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OAS to host Round table on Prevention and Reduction of Lethal Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Organization of American States (OAS), together with the Instinct for Life campaign and the Open Society Foundations, will host an event on Friday, September 8 with experts and analysts to study "How to prevent and reduce lethal violence in Latin America and the Caribbean?”, a region in which every 15 minutes four homicides occur, resulting in 400 deaths every day, an average of 144,000 per year.

The event seeks to identify ways to implement and disseminate effective policies to address the high homicide rate in the region, which is home to 8 percent of the world's population but accounts for 38 percent of homicides. In addition, it will serve as a platform to present the " Instinct for Life " campaign.

Participants at the panels will include, among others:

- The OAS Assistant Secretary General, Néstor Méndez
- The Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the OAS, Marco Vinicio Albuja
- The Permanent Representative of Brazil to the OAS, José Luiz Machado e Costa
- The Permanent Representative of Mexico to the OAS, Luis Alfonso de Alba
- The Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the OAS, Carlos Alberto Calles Castillo
- The Permanent Representative of Colombia to the OAS, Andrés González Díaz
- the Deputy Minister of Public Security of Honduras, Alejandra Hernández Quan;
- the Senior Associate for Citizen Security of WOLA, Adriana Beltrán;
- the Vice Minister for Criminal Policy and Restorative Justice of Colombia, Carlos Medina Ramírez;
- the Executive Director of the Instituto Sou da Paz, Brazil, Ivan C. Marques;
- the OAS Secretary for Multidimensional Security, Claudia Paz y Paz;
- the Executive Director, Peace Management Initiative in Jamaica, Damian Hutchinson;
- the National Commissioner to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women in Mexico, Alejandra Negrete;
- the Regional Adviser of Instituto Igarapé, Brazil, Juan Carlos Garzón
- Vice President of Open Society Foundations, Patrick Gaspard.
- The Executive Secretary of the ASJ of Honduras, Carlos Hernández

The agenda of the event is available here.

The event will be broadcast live on the OAS Website and the OAS Facebook page.

The contents of the panels can be followed on Twitter at @OEA_Seguridad, @OAS_ official and @instintodevida_

Press Contact: Gina Ochoa ([email protected])

WHAT: Round table: How to prevent and reduce lethal violence in Latin America and the Caribbean?

WHEN: September 8, 2017, 9:00 AM EDT (13:00 GMT)

WHERE: Hall of the Americas
Organization of American States
17th Street & Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Reference: AVI-114/17