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Uruguay to Prevent Homicides and Gender-Based Violence More Effectively

The executive board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved an $8 million loan to Uruguay to implement the Comprehensive Citizen Security Program II. The program is designed to strengthen the country’s capacity to prevent homicides and gender-based violence in areas where these crimes are most common and where at-risk populations are most concentrated.

Although Uruguay does not have the region’s most critical crime rates, the uptrend in homicides and gender-based violence presents an opportunity to quickly respond to these challenges and keep them from growing further.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Uruguay has pioneered the implementation of evidence-based citizen security strategies, those that have prove their effectiveness through rigorous evaluations, with support from the IDB since 2012. The Bank will continue helping Uruguay adopt these types of strategies. 

This second phase of the Comprehensive Citizen Security Program will build Uruguay’s capacity to prevent homicides in areas with high rates of this crime, boost the effectiveness of gender-based violence prevention and detection activities, and improve the quality of social reintegration services to reduce recidivism.

To prevent homicides, the program will focus on using community mediation to de-escalate violent conflicts. The strategy will primarily target young men in neighborhoods in Montevideo with the highest homicide rates. 

In addition, to better protect women who report gender-based violence, which is the second-most-reported crime in the country, the police will use a statistically validated tool to reliably measure the risk of revictimization. 

Furthermore, the program aims to provide a more detailed picture of the prison population to improve reintegration processes. It will implement evidence-based pilot projects to treat addictions in prisons and strengthen methods for managing and assisting people serving alternative sentences to improve compliance and effectiveness.

The $8 million IDB loan to Uruguay has a 24.5-year repayment term, a 6-year grace period, an interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), and an additional $2 million local contribution.

About the IDB

The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research projects and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public- and private-sector clients throughout the region. Take our virtual tour

Contacts

Molina Medina,Vanessa Carolina

Molina Medina,Vanessa Carolina

Planes,Maria Soledad

Planes,Maria Soledad
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