Programs / Human Rights / Communities / Torti Abajo «

 

About Torti Abajo

Torti Abajo is a community of about 75 homes and 350 inhabitants. It is

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

of Panama Este. 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 6th

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

nearby town of Tortí, about a 40 minute walk. There is no health center in

Torti Abajo, and residents must treat all health problems and medical

emergencies in nearby Tortí. Torti Abajo is one of Global Brigades' Holistic

Communities, with ongoing projects and collaboration with Business, Medical,

Dental, Human Rights, and Public Health Brigades.

 

Torti Abajo'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

Torti Abajo 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: Since beginning to work in Torti Abajo in 2013, three brigades have come to the community and have taken 13 family law cases. One of the most expressed needs in the community is the lack of resources that are required in order to settle seemingly simple legal troubles. Volunteers, in conjunction with Panamanian lawyers, have been able to resolve 8 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 Torti Abajo with the help of volunteers and Panamanian lawyers. Taking place in Torti Abajo’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 Torti Abajo. 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 Torti Abajo

 

Human Rights Brigades Chapters that Worked in Torti Abajo
Human Rights Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
Rutgers University and Duke University	January 2012	14
Columbia University	January 2012	10
UNC Chapel Hill	March 2013	12
UT Austin and Loyola University Chicago	January 2014	22
Bristol University	June 2014	16

 

 

 

 

Visit Other Programs in Torti Abajo

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 Torti Abajo:

 

BusinessDental  Environmental Medical  Microfinance Public Health