{"id":25479,"date":"2026-06-29T14:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/?p=25479"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:10:17","slug":"public-security-organized-crime-effective-policies-cooperation-and-a-human-rights-based-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/2026\/06\/29\/public-security-organized-crime-effective-policies-cooperation-and-a-human-rights-based-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"States Must Address Organized Crime Through Effective Policies, Regional Cooperation, and a Human Rights-Based Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), together with the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (CEJA), the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), and the Latin American and Caribbean Group on Security and Democracy (GLACSED), held the discussion Public Security and Organized Crime: Toward Effective Policies with a Rights-Based Approach<\/em><\/strong> last Monday, June 22. The event provided a space for analysis on the challenges facing Latin America amid the expansion, growing sophistication, and institutional capture capacity of criminal networks.<\/p>\n

The discussion brought together regional specialists to examine public policy responses to organized crime from a central premise: human rights are not an obstacle to security, but a necessary condition for building effective, sustainable, and democratic policies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Discussion Panel “Public Security and Organized Crime: Toward Effective Policies with a Rights-Based Approach”. Organized by DPLF, CEJA, GI-TOC and GLACSED. Photos: DPLF\/Karen Arita<\/p><\/div>\n

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The panel featured Ana Glenda Tager<\/strong>, Private Secretary to the Presidency of Guatemala; Felipe Botero<\/strong>, Director of the Andean Regional Office of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC); Mercedes de Freitas<\/strong>, Executive Director of Transparencia Venezuela; Ana Dulce Aguilar<\/strong>, Executive Director of CEJA; and Erika Mouynes<\/strong>, representative of the Latin American and Caribbean Group on Security and Democracy (GLACSED). The discussion was moderated by Bel\u00e9n Aguinaga<\/strong>, Program Officer at DPLF.<\/p>\n

During the dialogue, the panelists warned that strategies focused exclusively on repression, the use of force, or the capture of criminal leaders have proven limited and ineffective. The so-called kingpin strategy<\/strong>\u2014focused on capturing cartel bosses or criminal leaders\u2014does not necessarily dismantle criminal structures. On the contrary, it can generate internal disputes, fragment organizations, and trigger new cycles of violence. The panelists also noted that measures that promote punitive approaches or criminal law as the sole response, combined with prison overcrowding and the absence of reintegration programs, have turned many penitentiary systems into spaces that strengthen criminal networks rather than weaken them.<\/p>\n

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Another central issue was institutional capture. The panelists emphasized that, in different countries across the region, organized crime does not operate solely as an actor external to the State. Rather, it infiltrates public institutions, financial systems, customs agencies, security forces, and judicial structures to secure impunity, facilitate illicit economies, and consolidate territorial control.<\/p>\n

The discussion also addressed the challenges facing justice systems. In many cases, prosecutors\u2019 offices and courts continue to operate with fragmented and outdated tools, as well as \u201ccase-by-case\u201d investigative approaches, while criminal networks use advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, fintech, crypto assets, and complex financial mechanisms. In response, the experts underscored the need to strengthen capacities to jointly and efficiently investigate macro-criminality, trace financial flows, recover assets, and protect judges, prosecutors, journalists, and human rights defenders.<\/p>\n

In this context, Resolution 1\/24 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on organized crime and human rights<\/strong> was presented as a fundamental roadmap for States. Its recommendations call for comprehensive responses that combine social prevention, financial investigations, judicial independence, victim protection, regional cooperation, and specialized legislation, including measures to address the recruitment of children and adolescents by criminal groups.<\/p>\n

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The organizations emphasized that public security cannot be sustained through authoritarian responses, permanent states of exception, or the weakening of democratic guarantees. On the contrary, it requires strong civilian institutions, independent justice systems, State presence in vulnerable territories, evidence-based policies, and effective mechanisms for cooperation among countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganized crime is a transnational, flexible, and highly adaptive phenomenon. State responses can no longer remain fragmented, reactive, or disconnected from the rights of affected individuals and communities,\u201d the convening organizations stated.<\/p>\n

The event concluded with a call for States in the region to move beyond the false dichotomy between security and human rights, and to advance public policies capable of protecting the population, confronting criminal networks, and strengthening the rule of law.<\/p>\n

A recording of the event is available in Spanish here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), together with the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (CEJA), the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), and the Latin American and Caribbean Group on Security and Democracy (GLACSED), held the discussion Public Security and Organized Crime: Toward Effective Policies with a Rights-Based Approach last Monday, June […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":25480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[681],"tags":[],"country":[1000,889,877,890,891,876,892,893,878,894,879,880,881,887,882,884,883,895,888,897],"issue":[870,863,866],"program":[871],"resource":[1014,1013,896],"class_list":["post-25479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","country-caribbean","country-argentina","country-belice","country-bolivia","country-brazil","country-america-central","country-chile","country-colombia","country-costa-rica","country-ecuador","country-el-salvador","country-guatemala","country-honduras","country-mexico","country-nicaragua","country-america-del-norte","country-panama","country-peru","country-america-del-sur","country-venezuela","issue-corruption-and-human-rights","issue-public-security","issue-transparency-and-access-to-information","program-corruption-and-human-rights","resource-dplf-updates","resource-featured","resource-press-releases"],"acf":{"boton_1":"Watch recording (in Spanish only)","url_boton_1\u00ba":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?si=UB0X6dg7pEbsBqX_&v=gLounbnOhXA&feature=youtu.be","boton_2":"Leer en espa\u00f1ol","url_boton_2":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/seguridad-publica-crimen-organizado-politicas-eficaces-cooperacion-regional-y-enfoque-de-derechos-humanos\/","boton_3":"","url_boton_3":"","boton_4":"","url_boton_4":"","boton_5":"","url_boton_5":"","boton_6":"","url_boton_6":"","boton_7":"","url_boton_7":"","boton_8":"","url_boton_8":"","boton_9":"","url_boton_9":"","boton_10":"","url_boton_10":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC1789.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25491,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25479\/revisions\/25491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25479"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=25479"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=25479"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=25479"},{"taxonomy":"resource","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource?post=25479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}