Honduras: Mitigating the effects of violence in schools
30-05-2011 News Release 11/127
Tela (ICRC) – From 30 May to 3 June some 60 teachers and officials from 20 schools where violence is rife in five departments of Honduras will take part in a training workshop on humanitarian principles and first-aid in the city of Tela.
The workshop, organized by the Honduran Department of Education and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is part of the Creating Humanitarian Spaces (CHS) project, which aims to prevent and mitigate the effects of organized violence in the country’s schools.
“Activities in schools are frequently disrupted by violence,” said ICRC spokesperson Dénes Benczédi. “Teachers and students are threatened, assaulted and even murdered. We chose schools for our project because that is where, traditionally, the different sectors of society mingle. Working in classrooms has a particularly broad impact.”
The CHS project is based on an agreement signed by the Honduran Department of Education and the ICRC in August 2010. Supported by the Honduran Red Cross, it targets students, teachers and the educational community as a whole. Its purpose is to promote behaviour that protects and respects life and human dignity amid organized violence. The project includes activities designed to spread knowledge of humanitarian principles and values, train teachers and students in first-aid, provide psychological support, assess security conditions and establish procedures to improve them.
For further information, please contact:
Julio César Torres, ICRC Mexico, tel. ++52 25 81 21 10 or ++52 1 55 43 60 22 04
Sebastián Kachadourian, ICRC Honduras, tel. ++ 504 97.02.24.59