The 1st Regional Forensic Congress strengthens relations between forensic service actors

The I Regional Congress of Forensic Services: Forensic Sciences, a contribution to the challenges of crime, organized by the Network of Forensic Services of the SICA member countries, has allowed more than 300 participants to strengthen their knowledge through more than 30 presentations, 9 round tables and keynote lectures by high-level specialists from the Central American region and countries such as Brazil, Portugal, the United States and Spain.

The activity was part of the project “Cooperation in Criminal Investigation in Central America to Combat Crime and Drug Trafficking at the International Level – AC1/ICRIME”, which has the financial support of the European Union, the coordination of the General Secretariat of SICA, through the DSD, and the execution of FIIAPP in its results 1 and 2.

At the meeting, Panama’s Vice Minister of Public Security, Ivor Pitti Hernández, expressed his gratitude “to the European Union and Spain for the financial support that made the project and this event a reality. For his part, the director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Panama, José Vicente Pachar, also thanked “all the generosity of sharing their knowledge, because in this region we are eager to update ourselves, and it is the guide that helps us to develop everything that has to do with this scientific and judicial part, fundamental for investigations and the administration of justice”.

The director of Democratic Security of the General Secretariat of SICA, Hefer Morataya, stressed that “ESCA is the umbrella that allows us to implement and land the priorities framed in each country and in the bodies responsible for security and justice”, and remarked that “this has been a unique event in the region that has maintained a high level in terms of its topics and speakers”.

Likewise, the FIIAPP coordinator for results 1 and 2 of the project, Montserrat Hernández, encouraged the attendees to continue working to clarify the facts with the guarantee and support provided by science: “All of us leave with the feeling of having been enriched both professionally and personally, since the Central American forensic community is a family willing to fight and support each other in the search for the truth”.

The Congress also included presentations focused on the analysis of regional violence and the impact of crime and the accreditation of forensic units and scientific procedures in the identification of missing persons. In addition, there was a panel on the “Holistic evaluation of the rise of crime in the region” and a round table discussion on “Successful strategies for quality management in forensic laboratories”.

This meeting has served to promote integration and knowledge on current issues of common interest among the countries of the region and their link with the provision of expert services in forensic institutes, has favored the exchange of knowledge in an applied manner in the different areas of forensic sciences and has promoted training spaces for the preparation and continuous improvement, scientific dissemination and professional collaboration from the meetings generated in the directors of the forensic institutes.