An active presence in Human Security
In its four year history, with over 85 thousand monthly visits and five thousand enrolled users, the Comunidad Segura portal has become a reference on Human Security both nationally in Brazil, and internationally. The portal produced over three thousand pages of content that have contributed to further the debate in crucial areas of public policy, such as was case of community policing.
Long before the state government established the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) in Rio de Janeiro shantytown communities in response to the pressure of organized crime and armed traffickers, Comunidad Segura published articles and news reports that highlighted the need for citizen policing, for conflict resolution inside communities, and that the police needed to restore the trust of locals enabling a two way street in the resolution of security issues inside Rio’s favelas.
The decriminalization of drug use is also being discussed today in parliaments and in civil society organizations across Latin America. Little over two years ago, in April of 2008, the Comunidad Segura portal lead the discussions by hosting the recently-launched Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, led by the ex-presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, César Gavíria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico. The Commission was created with the goal of fostering discussion and critical examination of the effects of the global war on drugs policy adopted by the United Nations in 1999.
The Comunidad Segura portal has also been present in national and international seminars and congresses, covering talks, round tables, presentations and the releases of publications, programs and human security projects. The Portal covered the national mobilization around the First National Public Security meeting held August of 2009 in Brazil that defined the main principles and guidelines for public security in Brazil. It was also present at the United Nations Crime Conference held in Salvador, Brazil in 2010.
The Comunidad Segura portal also noted the tragic loss of researchers Pablo Dreyfus and Ana Carolina Rodrigues on June of 2009, after the disappearance of Flight Air France 447 on route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Coordinator of the Gun Control project at Viva Rio since 2002, Dreyfus played a key role in drawing up the Estatuto do Desarmamento, Brazil’s Gun Control Law enforced in 2003, as well as the Disarmament Campaign, responsible for the voluntary hand in of half a million firearms in Brazil.
Over the past year Comunidad Segura contributors accompanied the Comunidad Segura Caravan that traveled to the 27 Brazilian states. In its sixth edition, the caravan took information on public security issues to a broad public and provided the opportunity for social and public actors and agencies to come together, while mobilizing leaderships for the Conseg.
The Comunidad Segura also expressed its solidarity to the victims of the earthquake that destroyed the capital of Haiti this past January. The stories published from February to July in the portal about Haiti provided readers with a glimpse of the situation of the Viva Rio projects in Bel Air – a community in downtown Port-au-Prince – and the efforts of reconstruction after the quake left millions homeless and caused the deaths of 200 thousand people.
We have much to celebrate, and a great deal of work ahead. The portal will soon have new sections that will boost interactivity with our readers. Comunidad Segura is present in social networks, with close to 600 followers in Twitter and 85 Facebook fans. We want much more! More news, more content, more visits and especially, more friends. Join our community!
Read Further:
Pablo Dreyfus and Ana Carolina Rodrigues
The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy
In Portuguese:
Dossiêr (In Portuguese) Conferência Nacional de Segurança Pública
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