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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for violence (central america)
7 results foundAuthor: U.S. Senate. Caucus on International Narcotics Control Title: Responding to Violence in Central America Summary: Violence in Central America has reached crisis levels. Throughout Central America, Mexican drug trafficking organizations, local drug traffickers, transnational youth gangs, and other illegal criminal networks are taking advantage of weak governance and underperforming justice systems. This report outlines a series of concrete steps that the United States can take to support the seven countries of Central America as they try to improve security. The report does not call for large amounts of new money but instead recommends investments in key programs with host country partners. Our report synthesizes information gathered by Caucus staff through visits to Guatemala and Honduras, briefings, interviews, and a review of documents from both government and non-government subject matter experts. The report describes the current strategy and provides important recommendations for policymakers in Congress and the Administration. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, 2011. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 19, 2011 at: http://www.grassley.senate.gov/judiciary/upload/Drug-Caucus-09-22-11-Responding-to-Violence-in-Central-America-2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Central America URL: http://www.grassley.senate.gov/judiciary/upload/Drug-Caucus-09-22-11-Responding-to-Violence-in-Central-America-2011.pdf Shelf Number: 123407 Keywords: Drug Control PolicyDrug TraffickingHomicidesViolence (Central America)Violent CrimeYouth Gangs |
Author: Shifter, Michael Title: Countering Criminal Violence in Central America Summary: Violent crime in Central America—particularly in the "northern triangle" of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala—is reaching breathtaking levels. Murder rates in the region are among the highest in the world. To a certain extent, Central America's predicament is one of geography—it is sandwiched between some of the world's largest drug producers in South America and the world's largest consumer of illegal drugs, the United States. The region is awash in weapons and gunmen, and high rates of poverty ensure substantial numbers of willing recruits for organized crime syndicates. Weak, underfunded, and sometimes corrupt governments struggle to keep up with the challenge. Though the United States has offered substantial aid to Central American efforts to address criminal violence, it also contributes to the problem through its high levels of drug consumption, relatively relaxed gun control laws, and deportation policies that have sent home more than a million illegal migrants with violent records. In this Council Special Report, sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, Michael Shifter assesses the causes and consequences of the violence faced by several Central American countries and examines the national, regional, and international efforts intended to curb its worst effects. Guatemala, for example, is still healing from a thirty-six-year civil war; guns and armed groups remain common. El Salvador's ironfisted response to widespread gang violence has transformed its prisons into overcrowded gang-recruiting centers while doing little to reduce crime. Even relatively wealthy countries like Costa Rica and Panama are threatened by poor police capacity and significant problems with smuggling and money laundering. Virtually all countries are further plagued by at least some level of public corruption. While hard-hitting or even militarized responses to criminal violence often enjoy broad public support, Shifter writes, Nicaragua's experience with crime prevention programs like community policing and job training for youth suggests that other approaches can be more effective at curbing crime. Shortages of local funding and expertise remain problematic, however, and only large-scale, national programs can effectively address national-level problems with corruption or the quality of the legal system. Moreover, many of the root causes of the region's violence are transnational—the international trade in drugs, guns, and other contraband being only the most obvious example. Multilateral organizations have stepped in to support national-level responses, as have Central America's neighbors. The UN's flagship effort, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, supports domestic prosecutions of organized criminal gangs and their allies in Guatemala's government. In recent years, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to efforts to improve regional collaboration on anticrime initiatives; last year they pledged $1.5 billion more over the next few years. Colombia and Mexico have both provided advice and training for Central America's police services and judiciary. The United States is also contributing significant resources. Washington now provides about $100 million annually, targeted mainly at drug interdiction and law enforcement, though some funding also goes toward institutional capacity building and violence protection. Still, much more remains to be done, and Shifter offers several recommendations for U.S. policymakers. Strengthening the judiciary and law enforcement services should, he says, be a central goal; the region's ineffective and corrupt legal systems are severely hampering efforts to curb the violence. He also advocates rethinking U.S. policies that contribute to violence in Central America, including drug laws, gun control policies, and immigration rules regarding violent offenders. Countering Criminal Violence in Central America provides important insights into the varied causes of criminal violence in the region. Its authoritative and nuanced analysis acknowledges the strengths and weaknesses of ongoing efforts to address the problem, and it offers thoughtful recommendations on how those efforts might be built on and improved. Despite the daunting complexity of the challenges underpinning the region's growing violence, this report successfully argues that this trend can—and should—be reversed. Details: Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations, 2012. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Council Special Report No. 64: Accessed April 4, 2012 at: http://www.cfr.org/central-america/countering-criminal-violence-central-america/p27740 Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.cfr.org/central-america/countering-criminal-violence-central-america/p27740 Shelf Number: 124814 Keywords: Drug TraffickingGangsGun ViolenceHomicidesPolice CorruptionViolence (Central America)Violent Crime |
