Brasilia, 2 September, 2021 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) participated last Friday (27), in the virtual event on "The Use of Forces, Procedures during demonstrations, rights and obligations of demonstrators".
The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Justice of Paraguay, which is working on a handbook on the subject, under the Human Rights Network of the Executive Branch and with the support of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The meetings have been taking place since July 2021, with a series of meetings for the members of the network, composed of public officials, justice operators and about 28 institutions.
UNODC's participation sought to bring expertise on international best practices in crime prevention and criminal justice, having the office developed a series of criminal justice manuals, including the use of force and firearms in law enforcement.
Representando o UNODC, o especialista em Segurança Pública, Justiça Criminal e Compliance, Eduardo Pazinato, fez uma apresentação sobre "Uso da Força e Accountability: o caso do Índice de Compliance da Atividade Policial (ICAP), desenvolvido pelo UNODC nos estados do Paraná e do Rio Grande do Sul” e apresentou também a Matriz de Indicadores de prevenção das violências desenvolvida no âmbito de um projeto do UNODC no estado de Pernambuco.
Representing UNODC, the Public Security, Criminal Justice and Compliance expert, Eduardo Pazinato, made a presentation on "The Use of Force and Accountability: the case of the Police Activity Compliance Index (ICAP), developed by UNODC piloted in the states of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul" and also presented the Matrix of Violence Prevention Indicators developed under a UNODC project in the state of Pernambuco.
Pazinato mentioned the UNODC's partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná and the results achieved. "We built a pact for the collection and systematization of data and information, not only criminal, but also related to the use of force, lethal and non-lethal. Based on that, we prepared reports, technical bulletins, workshops, training and capacity building activities, including the creation of the ICAP.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Department of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, the Office of Human Rights of the Ministry of Interior of Paraguay, and the Regional Office for South America of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
They highlighted the positive and negative obligations of States in the face of demonstrations for certain claims, such as respecting and guaranteeing the right to demonstrate peacefully and adequately regulating the exercise of that right and that "the use of force for the dispersal of meetings has an exceptional character, defined by the characteristics and consequences that may generate that disturbance for the protection of the rights of those who are not participating in demonstrations."
About UNODC's partnership with the IDB
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have formalized agreements for the development of two programs, Opportunities and Rights Program (POD), signed in October 2015, and Paraná Seguro, signed in September 2017.
POD is a partnership between the IDB, the state of Rio Grande do Sul and UNODC. In the agreement, the state of Rio Grande do Sul is committed to implementing policies aimed at reducing violent crime rates among young people aged 15-24 in the cities of Alvorada, Porto Alegre and Viamão, through an integrated approach between risk factors and focuses of geographic and population interventions.
In POD, UNODC is committed to verifying, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the proper functioning of internal and social controls of police forces.
Parana Seguro Programme is based on an understanding between the IDB, the government of the state of Paraná and UNODC. In the agreement, UNODC undertakes to provide technical support for the implementation of the programme, which is a partnership between the IDB and the government of the State of Paraná.
UNODC will verify the applicability of the mechanisms already in place for internal and social control of community police activities in the target territories of the programme.
UNODC manual on the use of force and firearms in law enforcement
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (UNODC page in English)
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