UN calls on Latin American countries to provide security for people

A UN official has called on Latin American countries to battle insecurity and ensure security for their people, according to a news release reaching here on Monday. "Insecurity is another gap in the region that must be narrowed to achieve development," Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Alicia Barcena said when addressing an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Declaration on Security in Latin America, held at the Organization of American States' headquarters in Washington. "The privatization of security, paradoxically, leads to greater levels of general insecurity. The security of a few is always insecurity for those who are excluded," she said. Countries such as those in Latin America that have huge income gaps are more likely to suffer from violent crimes than those that are more equal, said Barcena, adding a better distribution of wealth will contribute to cutting violent crimes in the region. Latin America as a whole has some of the highest rates of crime and violence in the world, according to the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC). The main victims of crime and insecurity in the region are women, children and youth, ECLAC data shows.