Author: Rudqvist, Anders, ed. Title: Breeding Inequality – Reaping Violence Exploring Linkages and Causality in Colombia and Beyond Summary: This report is based on a series of seminars organized by Colombia Forum, a policy research and support programme carried out at the Collegium for Development Studies. The programme is supported by and collaborates with Sida´s Department for Latin America. The objectives of Colombia Forum are to stimulate and support the coordination of education, research and policy analysis related to Colombian social development, conflicts, peace-building efforts and development cooperation in Sweden and Colombia. The programme also seeks to facilitate development practitioners’ access to research resources, and to assist Swedish researchers to become directly engaged in studies and practice related to socio-economic analysis and development practice focused on Colombia. Against the background of mounting poverty, deep-seated social contradictions and an escalating internal conflict, Colombian and other social scientists try to explain the present situation – and discuss the construction of sustainable peace with social justice – making use of concepts such as poverty, inequality and character of the prevailing political system. The first article of the report, Popular Participation in Colombia by Anders Rudqvist, is intended to provide a background presentation of Colombia. It is a broad account of the development and character of the Colombian society with particular reference to popular participation. Also at a general and broad level, but specifically focusing on the concepts of poverty and conflict, is Björn Hettne’s Poverty and Conflict: the Methodology of a Complex Relationship. Hettne’s article is a presentation and analysis of varying interpretations of the poverty and violence concepts and their interrelation as understood in the context of different theoretical approaches, i.e. the positivist, the political economy, the holistic-historicist and the complex emergencies. The theoretical and policy consequences of these approaches are explored with regard to conflict provention and prevention, external interventions, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. In his Reflections on Recent Interpretations of Violence in Colombia, Pedro Valenzuela undertakes an analysis of the evolution of the debate on poverty and violence in Colombia. Some recent interpretations inspired by positivist and economic theoretical approaches are scrutinized and called into question, while the importance of inequality as a factor explaining and specifying the relationship between poverty and violence in the Colombian case is underscored. Poverty – particularly as expressed in inequality or social, economic and political exclusion – is viewed by many as a structural cause of violence and conflict. But other factors such as the character of political regimes and institutions, or more long-term historical processes, are also seen as key elements in the analysis of conflict and violence. Violence and poverty are thus multifaceted social phenomena. Different categories of conflicts and contradictions lead to various forms of violence. Political, economic and social violence usually occurs where obtaining or maintaining political, economic and social power is at stake. In addition, many analysts suggest that important reinforcing links exist between the dynamics of different types of violence. These issues and linkages remain important and valid beyond a particular country or continent. Patterns may vary, but links between different types of violence seem to be present in most cases. Colombia has traditionally experienced high levels of economic and social violence, now aggravated by increasing political violence involving guerrilla, paramilitary groups and the army. Currently about 20 percent of Colombian homicides are ascribed to political violence. In Central America, economic and social violence levels were moderate before the period of armed political conflicts and subsequent peace accords. Yet, after peace agreements the Central American countries experienced a significant increase in economic violence. Similar patterns appear in Africa (e.g. South Africa, Angola) as well as in Asia, where the most recent and dramatic example is Afghanistan. The final two articles draw on examples from and comparisons with Central America. They are dealing with poor and excluded communities and with the linkages between different categories of violence, but do so from the vantage point of economic and social violence. Economic violence here implies drug trafficking, youth gang activities and other forms of organized crime, while social violence refers to “domestic” conflicts and aggression caused by unequal gender relations or other social factors. The Shape of Violence: Reflections on the Guatemalan Revolution by Staffan Löfving departs from the prevailing Guatemalan assumption that poverty is violence – structural violence to be more exact. The article deals with the ways in which the relationship between poverty and political violence has been analysed in the writings on the Guatemalan internal war and contends that the politics of identity (as political praxis and academic approach) as well as the post-modernist focus on ethnic revival tend to obscure the responsibility of the state for the formation and maintenance of oppressive social structures. When Western analysts increasingly perceive the social reality of the war torn parts of the Third World as “chaos” it becomes increasingly more difficult to identify the key causes of poverty as well as the social forces and actors that have the power to alleviate or maintain poverty and human suffering. As a consequence poverty becomes disconnected from the analytical domain of violence. Youth Gangs in Colombia and Nicaragua – New Forms of Violence, New Theoretical Directions? by Dennis Rodgers is a comparative analysis of the structure and dynamic of youth gangs in Colombia and Nicaragua, relating the emergence and expansion of this type of economic violence to other categories of violence as well as to processes of “demilitarisation” and “democratisation” which have marked Latin America in recent years. Youth gangs in Colombia and Nicaragua are seen as representing similar forms of structuring, intimately linked to wider contexts of crises and breakdown that characterize both Colombia and Nicaragua. Conventional instrumentalist and functional approaches to violence are ill adapted, Rogers argues, to explain such phenomena and processes. Some elements and concepts, such as “insurgent citizenship”, are put forward instead, as a contribution to a move in a new theoretical direction. Details: Uppsala, Sweden: Collegium for Development Studies, 2003. 