Held over the three days to May 28, the meeting is the first step in a process facilitated by IDLO under the EU-sponsored EUROsociAL II program. Participants include Ministry of Justice representatives and members of the judiciary from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru – as well as France.

Seven of these countries have benefited IDLO’s technical assistance to enhance access to rights and justice for women victims of violence, victims of human trafficking, indigenous communities, youths and the urban poor. Highlights include the opening of Brazil’s first ‘House of Rights’ in Rio de Janeiro, the inauguration of Honduras’s first center for the protection of women’s rights and the development of a protocol for intercultural justice in Peru. In the words of IDLO Regional Manager Elena Incisa di Camerana, “our goal is to integrate national good practices into a comprehensive model to help remove the barriers that stop vulnerable groups from exercising their rights and accessing justice”.

In his opening remarks to the Lima meeting, Deputy Peruvian Minister for Human Rights Ernesto Lechuga Pino said the proposed multi-country model would contribute to development in the region.