The end of October the First Lady announced an initiative for the promotion of a culture of peace that would culminate in a possible amnesty law. What follows is the policy proposal the government issued, along with a calendar for its implementation.
The opposition has expressed concern that the plan does not address justice and redress for the 325 people killed, hundreds illegally detained , thousands wounded mostly by pro-government forces, and the some 40,000 who fled the country in the face of the government sponsored violence. They have expressed the concern that this could be a prelude to a general amnesty for those involved in these serious human rights violations.
POLICY PROPOSAL FOR THE PROMOTION OF A CULTURE OF PEACE AND RECONCILIATION (#1)
Introduction:
The Government of National Reconciliation and Unity, in the framework of its commitment to the Wellbeing of Nicaraguan Families, has prepared the current Policy where it resumes Work Processes that it has been implementing from different spheres and sectors throughout the eleven years of good Government in the search to improve the harmonious co-existence of families, communities and strengthening Citizen Security.
- Justification
Throughout our country in different moments of its History, multiple experiences of peaceful resolution of situations that affect our co-existence have been demonstrated; disagreements that have been addressed in different ways where we, the population and communities, have achieved important spiritual, social, cultural and economic transformations.
These national experiences of peace have shown that the use of skills for peaceful co-existence is an effective mechanism that contributes solutions to the transformation and the construction of healthy environments, healthy for the family and the community. Recovering the cultural legacy of the peaceful resolution of disagreements has constituted a priority for the Government of National Reconciliation and Unity through the different Values Promotion Strategies.
This Policy will continue strengthening this Cultural and Spiritual Legacy in the Families, from an articulated system of the promotion of a culture of peace.
- General Objective of the Policy of Culture of Peace and Reconciliation
Recovering the Cultural Legacy of Nicaraguan Families in the creation and strengthening of a Culture of Peace that would allow having an impact on the prevention of all expressions of disagreements between People, Families and Communities.
- Policy for a Culture of Peace Approach
The ways in which we people relate to one another are determined by the use and customs of each human group, and by the need for love and understanding, as vital for survival as food, clothing, protection and health.
These vital conditions throughout the history of humanity have been ensured by families, as a fundamental aspect where these uses and customs are lived and transmitted to new generations, which constitute the culture of a country and that give meaning to belonging to a Country.
On forming our own Families, all of us People carry with us the way in which we were raised, which is why reaching agreements and accepting differences is a challenge to the Daily Life that can be resolved by building among all of us a Culture of Peace, capable of recovering the wealth of the Cultural Values of Nicaraguan Families.
This Culture of Peace, whose roots are in families, can be strengthened also in School, Church, and the Community, and be transferred to the work sphere and to Organizational, Political, Cultural and Religious Spaces.
Even though the Family ensures the transmission of Values, it is in the family nucleus where conflicts and disagreements are generated, originated in the daily co-existence of people of different ages, world visions, habits and customs; from there the importance that a Culture of Peace Policy has as it essential starting and ending points Families and connected Institutions and Entities capable of strengthening the role of recovering and strengthening Values that the family group puts to use.
Based on this, it is important to have a Policy that would promote the strengthening of those Values that constitute the cultural legacy of Nicaraguan Families, so that it might have an impact on the prevention of conflicts within Families and Communities, as well as carry out Processes of Personal, Family and Community Reunification.
- How are we going to recover our Nicaraguan family legacy?
a) Consolidating Family and Community strategies for the recovery and strengthening of the family legacy in peaceful conflict resolution, identifying at the personal and collective levels the positive spaces that we learned in our Families, selecting in that legacy what we want to transmit to our Children, Adolescents and Youth so that it might help them as guide and example for their own pathways.
b) Developing from School the capacity to understand conflicts as a constitutive element of all Societies: address them in a positive ways, through Dialogue, in order to promote social transformations on which the strengthening of the Culture of Peace will be sustained.
c) Promoting attitudes and behaviors that would help to build bridges, strengthen territorial identity, contribute to the construction of alliances and collective visions of peace that would sustain the construction of a Country of Peace based on a co-responsible exercise among Schools, Churches, Communities and Institutions, and that we feel have been guides along the paths that we have taken and that today we remember with love and gratitude.
