Community security

In Central America, INFOSEGURA supported the development of a digital assistant (bot) called SARA that provides information and guidance on the risk of violence against women, girls and adolescents. The project also supported the organization of 39 events and exchange of best practices, including a high-level discussion on citizen security and six campaigns on sexual and gender-based violence prevention. Over 800 government officials and civil society representatives (40 percent women) participated in a training on information gathering, analysis, use and dissemination. Additionally, over 60 knowledge products on citizen security, justice and social cohesion were developed.

INFOSEGURA also coordinated knowledge sharing on citizen security, through 15 DatAction sessions, 12 inter-country bilateral exchanges, involving 31 countries and 15 public institutions, hosted by its TrainAction online platform, developed in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In terms of impact, Latin America exhibits heterogeneous trends in homicide rates: while some countries register reduction, others report increase. The downward trend in homicides was registered in the subregion of Central America and the Dominican Republic. The overall regional rate fell by 1.6 points and went from 20.0 to 18.4 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, the lowest in the last nine years.

Lessons learned

The strong commitment of the project managers, who have driven the projects at the national level and provided important information on what was happening locally, was key to the success of CariSECURE. The design of CariSECURE 2.0 has sought to build on this success by expanding this approach to identify strong national focal points involved in youth crime prevention and response. Moreover, adapting programme targets to changing realities on the ground is paramount to project success and should be embedded in the stakeholder engagement strategy.

Looking forward

INFOSEGURA launched a joint initiative with SIGOB supporting the implementation of a regional tool, the SALVE Module (Education Violence Alert System) in El Salvador. This tool will allow the reporting acts of violence affecting the educational community in more than 6,000 public and private schools. The tool will also enable coordination between the Ministry of Education and the National Civil Police to ensure an efficient and effective response to cases reported through this system.

The second phase of CariSECURE (CariSECURE 2.0) will address crime and violence among youth and human trafficking by employing a multi-pronged human rights-based approach designed to improve national capacities for crime reduction, building upon the data gathering and analytical capacities provided to national police forces under CariSECURE 1.0.

In 2022, SALIENT operations focused primarily on the three pilot countries: Cameroon, Jamaica and South Sudan.

• In Cameroon, UNDP and UN Women carried out trainings to civil society organizations (CSOs) and media on small arms and light weapons to raise awareness of the armed violence impact on vulnerable groups. The project team has ensured the representation of women and youth in training and sensitizations to ensure gender equality, women’s empowerment, youth inclusion and responsiveness. The Government of Cameroon has endorsed the establishment of a National Committee on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), a strong institutional level change fostered by SALIENT.
• In Jamaica, SALIENT is implemented by UNDP, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the UN Regional Centre for Pace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC). The Caribbean Firearms Roadmap was finalized, enabling the Government to initiate the process for the formal adoption of the National Action Plan to combat the illicit trafficking, and prevent and mitigate the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Jamaica. The national legal framework on firearms was reviewed with SALIENT support, and the capacity of 19 representatives of criminal justice institutions to counter illicit firearms trafficking was improved, contributing to the progress towards better arms control in the country. In addition, 45 at-risk youth (44 percent were women) were trained to facilitate peaceful conflict resolution and reduce armed gang violence. More than 80 government officials (80 percent were women) participated in national discussions to ban arms from schools.
• In South Sudan, UNDP and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), in collaboration with the National Police Service, completed a small arms baseline and perception survey on the operationalization of disarmament. The survey identified target communities, provided recommendations and outlined national priorities. Technical level meetings were held to agree on the next steps, and key focal points were identified in target states. Escalating security and political challenges in the country have caused initial delays in the project implementation.

The activities in these pilot countries were extended beyond the initial implementation period due to the factors external to the project, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating insecurities and operational difficulties on the ground.

Additionally, in 2022, SALIENT oversaw an in-person exploratory scoping mission for Honduras, where UNDP and UNLIREC identified country priorities on armed violence and SALW reduction, and started the design of a project proposal.

Looking forward

In 2023, SALIENT will be implemented in Honduras and two countries from Central Asia and Asia Pacific regions. Ongoing activities in pilot countries will be completed with a follow-up exercise to identify best practices and lessons learnt to share further and foster South-South cooperation.

SALIENT activities have been made possible through the contributions of the Governments of Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland.

