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OAS IDENTIFIES VIOLENCE AND INSECURITY AMONG REGION’S TOP CONCERNS

Violence and insecurity, major concerns facing the Americas, have adversely affected our democracies, a problem that in turn hampers development prospects, Organization of American States (OAS) Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin told a conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Ambassador Ramdin made the statement yesterday as he addressed the closing session of an international conference on “The Structural Causes of Violence in Central Americas: A Holistic Approach.” The OAS official spoke alongside Honduras President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales and Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Aníbal Quiñonez Abarca. Honduran Foreign Minister Ángel Edmundo Orellana Mercado and former Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo were also among the more than 250 participants—high-level government officials and representatives of the diplomatic community as well as International and regional organizations among them.

“Public security is beyond question a major concern not only for SICA member countries but for the Americas as a whole,” Ambassador Ramdin said. He noted that all of our societies and citizens’ quality of life are affected by violence and insecurity, which also affect democracy and, ultimately, development.

He said that beyond personal security and property security, the modern concept of security recognizes that insecurity has external and internal as well as structural causes and that, based on current experience, certain causes are related to organized crime and other socio-economic phenomena. “We must therefore combat insecurity through ongoing, steadfast attention,” he added.

Ambassador Ramdin stressed, in addition, the need for a political and conceptual framework with prevention incorporated as a basis for security strategies. “We need to closely examine the impact of security on development,” he suggested. “We must devise a holistic approach to crime, one that embraces concepts such as inclusion, social capital and social cohesion. We must also formally establish coordination mechanisms,” Ambassador Ramdin said.

He expressed the view that recommendations arising from this Honduras meeting will be important input for the first meeting of public security ministers, slated for Mexico next week.

Noting as well that the two-day Tegucigalpa conference has broadly achieved its objective of promoting a holistic approach to the problem of violence and its causes, Ramdin pointed to OAS security initiatives to underscore the importance of an integral approach that embraces a variety of dimensions to the problem. The OAS promotes peace, democracy and integral development as a “virtuous triangle” through a several initiatives and instruments at its disposal, explained Ramdin.

On the margins of the international conference in Honduras, the OAS Assistant Secretary General also met with the Governor of the Mexican State of Chiapas, Juan Sabines Guerrero, who briefed him on the security challenges faced by Chiapas.

Reference: E-377/08