Youth Violence in Latin America

Addressing Youth Violence In Brazil and El Salvador Transformation through Training

CICR Approach to Youth Violence

The Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) at Columbia University proposes a three-tiered, holistic approach to youth violence in partnership with relevant organizations in Brazil and El Salvador.

CICR believes that providing youth and community groups with conflict resolution skills within the context of a change in public policy could prove to be instructive in reintegrating youths back into a process of constructive engagement with the communities in which they live.

This integrated, holistic approach is likely to encourage both horizontal and vertical development and strengthening of social, political and economic relations.

Historical Context

The increase of youth violence in the developing world poses a challenge to good governance and the promotion of a culture of democracy on many levels, from social to political to economic.

Awareness of its effect on development has become a serious issue; it is no longer questioned that youth violence has a detrimental effect on the growth potential of many countries, not least as it puts a strain on government budgets, deters investment and contributes to the deterioration of norms and morals that societies have traditionally used to hold the social fabric together and guide young people to adulthood.

The spread of democracy in Latin America has not yet adequately addressed the issues of inequality and social exclusion that led to widespread civil conflict during the 1970’s and 80’s. One of the consequences has been the rapid increase in youth violence, which has been complicated by the influence of transnational criminal networks and easy access to small arms.(1)

Key Facts

In the last 5 years Latin America has experienced an increase in the rates of violence committed by and against young people.
The 5 countries with the highest murder rates for people between the ages of 15 and 25 in the world are all from Latin America.[2]
The main cause of youth violence in Latin America is inequality, followed by high juvenile unemployment, increased school drop out rates, disintegrated family structures, and absence of State involvement outside of police arrests.[3]
One in four youth in Latin America is in a situation of exclusion, meaning they are outside of both the world market and educational system. Being removed from social cohesion, makes them vulnerable to crime.[4]

Rationale

Why Brazil and El Salvador?

The countries of El Salvador and Brazil have the first and fifth highest rates of murder for people between the ages of 15 and 25 in the world, respectively.[5]
Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, has seen a period of strong growth since the days of hyperinflation, yet it has also seen an increase in violence that affects mainly the urban poor but has spread to all segments of society.
El Salvador, the smallest country in Latin America, has experienced many years of instability attributed to civil war that has been complicated by the introduction of Los Angeles based youth gangs who arrived following large scale deportations from the United States starting in the mid 1990’s, which has had a drastic effect on the increase and types of violence in urban centers and rural areas alike.[6]

National Approaches to Youth Violence

In response to increased violence, Latin America has followed a trend toward strict crime prevention policies, also called Mano Dura or zero tolerance, which have been generally unsuccessful at reducing youth violence.[7]
A 2006 USAID report found that in El Salvador, 11,000 gang members were arrested in a single year, prisons were overcrowded, the murder rate increased, and relations between the state and citizens suffered in poor urban areas.[8]
A 1997 Human Rights Watch report on “Police brutality in urban Brazil,” found that violations such as shooting suspects, extrajudicial executions, and forced civilian disappearances, were mainly due to “impunity- the product of combined failure of a number of Brazilian institutions.”[9]

CICR Methodology

CICR Approach to Youth Violence

CICR’s holistic approach to youth violence seeks to use tools that empower individuals to take ownership of the process of constructive reintegration by combining bottom-up, grass- roots strategies with top-down, public policy interventions.

We use conflict assessment as an effective tool to identify permanent underlying tensions in order to prevent/avoid repetitions and cycles of violence, while also identifying risks of escalation and re-production. Conflict assessments, in our view, should seek to reverse or prevent the effects of pervasiveness and, when combined with targeted, multi-tiered engagements, they can prove to be vital in transforming communities touched by violence.

Conflict assessments help us to identify how, and where, training in conflict resolution skills will be most effective. In East Timor, Iraq and Colombia, for example, we have found that training for community leaders, NGOs and vulnerable groups in essential conflict resolution skills, management and organization has been vital for creating community cohesion and security, and in improving the efficacy of development work of all actors working in those regions. CICR also works alongside government officials where possible, offering advice where possible on how to generate more effective and constructive public policy interventions.

