On Thursday 13 September, ICIP held the seminar \u201cHow to tackle violence outside of armed conflict settings\u201d at the Palau Centelles in Barcelona. The seminar brought together experts in the violence affecting various countries in Latin America, a region where 40% of the homicides registered worldwide occur. This violence is linked to common problems such as organized crime, drug trafficking, gangs, corruption, inequality and poverty.
\nAfter ICIP president Xavier Masllorens\u2019 welcoming remarks, the initial reflection was given by Ivan Briscoe, director of the Latin American and Caribbean program of the International Crisis Group. In his comments he established connections between the political violence and the criminal violence affecting the region, which \u201care not isolated phenomena,\u201d and he reflected on the new types of extremely cruel and selective violence aimed at political and social leaders, which states need to know how to tackle.
\nThe following speeches were given by Jessica Cohen, an international security analyst, Katherine Aguirre (Igarap\u00e9 Institute of Brazil), Raquel Willadino (Observat\u00f3rio de Favelas of Brazil), Carles Feixa (Pompeu Fabra University), David Bondia (Human Rights Institute of Catalonia), Marc Bosch (Doctors Without Borders), and Gisela Card\u00fas (Catalan Refugee Aid Commission).
\nThe different speakers highlighted the need to address the structural causes of violence (such as inequalities, social exclusion and a lack of opportunities); the need to establish more coordination at the local, national and regional levels; to study the violence from a multidisciplinary approach; and to search for individual responses for each type of violence based on strategies of prevention and conflict transformation which go beyond current militarization policies. As a matter of fact, regarding positive strategies, a special mention was made of the cases of cities such as Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez (Mexico), San Pedro Sula (Honduras) and Medell\u00edn (Colombia), which for years registered the highest rates of violence and which have undergone a progressive reduction in the number of violent deaths. A reflection was also made regarding the need to respond to violence within a framework of respect for and compliance with human rights. The conference also addressed direct consequences of violence, such as population displacement and demands for asylum or humanitarian action.
\nOscar Mateos, the director of the ICIP program \u201cViolence outside of armed conflict settings,\u201d mentioned as final conclusions the need to study strategies for the prevention of violence and for social transformation in order to be able to offer life projects in very precarious contexts, and to build emancipating and liberating peace models, which prevent violence from becoming a routine phenomenon, as an alternative to securitized peace models. He warned of the inability of states to respond to this violence and of the need to place value on sub-state actors and the creative and hopeful power of civil society.
\nDuring the seminar, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Vicent Mart\u00ednez Guzm\u00e1n, former vice president of ICIP, and Anna Bastida, a former member of the ICIP Governing Board. With their academic and personal expertise, these two people worked notably in the field of peacebuilding and the promotion of peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ICIP brings together experts to analyze the types of violence affecting various countries in Latin America and to find ways to tackle them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sense-categoria","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n