141p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 22, 2013 at: http://www.kus.uu.se/pdf/publications/outlook_development/outlook18.pdf Year: 2003 Country: Central America URL: http://www.kus.uu.se/pdf/publications/outlook_development/outlook18.pdf Shelf Number: 129126 Keywords: PovertySocioeconomic VariablesViolence (Central America)Youth Gangs |
Author: Negroponte, Diana Villiers Title: The Merida Initiative and Central America: The Challenges of Containing Public Insecurity and Criminal Violence Summary: The rising level of violence in Central America, as well as Mexico, has created sensational headlines in the daily press and Hollywood style footage on the nightly news. The focus of this violence has been on the drug cartels and the fights among them for routes to market both in the United States and within the region. However, parallel to the drug related violence caused by the cartels are two distinct, but related issues: a pervasive sense of public insecurity and rising levels of criminal violence. Both are related, but not directly attributable, to the possession and trade in illegal drugs. Intentional homicide, assault, robbery, extortion and fraud have all risen in the last seven years leading us to ask how serious is the problem, what should national governments do to contain, if not prevent their occurrence, and what is the appropriate U.S. contribution. This monograph will examine the reasons for the growth in public insecurity within El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, known as the Northern Triangle, and seek to determine the effectiveness of government policies to restore public trust and security. In the pursuit of greater security, these governments, as well as Mexico, have called upon Washington to assist them.1 The affected governments emphasize a “shared responsibility” to engage in reducing levels of violence, reduce consumption of illegal drugs, regulate the sale of firearms to the cartels and organized crime, as well as to confront corruption and impunity that pervade state institutions.2 The problems are regional, if not global, and to be effective, the response should include both U.S. federal and state authorities. Details: Washington, DC: Foreign Policy at Brookings, 2009. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Number 3: Accessed July 1, 2013 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2009/5/merida%20initiative%20negroponte/05_merida_initiative_negroponte.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Central America URL: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2009/5/merida%20initiative%20negroponte/05_merida_initiative_negroponte.pdf Shelf Number: 129221 Keywords: Drug TraffickingDrug-Related ViolenceHomicidesMerida InitiativeOrganized CrimeViolence (Central America)Violent Crime |
Author: Centro Internacional para los Derechos Humanos de los Migrantes (International Centre for the Human Rights of Migrants)– CIDEHUM Title: Forced Displacement and Protection Needs Produced by New Forms of Violence and Criminality in Central America Summary: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua have been characterized over the last three years as countries of origin, transit and destination of regular and irregular migrant workers1. The causes of the exit of migrants from their communities of origin are multiple, such as extreme poverty, social exclusion, lack of work, scarce possibilities for settling, intra-family violence, abuse of power and gender violence, etc. The situation of these people with regular or irregular status in the destination countries depends on the new legislation that these countries have about migration. Unlike the situation in decades past, today it can be said that no receiving country for Central American migrants is accepting workers who are not highly qualified. In the last three years the level of violence produced by OC in the countries of Central America‟s Northern Triangle and Mexico has increased. The patterns of exit or displacement of people have changed; now not only the previously mentioned traditional expulsion factors are present, but also forced displacement2 within national territory for causes linked to violence and organized criminality has increased. Although the original socio-economic causes of exit towards the north in search of work or a better life persist, the current scenario in these countries is very different due to the high levels of violence produced by organized crime. However, the variables of internal and regional security do not take into account the human dimension of internal and external forced displacement. The change corresponds to the strengthening of a very significant organized, functional structure at the territorial and social level, which has cut across these countries from another perspective (movement of drugs, arms, migrant smugglers and people traffickers) and affects the dynamics of human mobility, directly linked to violence and lack of security and protection3. Organized crime is concentrated in strategic areas, mainly in border areas and the urban centres of the main cities of the Central American region. In this new scenario, OC weakens the structures of the States whose institutions have been disrupted and experience difficulties in offering effective protection to their own citizens. In this situation it is worth noting that none of the countries of Central America‟s Northern Triangle have accepted or publicly defined the existence of a population forcibly displaced internally or externally by organized crime activity. It is around the existence of the forcibly displaced population on one had and the population at risk from OC activity on the other that this study develops its principal analysis with the aim of highlighting the protection needs of both groups. In the regional Central American framework, the States have incorporated the subject of security as one of their priorities, for example, in SICA Regional Security Strategy and recently in the Presidential Summit held in Guatemala. In turn the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights drew up a regional document on citizen security. Details: Geneva, SWIT: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2012. