Programs / Human Rights / Communities / El Tirao «

 

About El Tirao

El Tirao is a community of about 130 homes and 463 inhabitants. It is located

in the district of Chepinaga along the Panamerican Highway in the province

of Darien. El Tirao is an agricultural community, where people focus on raising

livestock, and growing crops such as yucca and plaintains.

Prior to Human Rights Brigades, none of the community members had ever

received legal assistance.  Within El Tirao is a primary school with four

classrooms, four teachers, a kitchen, and a cafeteria. Children in the

community must travel to Zapallal in order to attend secondary school. El

Tirao does have a small health post located within the community, staffed

with one health assistant trained by the Ministry of Health (MINSA).El Tirao

also works with Business, Medical, and Dental Brigades.

 

El Tirao'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 El Tirao 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: The most common legal issues within the community include issues of alimony and childcare, land issues, domestic violence, and some violent crimes. Without a lawyer in the community, many legal issues go unresolved or unattended for many years, and seemingly simple legal troubles can go unanswered. Volunteers, in conjunction with Panamanian lawyers, have been able to take on 3 family law cases to date.

Legal Clinics: Global Brigade’s Human Rights Program has been able to offer their pro-bono legal services to community members in El Tirao with the help of Panamanian lawyers as they are shadowed by volunteers. 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: 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 El Tirao

 

Human Rights Brigades Chapters that Worked in El Tirao
Human Rights Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
Penn State University	March 2014	12

 

 

 

 

Visit Other Programs in El Tirao

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 El Tirao:

 

BusinessDental  Environmental Medical  Microfinance Public Health