Acción Ciudadana, Transparency International’s national chapter in Guatemala, established its first Anti-Corruption Legal Assistance Center (ALAC) in January 2008. Its objective is to create a space for citizen empowerment in the fight against corruption, through legal and technical assistance free of charge to people who are victims or witnesses of acts of corruption and who, due to their socioeconomic status, do not have the necessary means to act in the legal instances in charge of punishing them. 
 
Our ALAC has designed a strategy to support whistleblowers that ranges from receiving complaints, following-up, and offering legal support with whistleblowers to training in social audit processes, monitoring cases in criminal proceedings, development of legal proposals and the consolidation of a National Whistleblower Network and Social Audit in Guatemala.

We receive, register and give follow up on whistleblowers, victims and witnesses of corruption through attention provided by our permanent team of lawyers. When there have been threats or criminalization against our whistleblowers, we have proposed strategic litigation strategies and, on some occasions, it has been necessary to represent the victims in the courts of justice. Also, coordinated work is maintained with State entities and human rights defense organizations, through cooperation agreements, highlighting the work with the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Comptroller General of Accounts.

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