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.rcusa.org/uploads/pdfs/Violence%20in%20CA%20Final20%20July2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.rcusa.org/uploads/pdfs/Violence%20in%20CA%20Final20%20July2012.pdf Shelf Number: 129411 Keywords: HomicidesOrganized CrimeRefugeesViolence (Central America)Violent Crime |
Author: Hiskey, Jonathan Title: Violence and Migration in Central America Summary: Over the past decade, much of Central America has been devastated by alarming increases in crime and violence. For most of this timeframe, migration from many of these same countries to the United States increased as well, at least until the 2008 financial crisis deflated migration numbers. In the following Insights report, we examine the possible relationship between high levels of violence and Central Americans' migration intentions. Though conventional views of the motivations behind migration tend to highlight economic and familial factors as the principal causes of migration, we find that crime victimization and perceptions of insecurity among Central Americans also play a significant role in determining the extent to which an individual considers migration as a viable strategy. Nonetheless, in the face of consistently high levels of crime and violence, perceptions of insecurity among Central Americans over the past ten years have been declining, suggesting perhaps a populace that has become accustomed to a high crime context and thus one less inclined to let crime influence future migration patterns. Details: Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University, 2014. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Americas Barometer Insights, No. 101: Accessed August 4, 2014 at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/insights/IO901en.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central America URL: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/insights/IO901en.pdf Shelf Number: 132875 Keywords: ImmigrationMigrationViolence (Central America)Violent Crime |
Author: Berk-Seligson, Susan Title: Impact Evaluation of USAID's Community-Based Crime and Violence Prevention Approach in Central America: Regional Report for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama Summary: The countries of Central America - especially "the Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras - are among the most criminally violent nations in the world. As part of the U.S. Government's (USG) Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has designed and implemented a set of programs to improve citizen security in Central America by strengthening community capacity to combat crime and by creating educational and employment opportunities for at-risk youth. USAID's crime prevention work has been implemented through its field Missions in five countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. USAID/Washington, via its Cooperative Agreement with the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University, asked LAPOP to design and carry out an impact evaluation of the crime prevention interventions under CARSI in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama. This evaluation is part of a broader effort to determine the effectiveness of community-based crime prevention, in contrast to the traditionally more common law enforcement, or mano dura ("iron fist"), approach to addressing the widespread crime and violence permeating Central America. The crime prevention approach attempts to address the root causes of crime, rather than deal with crime after it has become endemic. This multi-method, multi-country, multi-year evaluation was designed to contribute to an understanding of the effectiveness of USAID's community-based crime and violence prevention approach. This package of interventions - that is, the "treatment" in this impact evaluation - includes activities such as planning by municipal-level committees; crime observatories and data collection; crime prevention through environmental design (such as improved street lighting, graffiti removal, cleaned up public spaces); programs for at-risk youth (such as outreach centers, workforce development, mentorships); and community policing. USAID's community-based crime prevention projects are inherently cross-sectoral. That is, they integrate education and workforce development, economic growth and employment, public health, and governance interventions. This scientifically rigorous impact evaluation is based on recommendations found in the comprehensive study by the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council 2008). It presents a summary of the main findings for the region as a whole. For each of the four focus countries, a more extensive, detailed country-level report has been prepared and is available online at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ carsi-study.php. Details: Nashville, TN: The Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), Vanderbilt University, 2014. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 8, 2014 at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/carsi/Regional_Report_v12c_final_W_111914.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central America URL: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/carsi/Regional_Report_v12c_final_W_111914.pdf Shelf Number: 134288 Keywords: Community-Based ProgramsCrime Prevention ProgramsInterventionsSituational Crime PreventionViolence (Central America)Violence PreventionViolent Crime |