Latin American Experts and United Nations discuss Public Safety and Democracy

22 November 2011 - The recent UNODC Global Study on Homicide 2011 revealed a disturbing reality: young men, particularly in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and southern and central Africa, are at most risks from intentional homicide. In Central America and the Caribbean, almost three quarters of all homicides are committed with guns, compared to 21 per cent in Europe.

Latin America brings together four of the countries with the highest homicide rates in the world for every 100,000 inhabitants - Honduras (82.1), El Salvador (66.0), Venezuela (49.0) and Guatemala (41.4). in Central America, 1 in 50 males aged 20 will be killed before they reach the age of  31.

Worldwide, 468,000 homicides occurred in 2010. Some 31 per cent of all homicides take place in the Americas.

Given this scenario, Public Safety experts from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and from the United Nations, participate, the 24 and 25 November in the international seminar on Public Security and Democratic Governance.

Frequent subjects in Latin American countries such as the importance of social participation in fighting organized crime, the articulation of policies and actions of public safety and the integration of police will be discussed at the meeting. "The idea is to approach fellow researchers and managers of Latin America and share experiences," says the coordinator of the seminar Haydée Caruso, Professor of the Department of Sociology, at the University of Brasilia.

According to Caruso, the similarity of the challenges faced by public officials in Latin countries leads to understanding the problems and cooperation among experts.

The UNODC coordinator of the Crime Prevention and Public Safety Unit, Nivio Nascimento said the seminar is an opportunity to discuss solutions to the problems of Public Safety in Latin America. "Much has been said about the problems faced in the region on violence and crime, but little has been said about the practical ways to address these problems. The discussion on governance is essential to find solutions to the problem of Public Safety," said Nascimento.

Conceiver of the Seminar and coordinator of the Center for the Study of Violence and Safety of UnB, Professor Arthur da Costa said that the seminar seeks to deepen the discussions on the subject in the university and contribute to the formulation of public policies. "We hope the results of discussions may help to think the local and national situation in the country." Participants in the seminar will write articles on the topics presented. The texts will be collected and published in a book format, during the first semester, next year.

The seminar Public Safety and Democratic Governance will be held on the 24 and 25 November in the Auditorium I of the Institute of Biological Sciences, at UnB. The panel presentation will begin at 9 am and finish at 5h pm. Admission is free and requires no prior registration.  Access the program of the Seminar here .

* with UnB

More Information:

Andrea Catta Preta

Communication Assistant - UNODC

(+55 61) 3204 7206

(+55 61) 8118 0910

andrea.cattapreta@unodc.org

All stories