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OAS and SICA Validate Manual to Protect Victims and Witnesses of Organized Crime in Central America

The Organization of American States (OAS) and the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SICA) agreed this week in Antigua Guatemala on the technical validation of the draft manual for the assistance and protection of victims, witnesses and others involved in criminal proceedings for offenses related to organized crime in Central America.

At the meeting, held on April 27 and 28, the documents produced in the framework of the project “Strengthening of Specialized Institutions in the Assistance and Protection of Victims of Violence Generated by Organized Crime in Central America” were delivered. As part of the event, the technical authorities responsible for different programs of assistance and protection to victims and witnesses in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala analyzed the results of the diagnostics carried out in each of these countries regarding regulations, policies, programs, and governmental and civil society institutions responsible for the protection and care of victims.

In this context, the participants in the meeting adopted and agreed to promote the practices presented in the Protocol for the Implementation of the Central American Convention for the protection of victims, witnesses, experts and other persons involved in the investigation and criminal proceedings, particularly drug trafficking and organized crime. The aim is to provide a uniform, coordinated and efficient response for all citizens and officials involved in the prosecution of organized crime.

In the opening of the event, Ignacio Ayala, Director of the Training Centre in Antigua, Guatemala of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), which provided financial support for the meeting, expressed interest in continuing to support initiatives like this, as well as stressing the long history of cooperation with the OAS and SICA.

The OAS representative in Guatemala, Milagro Martinez, acknowledged that the General Secretariat of the hemispheric institution is aware that the growth of transnational organized crime requires a comprehensive, coordinated and concerted response, not only nationally but also regionally, and therefore highlighted the importance of the event in Antigua Guatemala in promoting the strengthening of the institutions of protection and assistance to victims and witnesses in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, through the improvement of intra-regional coordination among responsible agencies.

The meeting also served as an opportunity for the exchange of experiences and identification of possible means of horizontal technical exchanges between the institutions of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol and the Manual.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-157/15