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DEMAND REDUCTION - GANGS, VIOLENCE, and DRUG USE

Area:

 Demand Reduction 

Project Name:

 Gangs, Violence and Drug Use

Start date /Duration:

 2000 / Ongoing

Location:

 Central America and the Caribbean Basin

Beneficiaries:

 Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, as well as Canada, Colombia, the United States, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

Participating Institutions:

 Salvadoran Anti-Drug Commission (COSA), Honduran National Drug Council (Consejo Nacional Contra el Narcotráfico)

Budget:

Donors:

 U.S. State Department Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), Government of Canada

Project Description:

 CICAD supports initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean that are addressing the serious problems of youth and gang violence linked with transnational migration, substance abuse and drug trafficking. Since 2000, CICAD has held regional seminars and national meetings to raise awareness about drug-related gangs and violence in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean Basin.  CICAD also supports pilot prevention programs in schools and communities that seek local solutions to this wider social challenge.

Project History
In its initial stage, this project aided member states to explore how to better confront the problem of drug-linked gang and youth violence. Two conferences were held, focusing on the gang problems in Central America and the Caribbean basin. 

Representatives and researchers from the Caribbean basin met in Miami in October 2000 for the conference Combating Transnational Drug-Related Gangs and Violence, including Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, the United States, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela, creating a space where concerned OAS member states, practitioners, and researchers could meet in a roundtable format to exchange information on these transnational phenomena, then making recommendations to states, multilateral agencies, and regarding future training and research.

In December 2000, the Central American Conference to Confront the Problem of High Risk Youth, Gangs and Drug Abuse was held in El Salvador, involving Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.  

In 2002-2003, CICAD began work with Honduras to support a pilot gang violence prevention initiative titled Yes, You Can, in a community near to San Pedro Sula, in cooperation with the Honduran National Drug Council (Consejo Nacional Contra el Narcotráfico). Ethnographic research and interviews were also carried out with prisoners and youth in this region.

 

In 2003-2004, CICAD cooperated with the Salvadoran Anti-Drug Commission (COSA) on several projects. One helped ex-gang members leave the gang lifestyle and join rehabilitative exercises with environmental caretaking work. A second project brought in urban youth at risk for becoming involved in the gang lifestyle through skateboarding and other sport activities, joined with self-esteem and drug and violence prevention courses. In the Spring of 2004, with CICAD support, COSA also carried out a study in all districts in the country to achieve an inventory of available treatment, rehabilitation, and related social services, as well as examining the role that organized crime plays in drug use and youth and gang violence.

Objectives:

Improve government responses to reduce gang and drug-related youth violence in Central America and the Caribbean Basin.

Links:

Summary of El Salvador study presented to the CICAD in April 2004