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Guatemala
Labor justice Advocacy Project in the CAFTA-DR Signatory Countries
The free trade agreement for Central America and the Dominican Republic, CAFTA-DR, requires important reforms of the domestic legal and business environment that encourage competitive business development and investment, and consolidate transparency and rule-of-law in member countries. In a white paper on labor sector reform, the CAFTA-DR signatory countries jointly identified specific improvements needed in labor law administration and enforcement to make the trade agreement acceptable to stakeholders. The paper calls for improvements that will modernize the labor justice system, enforcement and inspections, and the performance of the Labor Ministries.These improvements include increasing technical capacity to manage resources strategically and reducing labor court case backlogs. Consistent application of labor laws is targeted, by training judges, lawyers, and clerks on national labor laws, fundamental labor rights, and international jurisprudence.
Pact will work closely with the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights (IIHR) to generate needed reforms in the labor justice sector by engaging government legal service providers, civil society groups focused on labor issues, human rights ombudsman offices, and other stakeholders. Pact and IIHR will engage these groups through the following activities:
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IIHR will provide technical assistance and training to public defenders in government, thereby generating a measurable increase in access to labor justice.
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Pact and IIHR will provide capacity building and grant assistance to civil society organizations engaged in labor justice issues. These civil society organizations will advocate for increased transparency and accountability in the administration of labor justice.
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Pact and IIHR will build the capacity of human rights ombudsman offices, in the countries where they exist, by sharing information about gender and other forms of labor discrimination and offering them the tools to advocate for discrimination-free workplaces. Pact and IIHR will provide small grants to civil society organizations to advocate for a labor environment free from discrimination.
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Pact will provide training in interests-based bargaining techniques for stakeholders in labor negotiations.
Many conservation programs lack the seeds within them to change behaviours and strengthen systems that will eventually support biodiversity conservation gains. Under the Landscape Conservation Program Pact and its partners
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