chapter 4 - DRK

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Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)82CHAPTER 4Thisdislocation significantly reduces their access to opportunities for informal businessor self-employment, running hawker stalls, kerbside repairs or providing cheaptransport. Without access to the economic and social life of the city they becometrapped in a vicious circle of poverty and exclusion, which passes from generation togeneration. Desperation and frustration can often boil over into conflict, crime andviolence.Social factorsThere are social factors, too, such as a culture of machismo, where males earn statusby proving their strength and masculinity. Demographics also count, since young menare most often the victims and the perpetrators of violent crime. High youth unemploymentis another cause. Worldwide, young people aged 15 to 24 represent onequarterof the working-age population, yet account for almost one-half of the globalunemployed. Nearly 25 per cent of the workforce in this age group earns less thanUS$ 1 a day.In Latin America and the Caribbean, drug use and trafficking have been central to aprocess of social decomposition producing violence within families, between gangs,between dealers and with corrupt officials. As traditional social institutions are eroded,they are replaced by perverse social capital in the form of gangs, drug mafias who ‘govern’neighbourhoods and networks of corrupt public servants and politicians.Street children, who may number in the tens of millions worldwide, are easy targetsfor membership in youth gangs. They end up on the street due to poverty, child abuseor the disintegration of the family. In general they have little education, are exposedto drugs and sex and live at risk of HIV / AIDS and teenage pregnancy. They are bothvictims and perpetrators of crime, which they commit in order to survive. In Nairobi,where approximately 60,000 people are homeless, street children mug pedestrians andsnatch purses, pick pockets, extort money and engage in prostitution. Here and inmany other cities from Guatemala to India, street children are seen as a menace tosociety and police brutality against them is widely accepted.Political-institutional factorsIn cities around the world, from Managua and Lagos, to Kinshasa and Karachi, there isa generalized lack of trust in the state’s ability to prevent crime and violence. Authoritiesare unwilling or unable to protect the populations of rapidly expanding urbanareas. Many local governments lack the financial resources to recruit additional policeofficers or buy basic equipment such as handcuffs or helmets. Often, underpaid policeofficers refuse to risk their lives by entering dangerous neighbourhoods. In some countriesthe vast majority of crimes are never investigated – overload, lack of resources,incompetence and corruption lead to the erosion of the investigative capacity of thecriminal justice system. In some cases, criminal networks become so powerful that theyeven threaten the state.
Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)Crisis of legitimacyMany states with high levels of urban violence are characterized by their inability toprovide services or security, maintain an effective presence throughout their territoryor collect taxes. The social contract between the state and society is dysfunctional.When the social contract functions well, the state mobilizes sufficient public revenueand provides security and other essential services, and citizens pay taxes to finance stateactivity to produce these public goods. The state’s legitimacy – public confidence in thepolitical institutions, rules and cultural and social norms that regulate the operationof government – is enhanced and stability reinforced. When the state fails to meet thecitizens’ expectations, legitimacy is eroded.States may be unwilling or unable to meet the expectations of the people. In some countrieselite groups are not willing to fund social programmes and significant proportions of thenational budget may go towards military or other elite sectors while health and educationreceive only a fraction of the allocation needed to provide basic services. When citizenscommit to the social contract and consent to be governed, they expect that their basic needswill be met – this is the essence of legitimacy. If these expectations are ignored or repeatedlyfrustrated, legitimacy is eroded. When legitimacy is very low, citizens may be reluctant topay taxes and may condone or engage in anti-social, violent or criminal activity. For example,tax revenues in Mexico amount to 11 per cent of GDP, in Guatemala they are equivalentto 12 per cent, in Peru 16 per cent. In Pakistan, tax revenue has fallen to 9 per cent.Jamaica Red Crossvolunteer providingcounselling to childrenliving in the TivoliGardens garrisoncommunity in thecapital, Kingston,following an eruptionof violence earlierthis year.© Jamaica Red CrossWorld Disasters Report 2010 – Focus on urban risk83
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214INDEXStrictly under embargo unti
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The International Federationof Red
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