Programs / Human Rights / Communities / Aguas Frias #2 «

 

About Aguas Frias #2

Aguas Frias #2 is a community of about 600 homes and 1,200 inhabitants. It

is located in the district of Torti along the Panamerican Highway in the

province of Darien. Torti Abajo is primarily an agricultural community,working

on farms, producing crops such as corn, rice, plantains, yucca, and yams.

Within the community is a primary school that teaches children up to 9th

grade, though for further education, the students are able to walk to the

nearby town of Tortí or Santa Fe. There is no health center in

Aguas Frias #2, and residents must treat all health problems and medical

emergencies in nearby Tortí or Santa Fe. Torti Abajo has other ongoing

projects and collaboration with Medical and Dental Brigades.

 

Aguas Frias #2's Barriers to Justice

Legal services are difficult to access in rural eastern Panama for two primary

reasons: location and cost.  Most often, there are no legal services set up

within rural communities and are instead concentrated in urban areas. 

Therefore, rural Panamanians must travel multiple hours to access these

services. Not only does traveling to these urban areas cost money, but the

legal services themselves are frequently too expensive.  

 

In addition, there is an attitude of mistrust amongst the rural clients. 

Historically, there have occurred many cases in which lawyers have come to

rural communities, the community members have paid for the legal services,

but the lawyers have returned to the city without resolving the cases. 

Therefore, it is a challenge to gain  trust of the community members when it

comes to dealing with their personal human rights issues, and to prove not

all lawyers will take advantage of them.

 

Civic Engagement and Empowerment

By focusing on specific aspects of legal access and inclusion, Global

Brigades’ Human Rights Program aims to empower communities like

Aguas Frias #2 to overcome the obstacles mentioned above. Starting in March

2013, Brigaders have been able to tackle family law cases, execute pro-bono legal clinics, and perform educational workshops.

Family Law: Starting in 2013, brigades have been able to address on of the most commonly cited legal needs in Aguas Frias #2: Family law cases.

Legal Clinics: Global Brigade’s Human Rights Program has been able to offer their pro-bono legal services to community members in Aguas Frias #2 with the help of volunteers and Panamanian lawyers. Taking place in Aguas Frias #2’s community center, both community members and volunteers work together to challenge the stigma of lawyers in the region by offering real, professional services for free.

Educational Workshops: Volunteers have performed numerous workshops in the middle and high school of Aguas Frias #2. Capitalizing on the use of education as a tool for community empowerment, volunteers lead discussions and workshops with students and families about issues that have direct consequences and effects in their everyday lives, including: the right to education, child abuse, drug use, and child labor laws.

View Legal Cases for Aguas Frias #2

 

Human Rights Brigades Chapters that Worked in Aguas Frias #2
Human Rights Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
Hofstra Law, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and Stetson University	May 2012	24
University College of London	June 2013	22
Indiana University, University of Denver, Yale University	March 2014	12
University of Exeter & UC Santa Barbara	June 2015	24

 

 

 

 

Visit Other Programs in Aguas Frias #2

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in Platanilla:

 

 BusinessDental  Environmental Medical  Microfinance Public Health