President of Colombia, Iván Duque, will participate in the event inauguration on February 28 at 8:00 a.m. (Bogotá and Washington, DC time)

The government of the Republic of Colombia, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and strategic partners, including the National Police of Colombia (PNC), Colombia’s University of Los Andes and EAFIT University, and the United States’ Rutgers University, will hold the XII Week of Citizen Security and Justice, the largest regional event dedicated to security and justice issues in Latin America and the Caribbean, from February 28 to March 3, 2022 in Bogotá.

The XII Week of Citizen Security and Justice, “Police Transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Building the Police of the Future,” will promote the exchange of experiences and best practices in the processes of police transformation and modernization that countries in the region are implementing.

The opening of the event is open to the public and will take place on February 28, starting at 8:00 a.m. (EST). The inauguration will include: President of Colombia, Iván Duque Marquez; Minister of National Defense of Colombia, Diego Molano Aponte; Vice Minister of National Defense of Colombia, Jairo García; General Director of the National Police of Colombia, Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas; Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge of the IDB, Benigno López Benítez; and Nathalie Alvarado, Sectoral Technical Leader of Citizen Security and Justice of the IDB.

The event will consist of four dialogues, two of which will be open to the public:

• Technical Dialogue on Police Transformation, to take place on March 1, a place to exchange technical and specialized knowledge on training and operation standards for police modernization.
• Technical Dialogue with Civil Society, to take place on March 2, where experts in police reform and citizen security, the national and international academic community, and the private sector will talk about their contribution to police transformation processes.

People interested in participating in the opening ceremony must register at www.iadb.org/SemanaSeguridadCiudadana2022 to watch the livestream.

Journalists interested in covering the event in person should contact Mildred Rivera, mildredr@iadb.org, +1 202 623-2319.

WHAT: Opening ceremony of the Regional Policy Dialogue of the XII Citizen Security and Justice Week, “Police Transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Building the Police of the Future”

WHEN: February 28, 2022 - 8:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. (Bogotá and Washington, DC time)

WHERE: Escuela de Cadetes de Policía “General Francisco de Paula Santander” of the Colombian National Police in Bogotá, Colombia

Virtual Access: www.iadb.org/SemanaSeguridadCiudadana2022  

The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest multilateral organization focused on building institutional capacity in the citizen security and justice sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2011, the Bank has approved 31 operations in the sector totaling loans for more than $1.5 billion in 15 countries in the region.