Crime now costs Latin America’s largest economy over $75 billion a year, double the amount of two decades prior, and efforts to combat its spread have had only “limited” effect

Brazil’s homicide rate soared over the past two decades even as the state and the public sector greatly increased spending on public safety

Latin America is the planet’s most urbanized region. In just over a generation – between 1950 and 2010 – the proportion of people living in cities grew from 30% to more than 85%.

The world is drowning in data. Every minute, there are roughly 456,000 tweets, 510,000 comments posted on Facebook, 999,000 Tinder swipes, 3.6 million Google searches, 4.1 million Youtube videos watched, and 103 million spam emails.

Today’s armed conflicts also make conflict prevention more challenging. This is because armed conflict and terrorism are transforming. Risks of conflict are converging

05/06/2018 Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Maiara Folly Originally published on PassBlue RIO DE JANEIRO — Only weeks from the start of the 2018 World Cup, soccer teams of refugees from Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Angola, Burkina Faso and Gambia who had…

As warfare spikes, UN peacekeeping is at a breaking point, unable to keep up with relentless demand. 04/06/2018 by Robert Muggah and Adriana Abdenur Originally published on The Hill Times   The threat of catastrophic war between great powers is at the highest point since…

A bill passed yesterday by Brazil’s Lower House marks a major step forward in the push for privacy. 30/05/2018   The world is awash in data. Each minute, people around the globe take 47,000 Uber trips, write 456,000 tweets, conduct 3.6 million Google searches and…

By Robert Muggah 24/05/2018 Originally published on the Small Wars Journal   Paraphrasing the Greek dramatist Aeschylus, in war, terrorism and crime, truth is the first casualty. While a proper accounting of the human toll of organized violence is critical to achieving justice and stability,…

22/05/2018 Ana Paula Pellegrino, Dandara Tinoco, Renata Giannini, and Robert Muggah Originally published on the Open Democracy               In mid-May 2008, a journalist, photographer and driver were kidnapped and tortured in Batan, a favela in Rio de Janeiro’s west zone. When…

Even from his jail cell, Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, founder of the Workers’ party, which has led Brazil for 13 of the past 15 years, still holds some of the most important keys to Brazil’s elections in October.

27/04/2018 By Deirdre Collings and Robert Muggah Originally published on iPolitics In war-torn Syria, the contents of one’s phone mean the difference between life and death. “My phone is my lifeline,” Umm Hassan told us, one of the more than 150,000 Syrian citizens fleeing the destruction…

Study shows region suffered 33 percent of world’s homicidal violence despite representing eight percent of population. 27/04/2018 Originally published on Al Jazeera Latin America has experienced more than 2.5 million murders since 2000, threatening public security and undermining economic progress, a new report warned. “The…

En cuatro países de la región, Brasil, Colombia, México y Venezuela, se comete un cuarto de todos los asesinatos del mundo. De las 50 ciudades más violentas del mundo, 43 son latinoamericanas. 26/04/2018 Publicado originalmente por DW En Latinoamérica solo vive el 8 por ciento…

Region has experienced 2.5 million murders since 2000 and report paints bleak picture of extreme violence and deteriorating security 26/04/2018 by Tom Phillips Originally published on The Guardian  An activist paints the silhouette of a murder victim at the Coque slum in Recife, Brazil. The…