An intense week of work with our local team, the government and the civil society

Matilde Luna traveled to Panama to carry out, together with the local RELAF team, an intense work agenda from February 22 to February 27, along with UNICEF Panama, the government and the Panamanian civil society. On the 22nd, we met to work on the bill to create a comprehensive protection system for children in Panama. At the meeting, we had the participation of authorities from UNICEF Panama (Sara Rodríguez, Jorge Genareas and Aida Oliver) and Esmeralda Troitiño, Commissioner of the IACHR. Matilde Luna, Elisa Constable and Krysthel Lokan represented RELAF.

Following the planned agenda for the bill, on February 24 we participated in a working session of the Interinstitutional Group that works on the preparation of the bill. The working group is led by MIDES Panama, and comprises, among others, SENNIAF, the Judiciary Organ of Panama (Children’s Court), Cosme Moreno, representing MIES, and the expert Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Commissioner for the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, who voiced technical considerations about the bill.

Moreover, we worked with the Panamanian civil society. On February 23, RELAF and representatives from the technical team of the Red Nacional De Apoyo a La Niñez y Adolescencia En Panamá - Rednaniap (REDNANIAP, National Network to Support Children and Adolescents in Panama) met at the offices of Ciudad del Niño. In addition to the RELAF team, REDNANIAP and Ciudad del Niño, authorities and technicians from Clamor del Corazón and SOS Children’s Villages Panama from Colón City were also present.

We also met with the team from Hogar Malambo on the morning of February 25, where we continued to support the development of strategies for the deinstitutionalisation and transformation of the institution.

Following up on the pilot deinstitutionalisation programme of Casa Hogar Soná, we met with the team of the National Directorate of Social Protection Services of MIDES Panama. With this meeting, we sought to bolster the development of concrete actions for the transformation of said full-time female institution located in the province of Veraguas, and mainly worked on the design of measures to prevent new girls from entering the institutions. The meeting had positive results, new commitments were added, and initial commitments were strengthened.

Afterwards, we moved to the Province of Veraguas for the February 26 meeting with local teams from SENNIAF and MIDES. We worked with the technical teams of the pilot programme on the application of the previously agreed standards and protocols.