Monday, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) launched in Port-au-Prince an initiative to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian Office de la Protection du Citoyen (OPC) in the area of mediation.

The OPC, Haiti’s ombudsman office, is an independent institution under the Haitian Constitution whose function is to protect individuals against government abuses.

A conference, co-hosted by the OAS and the OPC, was held Monday in Port-au-Prince, during which representatives of the ombudsman offices of El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, Peru and Venezuela, as well as officials of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, have shared their experiences and best practices on the role of ombudsmen in the protection of human rights and in the peaceful resolution of disputes.

The initiative will then continue throughout the month of January with a series of training seminars on conflict analysis, negotiation and mediation for personnel of the OPC. The seminars will be offered in partnership by the OAS with the United States Institute of Peace.

This initiative takes place in the framework of the OAS Mediation-Capacity-Building Project, implemented by the Department of Sustainable Democracy and Special Missions of the Secretariat for Political Affairs with financial support of the Government of Canada.

HL/ HaitiLibre