6. Focuses of our legacy of Nicaraguan Family Culture to work on with different actors
- Spirit of Struggle and Work
- Religiosity/Spirituality
- Joy and Optimism
- Solidarity and Mutual Support
- Confidence in ourselves and in others
- Capacity to build and maintain hope even in the most adverse conditions
7. Actors of the Culture of Peace Policy and their roles in the Formation of Values, Behavior and Attitudes
Family Groups:
- People of different ages and interests live in them which is why the present Policy has differentiated Work Strategies, depending on the moment of the Life Cycle of the people.
- Hierarchical relations are established that can become even authoritarian and violent, which is why it is necessary to work with a gender and generational perspective in order to ensure relationships of Respect and Equity between Men and Women, Adults and Children.
Educational System:
- Plays a complementary role to the Family in the holistic formation of new generations
- Constitutes a privileged space for strengthening the formative role of Families, as well as to have a direct influence on the recovery and reinforcement of Values and the Promotion of Relationships of Respect and Equity among the student population.
Churches:
The different Religious Denominations in Nicaragua, being mostly Christian, have the Message to:
- Complement the Values Formation Processes that Families as well as the Educational System carry out
- Offer privileged spaces for co-existence to promote visions, attitudes and conduct capable of reproducing the Culture of Love, Peace and Well being contained in Christian Doctrine.
Communities:
- Are the spaces where People share the habits and customs learned in families and reinforced in the Educational System and the Churches.
Work Places:
- The work sphere and organizational spaces are also places for Encounter to strengthen the Culture of Peace and Harmonious Co-existence
Communications media:
- Offer the opportunity to transmit Messages that reinforce Values and thereby strengthen the Culture of Peace
- Strategic Work Lines
The Strategies, Programs, Actions, Methodologies and Materials will be established with the current Policy for the promotion of Family Values that are already being promoted in the Country.
The Policy resumes the following actions underway that will be organizing from one sole, systemic and integrated work logic with the different Policy actors: Family Groups, Educational System, Churches, Communities, Local Governments, Regional Governments, Work Centers and Communications Media.
The Actions are the following:
a) The Love Program for the Little Ones
Through the Love Program for the Little Ones tools will continue to be offered to Parents and Guardians to develop spaces for early stimulation and rearing with kindness for Children from pregnancy to six years of age, using the “Love for the Little Ones Early Stimulation Primer”, an action that will be carried out by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Family, through a joint work plan.
b) The Counselors in the Educational Communities and the Family Counselors who are part of the Early Alert System
In the Counselors in the Educational Communities with a vision of early intervention, and the joint work with Parents, Guardians and the Educational Community, Early Alerts will be identified, using the Primer for the Identification of Early Alert Signs, and primary accompaniment will be done for Boys, Girls, Adolescents and Youth with psychosocial problem situations that can interfere in their educational processes, such as: Domestic misunderstandings, School Addictions, teenage Pregnancy, Violence: Physical, psychological and sexual, Trafficking and sexual exploitation and loss of Love for Life, referring these situations through timely referral to the Family Counselors who work directly with Families, and are complemented by a collaborative Team composed of Technicians and Technical Experts in Children and Families with the capacity to provide accompaniment, specialized attention and refer to other levels of specialization the situations that affect the members of the Family.
Both sets of Counselors among themselves form one collaborative Work Team that have common objectives: address in a holistic manner the prevention and appearance of situations that threaten the tranquility of families.
