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Press Advisory


The OAS Contributes to the Improvement of Access to Justice in El Salvador and Guatemala

  February 1, 2011

The Organization of American States (OAS) will meet this week with Guatemalan and Salvadoran university authorities to evaluate access to justice activities developed during 2010 and those projected for 2011.

On Wednesday, February 2nd, the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs, through its Department of Special Legal Programs, will coordinate a strategy of action with authorities from San Carlos University, Rafael Landívar University and Mariano Gálvez University, designed to help promote access to justice for vulnerable groups in Guatemala.

Furthermore, on Friday, February 4, a meeting will be held in San Salvador in which the OAS General Secretariat will formally deliver computer equipment to the Office of Legal Aid at the University of El Salvador (UES) to improve the assistance given to the most vulnerable sectors of society. In addition to the February 4th meetings, the OAS General Secretariat will sign a cooperation agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the NPO “Pact World” through which the hemispheric Organization will obtain a license for the use and adaptation of an electronic system in the administration of cases followed at university law clinics in several countries of the region.

These events are held in the framework of the project of the Promotion of Access to Justice and Legal Assistance to Vulnerable Groups through the Free University-Sponsored Legal Assistance coordinated by the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs, and developed through a cooperation agreement with the Canadian International Development Agency.

WHAT: Meetings with Guatemalan and Salvadoran university authorities

WHEN: Wednesday, February 2nd, and Friday, February 4

WHERE: Guatemala and El Salvador


Reference: AVI-022/11