Looking for leadership: sustainable security in Latin America and the Caribbean

This report summarises the analysis from a consultation of specialists on Latin America and the Caribbean applying the concept of sustainable security at a regional level. The paper notes that the region has seen the rise of new sources of insecurity in the everyday lives of its citizens. Drivers of insecurity include several factors such as state practices and urban-rural divides and socio-economic divisions.

The report recommends the following:

• political fragmentation must be urgently addressed in the region in order to build a truly sustainable approach to security across the entire region
• initiatives such as the South American Defence Council should be given top priority in foreign and defence policies and their institutionalisation should be adequately funded and supported by all member states
• new policy options are needed in the short-medium term to combat increasing environmental stresses and resource depletion
• states across the region need to re-gain public confidence in relation to their ability to meet the security needs of their populations without resorting to military force. This will need to include steps to de-militarise the police, intelligence agencies and policies to limit the general remit as well as specific missions of the armed forces
• over the next 5-10 years, a radical shift towards sustainable approaches to security will be hugely important, and a number of regional powers - particularly Brazil - are well placed to provide leadership
• states and NGOs should be equipped with the necessary skills to move towards a new security framework, and the idea of multi-dimensional security can be utilised for this stake.