SIPAZ Activities (mid-August to mid-November 2023)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

• In August, we accompanied the pilgrimage organized by parishioners from the parishes in the Southeast area of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas. This activity took place in Comitan with the purpose of denouncing the “generalized situation of violence and insecurity.”
• In August, we participated in the Forum “Spinning Alternatives with the Children of Chiapas”, convened by Melel Xojobal, the Network for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (REDIAS) and Slamalil Kinal.
• In August, on the occasion of International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearances, we participated in an activity carried out in Masoja Shucja, located in the municipality of Tila, in the Northern Zone of Chiapas.The purpose of this event was to commemorate and demand justice in response to the forced disappearances and murders of their relatives.
• In this same framework, we accompanied the event “Embracing absences, raising our voices until we find them”, convened in San Cristobal de Las Casas by several civil organizations.
• In September, we visited prisoners in San Cristobal de Las Casas prison on two occasions, one of them with members of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions.
• In October, we accompanied displaced people from Banavil, municipality of Tenejapa, in a meeting with authorities that took place in Tuxtla Gutierrez.
• In the month of October, we were part of a meeting of bodies dedicated to international civil accompaniment at a global level, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland.
• In November, we attended the event titled “Impune Death”, organized by Melel Xojobal to remember the children and adolescents who have been murdered in Chiapas.
• In November, we participated in the celebration that inaugurated the jubilee year in commemoration of the birth of Samuel Ruiz Garcia, who was bishop emeritus of the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas. This event also marked 50^th anniversary of the Indigenous Congress, as well as the 20^th and 30^th anniversaries of the Pastoral Letter “In This Hour of Grace.”

GUERRERO

• We held several virtual meetings with Teodomira Rosales Sierra, director of the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon Human Rights Center, with whom we talked about the situation in Guerrero.

INFORMATION AND TRAINING FOR ACTION

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In August, we held a meeting with a representative of the United States Embassy that took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In September, together with other organizations that have prepared a joint report for the next Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico from the United Nations (UN), we participated in a meeting in which their main conclusions were presented with members ofthe French Embassy.This same month, we did the same with representatives of the Embassies of Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic and Romania.
• In October, together with other organizations, we met with members of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions within the framework of their visit to Chiapas

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

AUGUST

• We held a workshop on risk and security analysis with the operational team of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights C.A.
• We facilitated a workshop with 80 young people from the parish of Huixtan on topics of Positive Conflict Transformation and Peace Building.
• We opened a table to publicize our work and some elements of our work in peace education at an event of the Diocesan Area of Adolescent and Youth Ministry (ADIPAJ) that brought together more than a thousand young people in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

SEPTEMBER

• Together with the organization Economic and Social Development of Indigenous Mexicans (DESMI), we gave a workshop on risk analysis and security measures with authorities from a community in San Andres Larrainzar.
• We provided a space for analysis within the framework of the integration process of new members of the German Welthaus cooperation program.
• Together with the organization specialized in digital security Sursiendo, we held a workshop with a dozen journalists and communicators in which training and articulation proposals continued to be implemented towards greater security for the union.
• Together with Voces Mesoamericanas, we facilitated a workshop with young people from the Macabeos area, Estrella region of the parish of Ocosingo on topics of Positive Conflict Transformation and Peace Building.

OCTOBER

• Together with the Commission for Community Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO), we opened a space for reflection on the construction of peace with seminarians from several states convened in Chiapas within the framework of the event “Indigenous Peoples and Jesus in the Eucharist and the Care of Mother Earth.”
• We gave a new workshop on topics of Positive Conflict Transformation and Peace Building with young people from the parish of Huixtan.

NOVEMBER

• Together with the organization specialized in digital security Sursiendo, we held a workshop with a dozen journalists and communicators in which training and articulation proposals continued to be implemented towards greater security for the profession.
• We facilitated an analysis of the situation at the Tseltal-Tsotsil Meeting of the Pastoral Care of Mother Earth that took place in San Andres Larrainzar.
• We organized and facilitated a workshop focused on safety and protection issues with members of the Las Margaritas parish.
• We facilitated an analysis of the situation within the framework of the Meeting of Peace Builders convened by CORECO in El Chorro community of the municipality of Ocosingo.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• Every month, a member of our team attends the training sessions in Positive Conflict Transformation called “Peace School”, organized by Services and Consulting for Peace (SERPAZ), in Mexico City.
• In August we were in a Psychological First Aid workshop facilitated by Mesoamerican Voices (Voces Mesoamericanas).
• A member of the team participated in a new session of the CORECO diploma in Positive Conflict Transformation in August.
• In September, we attended a workshop on resilience convened by CORECO.We participated in another session on restorative justice in October.
• In October, we attended a workshop convened by Impulso CSW 18 on religious intolerance that was held in Chiapas.
• In October, we participated in a security analysis space in San Cristobal de Las Casas, which was attended by several civil organizations with a presence in this city.
• In November, we attended a online workshop “Saplings in Ruins: Hope in Trauma” on grief management organized by Global Ministries.

NETWORKING

• With a minimum monthly frequency, we attend plenary meetings and commissions of the Peace Organization in Chiapas, Slamalil Kinal.
• On a bimonthly basis, we attend operational meetings of the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice (MPPJ).
• In September, October and November, we participated in a meeting with representatives of the pastoral areas that are part of the Monitoring Commission of the Congress of Mother Earth, a component of the social pastoral care of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• On a monthly basis, we attend virtual meetings of all the members of the Platform for Peacebuilding in and outside of Mexico.We participated in a face-to-face meeting of said platform that took place in Mexico City in September.
• In October, we had an online meeting of the partners who participated in the “Latin America Project, between Violence and Hope – Phase III: Accompaniment to Communities in Non-violent Resistance against Extractivism”, coordinated by Pax Christi International.
• In November, we participated in a face-to-face meeting of the partners of the Global Platform for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC) that took place in Mexico City.