Gender based violence (GBV) in Guatemala has increased significantly during the pandemic and vulnerable populations including minors are among the victims. The Secretariat Against Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Trafficking in Persons (SVET) of the Guatemalan Government is the entity with the mandate to ensure the coordination of the prevention, security, justice, welfare, and attention from local authorities to victims and create awareness of these crimes. Cultural awareness and crime prevention in Guatemala have been delegated to the National Civil Police (PNC). However, there are multiple institutions who work with SVET that need to take a more active role in addressing these crimes. The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) is one of these stakeholders, who has the key responsibility of promoting positive values and addressing these kinds of issues with the next generation of Guatemalans. SVET has interinstitutional agreements between them and both MINEDUC and PNC to coordinate and collaborate in topics related to sexual violence, exploitation, and TIP.Standardize and strengthen SVET, with strong knowledge in sexual crimes, exploitation, trafficking in persons (TIP) and a capable train the trainer program to coordinate all the Government of Guatemala (GoG) institutions to conduct awareness campaigns to combat sexual and GBV by rejecting stereotypes and cultural norms that permit these crimes. In addition, empower SVET to identify and initiate through corresponding authorities investigations against criminal structures engaged in money laundering and human trafficking.
