MEDELLIN, Colombia – Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias called on Latin American and Caribbean countries to prevent violence and promote a culture of peace and citizen security, essential factors for development in the region.
“Peace is fundamental to human beings,” Iglesias said in a speech at the forum Citizen Security: Examining Experiences and Challenges held in this Colombian city September 12-13. “Violence is a complex phenomenon, with no easy explanations or easy solutions. It requires coordinated national and local interventions for prevention and control as well as the participation of the private sector and all citizens.”
“Violence prevention is crucial and a priority issue for sustained growth and to achieve a better quality of life in our countries,” he added.
Iglesias urged participants to develop effective answers based on successful cases analyzed during the forum. He said the IDB stands ready to support member countries, and particularly the governments of cities, where there is a growing interest in crafting solutions to the region’s high levels of violence and insecurity.
More than 600 officials, mayors and experts in development and citizen security participated in the regional forum organized by the IDB jointly with the government of Colombia, the departmental government of Antioquia, the municipal government of Medellin and the Medellin Chamber of Commerce.
The mayors of major cities such as Asunción, Paraguay; Colombia’s Bogota, Cali and Medellín; Buenos Aires and Rosario, Argentina; Diadema, Brazil; Kingston, Jamaica; Montevideo, Uruguay; Miraflores, Peru and San Pedro Sula, Honduras presented cases of innovative solutions to control and prevent insecurity at the local level.
Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo invited his colleagues to share those areas in which they achieved success and also their reactions on issues that continue to challenge them in their complex responsibility of leading urban centers.
The task of a mayor consists of “the art of creating hope” in close contact with citizens, said Fajardo, whose city has made notable progress in pacification, the construction of public space and in citizen security. The main challenge of this forum, he added, is to discern what works and how cities have managed to recover the value of life and open opportunities for development.
Panels of experts analyzed the formulation of public policies and the key roles of information systems and education in the prevention of violence; the roles played by the police and the justice system. Successful social programs were also discussed.
Bogota Government Secretary Juan Manuel Ospina underscored the co-responsibility of national and local institutions to operate in harmony to carry out comprehensive security policies. “The challenge of creating an integral perspective consists in achieving continuity in policies in a quickly evolving and dynamic context, without falling into continuism.”
“In a democracy it is essential to establish people’s trust in the institutional capacity to solve security problems,” said Uruguay Interior Ministry Secretary Juan Alfonso Faroppa. “Our lives depend on it.”
IDB Social Development Division Chief Wanda Engel stressed the role of education as an agent for the socialization of young generations. Education can provide essential skills for a peaceful life, such as communication and dialogue, and teach young people how to handle conflict.
Several panelists discussed aspects linked to violence and youth, one of the most vulnerable and difficult sectors in countries in the region. Franz Vanderschueren, professor of the Alberto Hurtado University in Chile, emphasized that all sectors in society must assume that the problems of youth are everyone’s responsibility, not only of the young. “We all have to recognize that we are at the same time part of the problem and of the solution,” he concluded.
At the closing, IDB Sustainable Development Department Deputy Manager Marco Ferroni reviewed a wide range of ideas and experiences presented at the forum and remarked on the need for a multisector, integrated answer to the problem of violence and insecurity.
Ferroni mentioned, among other aspects, the need for institutional strengthening and emphasis in sectors such as health, education, justice, community and preventive police, youth and community participation and social awareness, areas in which the IDB is active.
The IDB has supported Latin American and Caribbean countries with technical assistance and project financing for violence prevention programs totaling about $150 million over the past decade.
The first IDB-financed program for citizen security and violence prevention was launched in Colombia through loans to the federal government and the governments of Bogota, Medellín and Cali. For the first time, a comprehensive approach to the problem was taken to prevent, counteract and address the factors that contribute to social violence as well as to restore public trust in the judicial system.