Themes

It is not a question of increasing numbers of police officers on patrol, nor will it help to impose harsher sentencing or even to lower the age of criminal responsibility. If Latin America is to lower the levels of violence that afflicts the region, according to Amerigo Incalcaterra, Regional Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the solution lies with prioritizing citizen security over 'mano dura' type public security policies.

"Focus on the causes", was the overriding message to came out of the meeting on Violence Prevention in West Africa held in Abuja, Nigeria. Members of civil society organizations discussed next steps in the spirit of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.

The first step toward improving security, according to Syed Tamjid ur Rahman is to look after children and youth in a community. Tamjid, head of Bangladesh’s chapter of the civil society organization ChangeMaker, put this notion into practice. He took a Community Safety and Security project to Kamrangirchar, a densely populated low-income community in Dakhar, home to nearly a million working families, most of them migrants from the rural areas of Bangladesh.

Although it faces complex challenges, Brazil is today fertile in innovation and progressive experiments in various sectors. Social entrepreneurs, health specialists, experts in urbanism, agriculture, communication and education from all over the world have been resorting to Brazilian examples of cutting edge social technology.

There are very big words present in Haiti’s recent history, revolution, poverty, natural disasters, gangs, dictators, soldiers in foreign fatigues. But things are not so simple. According to Small Arms Survey Director of Research Robert Muggah, there are a many misconceptions about Haiti, as he explains in an exclusive interview given to Comunidad Segura.

Massimo Alpian writes on the other crisis overshadowed by the global financial shakeup, one that has, nevertheless, created a toxic combination threatening human security around the world.

The first step was taken the Mendoza, Argentina. Then came Europe, next, Africa. Members of the Humanist Movement embark on a march around the world to raise awarenss of the risks of war, and the importance of non violence for peace. Comunidad Segura interviewed World Without Wars organizer Rafael de la Rubia.

The cities of Bogota and Medellin have invested in strengthening their public library system, creating libraries that go beyond merely checking out books, veritable civic centers that combat social exclusion and lower levels of violence.

The only Brazilian speaker at the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) Congress in South Africa, Dom Marcelo Resende believes we ought to create circles of culture that teach people the necessary skills for peace. 'We are not doomed to violence,' he says. 

228 children and youths are abused per hour in Latin America and the Caribbean. The majority of these children are poor, ill treated and have been abandoned becoming easy prey for criminal rings. In Brazil five new complaints are recorded a day.