Experts of the Americas participated in the Second Inter-American Forum on Citizen Security and Violence Prevention sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Government of Peru and hosted by the Museo de la Nación in Lima, Peru, April 2-3.
The event was opened by the President of Peru, Alan García, and the President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno, who participated by videoconference. The Minister of the Interior of Peru, Luis Alva Castro; the Director of the Pan American Health Organization, Mirta Roses; and the Under Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States, Alexandre Addor-Neto were also present.
“The magnitude and complexity of the problems of violence mean there are no easy shortcuts or miraculous measures” to solve them, said Moreno. “Violence prevention is not something that could be reduced to more or less application of force. The challenge is more information and better managerial capacity,” said Moreno, reiterating IDB support for countries in the region.
Under the title “Cities for Peace,” the participants debated how cities can become the focus of new reforms in citizen security. The forum reviewed the role of municipalities and the state in working to improve security. Experts also identified problem areas as well as potential solutions and new opportunities at the municipal level.
“The prevalence of violence and insecurity in the region and the increasing interest of countries in developing effective responses points to the need to examine systematically the experience of different policies and programs at the local level,” said IDB Sustainable Development Department Deputy Manager Marco Ferroni. “The IDB has been supporting governments and cities’ initiatives in this area during the last decade and will keep focusing efforts to overcome this persistent problem in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
During the forum, experts discussed the challenges for citizen security in the region and the development of information systems to help design better public policies. Other topics included civil society participation and democratization in solving community crime and violence problems, design and implementation of local citizen security plans, improving the police corps, prevention of youth violence and monitoring and evaluation of policies to ensure relevance and focus.
Participants included former mayor of Bogota Antanas Mockus; Valérie Sagant of the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, Montreal; Hugo Fruhling of the Center for Studies in Citizen Security, Chile; and Mark Ungar of the City University of New York.