Putting children’s rights on the local agenda: The experience of the Demuna model in Peru

This publication gathers information of the experience of municipal defence centres for children and adolescents, known as the Demunas, launched by Save the Children Sweden in Peru. The DEMUNA, which is the acronym for “Defensoría Municipal del Niño y el Adolescente”, or “Municipal Defence for Children and Adolescents”, was founded in 1992 as a result of a civil society support initiative fostering collaboration with and among local governments to monitor compliance with child labour laws. The roughly 600 Demuna centres functioning in Peru have benefited hundreds of thousands of children – and adults – and the experience has served as a point of reference for similar initiatives in other Latin American countries.