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CICAD: Supply Reduction

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CICAD: Supply Reduction

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CICAD: Supply Reduction

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CICAD: Supply Reduction

GENLEA

 

 



The promotion of gender equality in such institutions is vital to increase operational effectiveness, strengthen inclusion, enhance oversight, and maintain accountability and compliance with the most relevant international standards on the topic, including the principle of shared power and responsibility between women and men.

Also, women add tremendous value to and enhance their agencies' performance when playing a more active role in drug-related case investigations; for instance, engaging in operational counterdrug intelligence activities such as informant handling, and special investigative techniques (SIT), as undercover agents. 

Nonetheless, the Program identified gender mainstreaming gaps in OAS member states' counterdrug LEAs, especially in regards to female involvement in decision-making processes and operations.

In order to fill this gap, in January 2018 CICAD started the execution of the Inter-American Program for Strengthening Gender Equality in Counterdrug Law Enforcement Agencies (GENLEA), which aims to increase gender equality in OAS member states' counterdrug law enforcement agencies in order to strengthen their capacity to counter drug trafficking.  The intention of the GENLEA Program is not to create quotas for women, but to promote equal opportunities for all officers dedicated to countering drug trafficking, and recruiting and keeping the best talent in drug law enforcement agencies. 

The GENLEA Program adheres to the OAS Hemispheric Drug Strategy 2010, which requires policies and measures that address the world drug problem to take gender issues into account.  Similarly, this initiative is aligned with the Outcome Document of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016) and the OAS Hemispheric Plan of Action on Drugs (2016-2020), which recommend the incorporation of a gender perspective into all stages of the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of drug policies and programs, ensuring the involvement of women in said activities.

 

COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM

A main component of the GENLEA Program is the delivery of national workshops and regional conferences to strengthen gender equality in counterdrug law enforcement agencies, delivered in collaboration with recognized international experts on the subject, as well as with relevant counterparts from beneficiary countries, in order to produce an effective and sustainable impact.  During 2018-2019, Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad & Tobago hosted GENLEA national workshops that allowed CICAD to identify challenges and gather best practices that could be implemented within the framework of the program.   

These activities represent a unique space to discuss specific measures that could be implemented in each OAS member state in order to address existing challenges, and are designed based on an evidence-based approach, aimed at promoting a transformative process by encouraging knowledge sharing, techniques, and tools to foster changes in the institutional culture of law enforcement agencies for them to become more effective and gender equitable.

Another component is the delivery of technical assistance to OAS member states that aim to develop or to strengthen strategies and action plans to increase gender mainstreaming in their counterdrug law enforcement institutions.  This includes the creation of gender equality offices, the elaboration of gender assessments, and the design and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system that allows each institution to measure its progress, and obtain perspective on gaps that need to be closed.

 

GENLEA HANDBOOK: Strategies and Good Practices for Strengthening Gender Equality in Counterdrug Law Enforcement Agencies

 


updated on 3/1/2021 4:15:13 PM