Our emphasis is on a holistic approach as we consider the emergence of sustainable peace as the result of participatory processes that incrementally open societies to higher degrees of inclusiveness and creative human development.

A three-tiered approach[10]

The United States Department of Justice recommends a three-tiered approach to youth violence intervention and prevention. Potential partners for consideration in the pilot project will be engaged in three general types of programming as based on the DOJ’s approach.

Primary prevention: School or community based programs that target the general youth population with an emphasis on school attendance and improving academic achievement.
Secondary prevention: Targets youth identified as ‘high-risk’ of becoming involved in criminal activity. These programs aim to provide viable alternatives for identified youth that target specific needs by providing guidance and additional support, focusing on realistic alternatives, establishing parameters for involvement in the program and a system of personal accountability.
Tertiary prevention: Targets youth who are already involved in violent activities and/or gangs. These programs are focused on rehabilitating young people and work to reduce the amount of violence committed by them.

This three-tiered approach gives a good basis for comparing programs and differentiating between those that are focused on the general youth population, youth that are at high-risk of involvement in violent activities and those who have already become actively engaged in violent, criminal behavior. Each tier represents a different approach that seeks to achieve the same goal of higher levels of achievement and lower levels of violence among low-income youth.

Project Steps

The anticipated time required to complete the pilot project will be one year and will require travel to Brazil and El Salvador to conduct the assessment and to coordinate the project.

CICR proposes the following first steps:

Conduct assessment missions to Brazil and El Salvador to assess youth violence in both countries.
Identify local actors who are successfully tackling youth violence and can be potential partners in the pilot project.
Identify communities in need and areas where such an engagement would be welcomed as possible locations to conduct the pilot project, in conjunction with local actors and local organizations.

Project Goals

Working in conjunction with identified partners in Brazil and El Salvador this project will be undertaken to achieve the following goals:

Conduct a conflict assessment of the state of youth violence in Brazil and El Salvador, identifying contributing factors, identifying programs that are successfully tackling youth violence and making recommendations on ways to deal with youth violence.
Develop a curriculum to be used in trainings for practitioners engaged in youth violence prevention programs on the issue of youth violence and methods being employed to effectively reduce or eliminate youth violence, as well as bringing specialists together to brainstorm and explore new ways of looking at this issue.
Train community leaders and youth, identified by local partners, who have experienced violence first hand in conflict resolution and mediation methods.
To influence public policy in Brazil and El Salvador in favor of re-orienting society towards more productive means of resolving the issue of youth violence then the current strategies of suppression and large scale incarceration.

Notes

Fernando de Moraes Manzano, Luís, “Youth Violence and Urban Security in North and South America,” report on 12 October 2007 Conference, Columbia University.
Julio Waiselfisz, “Map of Violence: The Young People of Latin America” Latin American Technological Information Network, Ritla November 2008 p. 5
Fernando de Moraes Manzano, Luís, “Youth Violence and Urban Security in North and South America,” report on October 12, 2007 Conference, Columbia University.
Kliksberg, Bernardo, power point presentation, Columbia University Center for International Conflict Resolution, 12 October, 2007
Julio Waiselfisz, “Map of Violence: The Young People of Latin America” Latin American Technological Information Network, Ritla November 2008 p. 5
Stephen Johnson and David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D., “North American Transnational Youth Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence” The Heritage Foundation March 21, 2005
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) Special Report, “Youth Gangs in Central America: Issues in Human Rights, Effective Policing and Prevention” WOLA November 2006 p.21
Sibaja, Harold; Roig, Enrique; del Castillo, Cristina; Galdamez, Patty; Carranza, Marlon, “Central American and Mexico Gang Assessment Annex 1: El Salvador” United States Agency for International Development, April 2006 p. 12
Cavallero, James. Human Rights Watch; “Police brutality in urban Brazil”. Human Rights Watch, 1997 p. 3
Finn-Aage Esbensen, Preventing Adolescent Gang Involvement, in Juvenile Justice Bulletin 6 (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, September 2000) p. 6-7, 9

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