational materials on the prevention of torture.
More than 5 500 targeted persons gained an adequate knowledge
on physical and psychological torture prevention and about national
and international laws on torture prevention.
Round tables established on dialogue and negotiation techniques
amongst public security institutions.
For more information: http://www.ipedehp.org.pe
Human rights and democracy
Torture prevention in Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala Education, awareness raising and dissemination of practices of torture
prevention for military and police authorities Breaking the barriers and working together towards the
respect of basic human rights
Mayor Rommel Tapia Coral, member of the Directory of the
Department of Human Rights of the Police in Ecuador:
“It was almost impossible to think that the doors of military and police
quarters could be open to members of human rights defenders. This
paradigm has been broken. But how? With the great will of our Police
Command, and also with the decisiveness of our policemen and
policewomen. In this work, it was enriching to have members of the
Armed Forces as companions, members from the Public Ministry, the
Social Rehabilitation Directory and community leaders, as well as
human rights promoters and defenders.
As a conclusion, I believe, and I am sure that this is the consensus, that
all of us must be promoters, defenders and guarantee human rights,
even more the National Police, which is in close contact with the civil
society.”
EuropeAid