Human Security
We support communities in the struggles of and attainment of their basic rights for human security including the right to health, the right to education, the right to work, the right to livelihood, and the right to freedom. Our efforts focus on supporting our partners in their struggle of basic human rights. We see community leadership and empowerment as fundamental drivers for upholding human rights by holding governments and institutions accountable to the people.
Some subthemes in this area include basic human rights such as the right to health, right to work, right to livelihood; the Guatemalan government’s response to COVID-19 and hurricane affected communities; ongoing militarization of the country; feminicide; as well as threats, intimidation and violence against human rights defenders.
Related posts about security
Cooperant update: Los Encuentros Commemoration
By: Meara Donovan, BTS cooperant (2026) “Mira, ¡un perro de Río Negro!” (Look, a Río Negro dog!) “¡Y un palo de Río Negro!” (And a stick from Río Negro!) The students are joking around as our packed van pulls through the gates, inching towards the Chixoy hydroelectric dam and the [...]
2026 Dalhousie Fieldschool to Guatemala: Day 12
By Emily Moore Today we went to visit the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala City. We spent the morning preparing our questions together and going over the specific topics we wanted to discuss. After two weeks in Guatemala, there were so many things we wanted to talk about but we decided [...]
2026 Dalhousie Fieldschool to Guatemala: Day 11
By Sylvia Daigle Garcia Instead of learning on the ground, we returned to the academic side in our visit to Guatemala. We’ve seen how working and learning on the ground is vital for us to fully understand international development; however, today we were able to get the chance to remember [...]
2026 Dalhousie Fieldschool to Guatemala: Day 10
By Rojette Asingayan On our tenth day of the delegation, we had a slower and later morning than usual. While some headed for breakfast on foot, the others took the van. It was really cool seeing a bit of what the everyday-life looked like for the locals of Mataquescuintla. For [...]
2026 Dalhousie Fieldschool to Guatemala: Day 9
By Tek Omod We started the day with an early breakfast before heading out at 7:30 a.m. for the three-hour drive to Mataquescuintla. Along the way, we stopped at a mine blockage, where community members shared their work. Many of them volunteered their time to monitor and control the petroleum [...]
2026 Dalhousie Fieldschool to Guatemala: Day 8
By Roda Obang We started off our morning with breakfast. This was our last meal at IMAP. During breakfast all of us were discussing how great it was at IMAP! After breakfast, we gathered together and Javier gave a lesson on Maya cosmovision dates. He began by reviewing the sacred [...]