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OAS Secretary General Calls for Joining Technical Needs and Political Will in Response to the “Urgent” Issue of Citizen Security

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, called today for bridging the gap between technical needs and the collective political will of states in response to the “urgent” issue of citizen security, and warned that violence takes root more forcefully in places where the state is less present. “Where the state is less involved, there is more crime,” he added. He made both statements today in Santiago, Chile, during the presentation on the Regional Human Development Report 2013-2014 of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The OAS leader said that one of the main achievements of the UNDP study is that “it renews the regional debate and raises awareness on the phenomenon,” and objected to the lack of awareness that exists about the need to fight crime together. He highlighted the importance of international cooperation to strengthen the fight against insecurity and, in this regard, he recalled that the OAS will hold, on Thursday and Friday, in Medellin, Colombia, the Fourth Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Public Security in the Americas (MISPA IV), one of the many instruments of the “strong network of institutions and agreements on both public security and state security,” together with others such as the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), the Inter-American Conventions against Corruption and the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, as well as the Police Community of the Americas (AMERIPOL).

However, Secretary General emphasized that the system should be improved. “Some of these conventions have not been signed or ratified by all states in the region; many of these technical agencies do not liaise with political institutions and many of their decisions do not have yet a defined international legal framework,” he said.

In his comments on the “excellent” and “enlightening” UNPD report, which is entitled “Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and Proposals for Latin America,” the head of the OAS highlighted the common ground with the Report on the Drug Problem in the Americas (Analytical Report and Scenarios Report) prepared by the hemispheric institution under his leadership and presented last April.

In particular, he referred to the paradox that “over the last decade, Latin America has been the setting for both an economic expansion and an expansion in crime,” and mentioned that the UNDP and OAS reports show that factors such as employment insecurity, inequality and lack of social mobility, coupled with rapid urban growth, changes in family structure, school system failures, the existence of “crime facilitators,” as well as the ability to carry weapons or the consumption of alcohol and drugs, and the loss of states’ efficiency and legitimacy, ”may lead individuals or groups to choose the path of crime to achieve a better living standard.”

The Secretary General emphasized the six major threats to public safety that the UNDP report highlights - street crime; organized crime; criminal violence committed by or against youth; gender violence; corruption, and illegal violence on the part of the State-, but, more importantly, he noted that the perception of insecurity has grown much more than crime during the last decade. “In one third of the countries, the perception of insecurity is more than twice the actual victimization. The objective factor for decision-makers is that people live in fear,” he added.

Overall, the head of the hemispheric Organization praised the UNDP report for approaching the issue from a “human” standpoint and for defining citizen security as “the protection of a basic core of rights, including the right to life, respect for physical and material integrity of people, and their right to a dignified life.” Furthermore, he endorsed the definition of violence, crime and insecurity as the “weak link” of Latin America—in the words of Heraldo Muñoz, UN Under-Secretary General and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean—which, combined with the growth of the region in other areas, justifies, in his view, that multilateral agencies focus their attention to insecurity.

The conference also feature the participation of Heraldo Muñoz; Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile; and Álvaro Colom, former President of Guatemala; and was held in the Celso Furtado room of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-446/13