El Salvador joins other countries and states who are creating specialized tribunals for gender-based crimes. The court focuses on 11 crimes “femicide, diffusion of porn (as in revenge porn), and three forms of economic violence.” So far, 22 cases have been heard and half resulted in convictions. In addition, judges are trained to look at cases through a gender lens and focus on reparations. “Our decisions have to be aimed towards this instead of just determining a sentence.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) works with asylum seekers in Matamoros to address mental health issues while they wait for decisions in their U.S. immigration cases. MSF provides one-on-one and group counseling with a therapist trained to address the issues asylum seekers face. To build trust and decrease the stigma surrounding mental health and seeking treatment, MSF holds daily talks in the camp. Since kids show symptoms of trauma differently, MSF created mental health treatment in the form of interactive games and activities. MSF reports positive outcomes for the 3,100 mental health sessions held in 2020.

Preventing sexual violence against women begins with men. In a country faced with a high incidence of gender-based violence, Masculinities for Peace, a non-governmental organization, is working to change the norms of El Salvador’s patriarchal culture. Going beyond punishment to encourage long-term behavioral change, the NGO provides rehabilitative courses on masculinity to convicted offenders.

The expansion of intellectual property laws to cover ancestral knowledge can help protect indigenous people from economic exploitation. Indigenous women in Guatemala are working to pass a law similar to one used in Australia and South Africa to protect the use of textile designs.