UNDP acknowledges Nicaragua’s low criminality rates

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - May 30, 2014 - PRLog -- Nicaragua is the second safest country in Latin America according to the Security Index of the 2013-2014 Regional Human Development Report by the UNDP, officially presented in Nicaragua this week. The report evaluates the countries’ homicide and assault victims rates and the authority of the National Police.

The report, which evaluates 18 Latin American countries, ranks Nicaragua as the second safest in the region in its Security Index with a score of 0.914, only behind Chile with a score of 0.950 and followed by Paraguay with 0.893.

During the presentation, Juan Pablo Gordillo, Citizen Security Advisor at the Regional Services Center for Latin America of the UNDP, praised Nicaragua’s results as atypical in comparison to the rest of the region. At 8.7 homicides per every 100,000 inhabitants, Nicaragua is the country with fewer homicides in Central America.

Gordillo also highlighted that Nicaragua is the country with the least influence of organized crime in comparison to the region. Nicaragua’s preventive model, focused on protecting life, is “exportable”, added Gordillo.

Nicaragua’s National Police is also highly praised in the report as a leading institution in the region with a preventive, proactive and communitarian focused model. This has also contributed to the high level of acceptance of the National Police in the country, which highly values its good results and legitimacy. According to the report, the countries that best value their police’s role to protect are Panama (63%), Chile (59%) and Nicaragua (54%).