You cannot avoid conflicts. If you accept it, you can begin to work on it. All conflicts can be transformed in a positive way.

Sylvia Aguilera Garcia was born in Mexico City, in 1974. She belongs to a large family. She was the only girl and the oldest granddaughter. She has worked for peace since her college years, when she began to question the lack of order in the world. These thoughts motivated her to work for the defense of human rights of the indigenous people, women and political prisoners.

She is only 31 years old and has already been director of a non-governmental organization, which was recognized in Mexico for its work on human rights. Sylvia Aguilera Garcia is a young Mexican. “I am the second of five children, the only girl. I grew up in an extended family, Catholic, where women have had a very important role, specially my maternal grandmother and my mother.” She has been involved in situations that were ground-breaking in her country, for example the case of general Gallardo. In 1993, he made public the violations of human rights perpetrated by military forces that included torture and the disappearance of prisoners. He was accused of slander against the Military Forces, and condemned to 28 years in jail; after 8 years, he was liberated thanks to international pressure. Sylvia Aguilera Garcia has also been involved in the defense of the Tzotziles indigenous women raped by the Mexican military and the follow up to the assassinations of the women of Ciudad Juárez. A social movement has been formed against what is known as the ‘feminicide’ in Ciudad Juárez. Those are part of her experience as a worker for human rights, and later on as a director of the Mexican Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. “I had the opportunity to participate in the coordination of the Civil Mission for Peace, a network of organizations that wanted not only to intercede in the Chiapas conflict, but was also interested in taking part in the wider process of promoting the ethical and cultural values of non violence in the country.” That is her preoccupation and her main goal: to transform conflicts involved in all human situations, into sources of positive learning. “In the international network Action for Conflict Transformation, I have found a place where it has been possible to crystallize the idea: think globally, act locally.”

Action for Conflict Transformation