Culture, Cultural Heritage, Tourism, Architecture, Governance, Education and Training, Cultural development, Economic and social development, Communication, Monitoring and evaluation, Urban Plannning, Infrastructure Engineering
credits: DaiWebStudio

International Justice Mission (IJM) is a global organization that protects the poor from violence throughout the developing world.  IJM partners with local authorities to rescue victims of violence, bring criminals to justice, restore survivors, and strengthen justice systems.  The largest non-profit organization of its kind, IJM combats slavery, sex trafficking, property grabbing, police abuse of power and sexual violence, working in nearly 20 communities throughout South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.  IJM is headquartered in Washington, DC. IJM’s program to combat child sexual assault (CSA) in Guatemala began in 2005. Through collaborative casework and targeted system reform projects, IJM has worked to increase the capacity of the Guatemala public justice system (PJS) to intervene on behalf of child sexual assault victims, with intent to reduce the prevalence of child sexual assault and to improve results in the PJS approach, attention and results of PJS cases.

 IJM’s program in Guatemala pursued the following Outcomes: 

1. Improved capacity of the Guatemalan National Civil Police to investigate child sexual assault crimes to mandated quality standards and timeframes.
2. Increased capacity of prosecutors to lead professional criminal investigations and prosecutions of CSA crimes to mandated quality standards and timeframes.
3. Improved capacity of judges to professionally preside over their docket of CSA cases and protect the rights of children in the criminal process.

Key stakeholders in Guatemala included: Ministry of Interior, National Civil Police, Presidential Commission for Police Reform, Public Prosecutor’s Office, Judicial Branch, UNICEF, World Vision, Compassion International, U.S. Department of State and UN Women.