SEESAC: small arms control for a safer South-East and East Europe

In spite of the significant progress made in the last two decades and in light of the war in Ukraine, the South-Eastern and Eastern Europe (SEE) region continues to face challenges related to illegal possession, misuse and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and ammunition. Between 2019 and 2022, a total of 536 people died as a result of firearm misuse in the Western Balkans; there were 121 firearm related deaths resulting from domestic violence; 95 suicide deaths by firearms; and 56 people lost their lives in accidental shootings in the Western Balkans.4 At the same time, over 52,000 firearms were destroyed between 2018 and mid-2022; over 22,000 pieces of SALW were seized and over 136,000 voluntarily surrendered.5

In 2022, SEESAC continued monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the Roadmap for a sustainable solution to the illegal possession, misuse and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition in the Western Balkans. SEESAC also conducted the mid-term review of the implementation of the roadmap that confirmed its effectiveness and relevance, increased coordination and noted that the progress towards the roadmap’s objective was on track.

Coordination of resources provided for the Roadmap implementation was ensured through the Western Balkans SALW Control Multi-Partner Trust Fund, for which SEESAC serves as a Secretariat responsible for its programmatic coordination and monitoring. The fund is closing the year with the portfolio of US$24,162,531 and 14 ongoing projects implemented by UNDP and the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).

SEESAC continued supporting the authorities across South-East and East Europe though the implementation of a comprehensive approach to SALW control contributing to the standardization of approaches across the region and closer cooperation between the Western Balkans and the European Union.

SEESAC:

• Facilitated regional cooperation
• Supported the advancement of legislative and policy frameworks
• Supported combatting illicit arms trafficking through provision of technical advice, development of standard operating procedures, training and provision of equipment
• Supported physical security and stockpile management of SALW and their ammunition through security upgrades and disposal of SALW and ammunition
• Launched awareness-raising initiatives
• Contributed to building the knowledge base through data collection, research and evidence-based policymaking
• Contributed to advancing gender equality.

Lessons learned

Effective coordination among all the stakeholders supporting the efforts of jurisdictions in SALW control and rigorous monitoring of progress are key precondition of success.

Looking forward

SEESAC successfully concluded the implementation of the initial Roadmap project, and was subsequently entrusted to continue coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the Roadmap and execute a package of comprehensive arms control activities across South-East and East Europe.

Addressing Gender-Based Violence in partnership with UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC)

The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC), in coordination with UNDP’s Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights (ROLSHR) team, supported partner countries in their combat against gender-based violence to ensure the effective protection of women and children. The rights-based support mechanism for gender-based violence survivors and the relevant police capacity building programme of the Republic of Korea was shared with seven countries in partnership with the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) and Sunflower Center, Korea’s one-stop service mechanism which provides counselling, psychological, medical, investigation and legal support to gender-based violence survivors. USPC’s technical support and catalytic seed funding facilitated the development and improvement of an integrated support mechanism for survivors and the establishment of protocols and training programmes for national police.

Country highlights

The UNDP Country Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and USPC collaborated to mitigate gender-based violence and discrimination towards gender-based violence survivors and female ex-combatants. A series of knowledge-sharing events were organized as a part of ongoing efforts to ensure an effective response from the Congolese National Police and facilitate awareness-raising and internalization of the survivor-centred approach.

A knowledge exchange workshop organized in March invited a wide audience from the police, legal and judicial sectors, as well as civil society organizations (CSOs), to exchange experience and knowledge on gender-based violence investigation and know-how in preventing secondary victimization. The good practices and lessons learned from Korea’s Sunflower Center were shared with 55 participants (including 22 women), and the workshop provided a venue for multiple stakeholders to exchange ideas and explore the potential for collaboration.

A series of field workshops were organized to train police officers from the Child Protection and Sexual Violence Prevention Squadron and the Technical and Scientific Police between October and November 2022. Ninety police officers from three provinces (Central Kasai, Kinshasa and South Kivu) deepened their knowledge of investigation/forensic evidence collection techniques and the principles of police responsibilities in multi-sectoral support to gender-based violence survivors. The trained officers are expected to cascade what they have learned in their respective units and further disseminate the knowledge gained through this workshop.

USPC’s collaboration with UNDP DRC synergized with the multi-year Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)-funded programme, “Prevention and Holistic Response to Gender-Based Violence for Peace Consolidation in the conflict-affected regions in the DRC (2021-2026)”. Furthermore, the Congolese National Police established a new partnership with KNPA on enhancing criminal information analysis and management with KNPA’s funding for 2022 and beyond, based on the collaboration forged among USPC, KNPA, UNDP DRC, UN Police, as well as Congolese National Police.

Lessons learned

Coordination mechanisms between the capital and the provincial levels, as well as between different stakeholders, have gained importance. Despite strong national ownership and commitment visible at the headquarters level or in the main counterpart institution, the lack of coordination may lead to challenges in establishing a multi-stakeholder collaborative mechanism that can maximize the joint effort to eradicate gender-based violence. To mitigate this challenge, organizing a high-level nationwide advocacy event, for instance, may be considered as a means of stimulating multi-sectoral engagement.