This Early Warning System of Violence Prevention that starts in the Family, the School and the Community, is promoted in an interconnected way by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Family, the Ministry of Health and Youth Affairs of the National Police.
c) Schools of Family Values
The Promotion of new models of relationships within the family. Providing tools to Parents and Guardians on ways of raising children, placing limits and directing behavior and learning without using violent methods. Strengthen the relationship of couples based on respect, communication and mutual support, and respect and tolerance for Older Adults. Schools that will be promoted by the Ministry of the Family, Adolescents and Children.
d) Schools for Adolescents and Youth
Aimed at strengthening protective factors and life skills. Schools that will be promoted and coordinated by the Ministry of the Family, Adolescents and Children, with the participation of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth, INATEC, Youth Affairs of the National Police and other community actors willing to join the effort.
e) Teacher Training
Include in the initial curriculum of Teacher training in the Normal Schools and the Shared Learning Pedagogical Spaces (EPI) in a monthly way work tools for the promotion of the Culture of Peace under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.
f) Ongoing Campaigns for the Promotion of Family Values and Harmony
Carry out an ongoing campaign for the Promotion of Family Values, placing emphasis on: spending time together, improving communication, listening to what people are feeling and putting emphasis on values, using the Primer for the Promotion of Family Values and Harmony in the spaces (Monthly and Bimonthly Encounters with Parents in Schools, in Value Schools, in Educational and Community Fairs) under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Family, Adolescents and Children, and the Ministry of Education.
g) Guidance for Parents and Guardians
Work with the Counselors of the Educational Communities on guidance processes for parents and guardians to provide them with tools for communication, understanding and guidance for their sons and daughters, during the monthly and bimonthly encounters in the schools, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.
h) Recovery of Family Legacies
Work with Boys, Girls, Adolescents and Youth on exercises for the recovery of their family legacies, and tools for improving relationships within the framework of respect for the Child Development Centers in the preschools, Primary and Secondary Schools and Community Spaces under the approach of rearing with tenderness, promoted jointly with the Ministry of the Family, Adolescence and Children, and the Ministry of Education.
i) Culture of Peace and Christianity
Approach Religious Denominations open to joining the Culture of Peace, and adapting already available and validated methodologies and materials in order to work with groups and pastoral work promoted by them. This action will be the responsibility of the Ministry of the Family, Adolescents and Children.
j) Citizen Security Community Work
Promoted by the National Police in the different Territories, offers spaces and opportunities for Dialogue and the Reunification of People, Families and Communities around the Culture of Peace.
Use the Community Work Method promoted from the Citizen Security Program done by the Police for working on Community Security Plans and Reunification Processes. The responsibility of the National Police.
k) Encounter and Promotion of the Culture of Peace
Work on actions of Encounters and Promotion of the Culture of Peace and Co-existence. Fairs for the Promotion of the Culture of Peace. Institutions, Municipal governments, Communities and Territorial Sandinista Leadership Councils responsible.
l) Promotion of the Culture of Peace in the Communications Media
Prepare ongoing Media Plan to promote the Culture of Peace and share with the population the approach of the process for collective construction implicit in the Policy. Communications media.
m) Inter-institutional Team for the implementation of the Policy
Form an Inter-institutional Team composed of the Technical Teams of the Office of Counselors of the Educational Communities of MINED, the Family Counselors of MIFEM, Ministry of Youth, Solidarity Outreach Workers, the Ministry of Health, the National Police so that they might take on the coordination of the implementation of the current Policy. The coordination of this Commission is left the responsibility of the Ministry of the Family, Adolescents and Children.
Work Plan
Week of October 29-31
Configuration of the National Policy Team, with Ministers and Technical Reference persons for each institution
Week of November 5-16
Presentation of the Policy
- Provincial and Municipal Delegates of Institutions
- Municipal Governments
- Sandinista Leadership Council
Week of November 5-16
Configuration of Provincial and Municipal Policy Team, with Ministers. Preparation of Provincial and Municipal Plans for Policy Presentation
December 3
National Launch of the Policy in the National Congress for the promotion of the Culture of Peace. Heads of the Ministries.
December 2018
Preparation of the joint Work Plan for 2019. National Policy Team responsible.
Ongoing
Follow up and monitoring of the implementation of the Policy. National Policy team responsible.