Our Children’s Emergency Relief International (CERI) team has successfully trained professionals from the Undersecretariat for Protection of the Ministry of Social Welfare (SBS) professionals to strengthen child protection in Guatemala!
This collaborative workshop empowered attendees with vital legal knowledge to advocate for children’s rights effectively, as highlighted in the following article. Great work, everyone!
Legal Capacities of SBS Professionals Strengthened
As featured on
With the aim of strengthening the capacities of human talent working in the field of child protection in Guatemala, professionals from the Undersecretariat for Protection of the Ministry of Social Welfare (SBS) were trained by experts from Children’s Emergency Relief International (CERI), Guatemala headquarters and the Judicial Branch (OJ).
The workshop made it possible to analyze the international human rights obligations of the State of Guatemala, as well as the legal concepts that allow us to understand why international treaties in this area are mandatory.
Judge Juan Orlando Calderón was also present, who explained what are the guarantees and judicial rights in terms of special protection and the specific regulations of the Supreme Court of Justice in the processes for child victims or threatened in their Human Rights.
“The objective of this is that people who work in this legal area can exercise strategic litigation and that at the time of appearing before a protection judge they can base their requests with international standards on Human Rights and the applicable and current national legislation on the matter,” explained Óscar Rodríguez, director of CERI Guatemala.
For her part, Lili Gossmann, National Director for CERI Guatemala, said that two decades ago Guatemala ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and from there a range of international ratifications were generated to ensure the best interests of the child.
“When we talk about the best interests of the child, we are talking about the PINA law, the Protection of Human Rights; we are talking about the different observations and ratifications that have been made to watch over the child as a whole depending on their need and the moment; and it can be food, family, security, protection, education,”
Lili Gossmann
Meanwhile, Juan José Calderón, judge of childhood and adolescence of the metropolitan area, indicated that it is important to understand that the State as a whole must be organized for the protection of children: “not as the future, but as the present of the nation. So the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of the Interior, the OJ, among others, have to do something, each one according to its attributions must improve the care of children.”
In addition, the experts assured that the authorities of the Undersecretariat of Protection and the SBS represent a strategic ally of CERI to achieve effective protection of children.
“We are convinced that currently the authorities of the SBS are people committed to a vision and a focus on the Human Rights of children and adolescents that will allow progress towards this transformation of this system,”
Óscar Rodríguez
To view the full article in Spanish, click here.
