International Collaboration and Exchange

In recent years, Mexico has been confronted with a major security crisis. Crime and insecurity have replaced environmental pollution as the second public priority after the country’s economy. More than a year ago, the ``white walk`` gathered more than a million people in the streets of Mexico as a sign of protest against violence and insecurity. According to journalist and former US national security advisor, Anna Maria SALAZAR, Mexico has reported the highest rate of kidnappings and imprisonments, exceeding the rate that was reported in Irak. In recent years, States located north of the American border have been facing major problems related to violence, in particular cases of homicide related to drug trafficking.



In the course of the past few months, many police officers were killed by drug dealers, and armed conflicts between gangs have resulted in many street murder cases. Widely publicized throughout Mexico, these events – especially those occurring at the American border, where difficulties stemming from the infiltration of Mexican immigrants into the United States were already creating tensions between the two countries – have triggered an energetic safety response on the part of the American authorities.

National Seminar on Urban Safety, Brazil

This National Seminar, held in Brasilia on 15-17^th 
June 2005, brought together national and international experience on urban security. Internationally it was sponsored by the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Health Organization, UN HABITAT, UNODC, and UNESCO, among others. Margaret Shaw from ICPC gave a presentation on international developments. A short report on the Seminar by one of its main organizers, José Marcelo Zacchi of UN HABITAT’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and future Coordinator of the Urban Safety Reference Centre, is included in this edition of the International Observer.