The private security sector has converted itself into an important actor across the Central American countries due to their numbers, the functions they provide, and the fact that in many cases they cover gaps in the field of public security that have arisen due to a lack of coverage by state security actors.

As displayed in the graphic, which is taken from the case of Guatemala, private security employees often outnumber the number of state law enforcement personnel, while they also carry out important functions and activities that include: personal bodyguards; guarding properties in urban and rural areas; and private investigators.

Regulation of the private security sector is in many cases incomplete, but ministries responsible for security and policing tend to be responsible for control of the sector, which includes issuing licenses, regulating the activities of firms, and tasks related to training.

Crime and violence disproportionately impact youth, which are both victims and major drivers of insecurity in Central America, and in recent years the region has witnessed the rise of Maras - gangs of youths linked to arms and drug trafficking, and to involvement in violent crimes such as murders and extortion.

Intricately linked to the issue of the gangs, and to youth crime in general, is that of social inclusion, or rather the lack of it. It refers to a sense of belonging—to a group or to a process - as opposed to being marginalized. A lack of social inclusion, which is closely linked to issues such as poverty, inequality and unemployment, generates a sense of alienation, of being an outsider and of not belonging. This inevitably leads to a sense of insecurity, and often to non-conventional (and often violent) efforts to attain justice and security. In Central America, these mutually reinforcing phenomena of marginalization and insecurity come together in a turbulent mix.

In contrast to the mano dura (Iron fist) policies, characterised by repression and hardline responses to crime, increasing attention is now being paid to the formulation of legislation, policies, and institutions that seek, often in a preventive manner, to target the underlying drivers of insecurity and social exclusion.

For more information: see RESDAL’s article “Behind the Numbers, Insecurity and Marginalization in Central America’ in America’s Quarterly:

http://americasquarterly.org/content/behind-numbers-insecurity-and-marginalization-central-america

Women, alongside youth, also represent a vulnerable group within an overall context of insecurity. In addition to the general forms of crime and violence, women are also subject (on a much greater scale to men) to gender-based violence, which are those forms of violence based on a person’s gender; sexual violence, including rape and various other forms of sexual violence; and domestic violence. While not restricted solely to women, these forms of violence tend to produce much larger numbers of female as opposed to male victims.

As a result of greater incidence of such crimes and recognition of the issue, attention is being paid to institutional programs and bodies specifically targeting these forms of violence, while specific legal frameworks and reforms to the penal code related to the crime of femicide are progressively being introduced, creating longer sentences and typifying the crime. All countries in the region now have legislation specifically relating to violence against women, although definitions for the crime of femicide vary greatly.

Women continue to be greatly under-represented within public security forces across the region, in particular among senior ranking officers. In the case of Panama, 1 in every 7.7 uniformed police personnel is female.