Security projects in Central America

Backgrounder

The contribution announced today by the Government of Canada includes more than $6 million to be funded through the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program (ACCBP) and more than $1.3 million from the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs). These four projects are focused on improving citizen security and combatting organized crime in Central America.

Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program projects

Case management tool for forced disappearances and torture cases related to organized crime

Funding announced: $1,024,815

Time frame: March 2017 to December 2019

Canada is working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to support the development and implementation of a protocol on case management and chain of custody for El Salvador’s Office of the Attorney General and its dependant bodies, as well as that country’s National Police. This management tool will help Salvadoran authorities in investigations and prosecutions of forced disappearances and torture in connection with organized crime.

Container control program in Latin America and the Caribbean

Funding announced: $4,999,806

Time frame: March 2016 to June 2019

Through this contribution, Canada is supporting the fight against drug trafficking and other illicit cross-border activities by improving the capacity of customs and other relevant law enforcement officers operating in port control units to detect and disrupt the flow of illicit goods trafficked via cargo in maritime containers, as well as facilitate legitimate trade. With the support of Canadian funding, technical experts from World Customs Organization and the UNODC will establish new port control units in El Salvador, Honduras and Cuba, as well as provide ongoing mentoring to operational port control units in 12 countries in the Americas. In May 2017, after only one week of becoming operational, El Salvador’s newly established port control unit made its first seizure of cocaine, which was hidden in a shipping container and worth $5.2 million.

Peace and Stabilization Operations Program projects

Preventing youth violence in El Salvador

Funding announced: $461,075

Time frame: March 2017 to January 2019

Public awareness is key to decreasing insecurity and violence in El Salvador. Canada’s contribution is going towards an educational project addressing the root causes and grievances of youth at risk of perpetrating violence. Those efforts will increase the capacity of civil society to interact with these youth, as well as increase their appreciation of civic values and the rule of law.

Preventing criminality and violence in Guatemala and Honduras

Funding announced: $889,560

Time frame: March 2017 to October 2018

Building on previous achievements, Canada is working with the International Republican Institute (IRI) to assist two communities, one in Guatemala and one in Honduras, in addressing democratic inclusion and citizen security at the municipal level. Canada’s contribution supports the training of municipal security councils to broaden the participation of women, youth, Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean Garifuna people and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersex individuals. The training also seeks to develop locally specific approaches to violence and crime prevention focusing on community policing, public health and data-mining to identify hot-spots. As part of the project, the IRI will also facilitate national and regional dialogue on community policing and violence prevention with the aim of expanding and replicating best practices achieved in the two communities involved.

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