Myrna Mack Foundation

The Myrna Mack Foundation was founded in 1993 by Helen Mack Chang. Their vice president is Jose García Noval.

Funding
In 2003, 2004 and 2005 they received a grants from the Fund for Global Human Rights.

Rights and Democracy provided them with grants in:


 * 1996 - Named after an anthropologist assassinated in 1990 by security forces, FMM is working to reform the judicial system to help end impunity and violence in Guatemala and create a secure climate, essential for the transition to peace and democracy.
 * 1997 - The Foundation works to reform the judicial system and bring an end to impunity in Guatemala. The FMM has launched a public debate to raise awareness on the question of impunity, through the publication of Amnesty, the Constitution and Human Rights, and the organization of public fora aimed at arriving at a consensus position against total amnesty.
 * 2001 - The Myrna Mack Foundation was created by Helen Mack following the assassination of her sister,Myrna, an anthropologist who was killed by Guatemala's secret service for helping to investigate the forced displacement of indigenous communities. This highly respected human rights foundation works to end impunity in Guatemala. This grant assisted them in their work to ensure that the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on judicial independence are implemented by the government of Guatemala.

The National Endowment for Democracy provided them with grants in:
 * 1994 - to conduct a legal education project aimed at indigenous groups throughout the country, training community leaders on their basic human rights and the key principles and procedures of the Guatemalan legal system.
 * 1995 - The Myrna Mack Foundation, a nonpartisan human rights organization in Guatemala City, received NED funding for the continuation of a legal education project aimed at indigenous groups in the western highlands of Guatemala. Endowment funds will be used to conduct 12 two-day training workshops for 40 indigenous community leaders on issues of human rights and legal mechanisms for defending those rights. Participants will be trained to act as multipliers of this information in their own communities. In addition to the training workshops for new leaders, the program will offer follow-up activities for the thirty-five leaders trained in the 1994 program year. These activities include on-site consultation in the communities where the multipliers are working, and three follow-up seminars in which the group will reunite to share experiences and review objectives and methodology. (1/95)
 * 1996 - The Myrna Mack Foundation received renewed NED funding to continue a legal education project targeting indigenous communities in the western highlands of Guatemala. The project will train a select group of community leaders to serve as "legal promoters" in their communities through a series of ten intensive training workshops on issues of human rights and legal mechanisms for defending those rights. In addition to training new leaders, the program will include follow-up activities for approximately seventy-five leaders trained in 1994 and 1995.
 * 1997 - With renewed NED funding, the Myrna Mack Foundation will continue a legal education project for indigenous groups in the western highlands of Guatemala. The program provides marginalized groups greater access to legal defense mechanisms by training a select group of leaders to be "legal promoters" in their communities. In addition to training new leaders, the program will include follow-up activities for the one-hundred leaders trained from 1994 - 1996. The Foundation will complement these activities with educational materials, weekly half-hour radio programs, and a feasibility study for expanding the program to the Northeast region of Guatemala.
 * 1998 - The Myrna Mack Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan human rights organization in Guatemala, received renewed Endowment support to continue a legal education project which targets indigenous communities in the western highlands of Guatemala. The Foundation will conduct ten two-day training workshop for 40 community leaders and/or organizations on issues of human rights and legal mechanisms for defending those rights. The workshops will also discuss the peace accords negotiated between the Guatemalan government and the URNG, in order to enable participants to take a more active role in implementing the accords and consolidating the construction of peace. Follow-up activities for the 108 leaders trained from 1994-1997 will be conducted. The Foundation will complement these activities with educational materials to be used by the legal promoters in their communities.

Enlaces

 * ASOCIACIÓN PARA EL AVANCE DE LAS CIENCIAS SOCIALES EN GUATEMALA
 * CEJIL
 * FUNDACIÓN RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM
 * Human Rights First
 * WOLA
 * EQUIPO NIZKOR
 * DIARIO MILITAR

Contact

 * Web: http://www.myrnamack.org.gt

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Carmen Ibarra