Heenan Blaikie

The Employer Perspective on Promoting Citizen Security in the Americas

John D. R. Craig, Canadian Employers Council/CEATAL

Presentation at the Dialogue Among Heads of Delegation, the OAS Secretary General, and Private Sector Representatives

San Salvador, El Salvador, June 2011

Minister Martinez, Secretary General, Heads of Delegations, Distinguished Representatives, colleagues and friends.

On behalf of the Canadian Employers Council and the Business Technical Advisory Group (CEATAL) within the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour (IACML), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on this most important topic of promoting citizen security in the Americas.

My role today is to share the employer perspective on the theme of this General Assembly, namely promoting citizen security.

I would like to congratulate all those involved in the preparation of the draft Declaration and Plan of Action of San Salvador for a thoughtful document that addresses the complex nature of the problems before us. I note that these draft documents are focused on state initiatives to address crime and violence. Nevertheless, they also recognize the multi-dimensional nature of the issue and the important role of other actors including the private sector (see paragraph 8 of the preamble and declaration #5).

Embedded within the draft Declaration is the recognition of the importance of economic development, job creation and the promotion of decent work, and access to social supports such as quality healthcare, public education and skills training. These are the key socio-economic factors that are the bedrock of

Heenan Blaikie LLP Lawyers Patent and Trade-mark Agents Québec Sherbrooke Trois- Rivières Victoria Singapore Page 2

secure, safe societies. Without them, it is hard to imagine ever achieving a truly secure society. Therefore, for present purposes, “citizen security” refers not only to the exposure of individuals to crime and/or violence, BUT ALSO to the broader social and economic conditions that are necessary to promote safe and secure societies.

There are several ways in which insecurity prevents individuals, employers, and public authorities from functioning productively within society. Let me discuss some of the key principles.

1. Individuals and businesses are unlikely and sometimes unable to invest resources in jurisdictions where violence and crime are prevalent.

Probably the most basic formulation of this principle is that individuals and/or businesses are unlikely to invest financial and human resources if those resources will be at risk or, in particular, if the investor will be subjected to crime or violence during the process of making and maintaining an investment. In other words, insecurity triggers risk aversion, which leads to decreased investment, slower economic development, and fewer jobs.

This formulation can apply to both individuals and SMEs in insecure jurisdictions, and multinational companies that would otherwise invest in a jurisdiction if crime and violence were not pervasive.

In particular, multinational companies with the capacity to invest capital anywhere in the world are less likely to do so in insecure jurisdictions if they can make that investment (say, establishing an operation) in a relatively more secure location. Practically, the very high financial and human costs associated with insecurity pose a tremendous barrier on development.

Crime and violence undermine the creation and maintenance of basic infrastructure and services

This principle manifests itself in several ways in insecure jurisdictions.

Jurisdictions with high crime rates – and especially those where government corruption is problematic – often have difficulty creating the basic infrastructure that is necessary to support ongoing private

Heenan Blaikie Page 3

investment and, in turn, economic development. Physical infrastructure projects (whether public, private or mixed) in jurisdictions where bribery of officials and skimming of funds by private contractors is the norm are, at best, hugely inefficient uses of finite resources. At worst, these factors can make it effectively impossible for individuals, companies, and/or public authorities to build and maintain the basic physical infrastructure that is necessary to support economic growth.

Importantly, this principle applies not only to large-scale public infrastructure projects such as, say, building a highway, but also to a small business person’s attempt to build or renovate an office or store. In this latter context, crime can be particularly debilitating for an individual, at least from a financial perspective.

Crime and violence also diminish the relative amount of resources that a public authority can direct towards basic services like education and healthcare (which can also be considered a type of social infrastructure). The need to devote huge amounts of public funds to policing and, in extreme cases, domestic military and intelligence operations can become the primary focus of governments in insecure jurisdictions. When this occurs, it is often public programs related to health care and education that go underfunded.

It is particularly problematic that many of the above scenarios can also lead to a vicious cycle in which crime and violence put a drag on economic growth, which then leads to increased poverty, which in turn leads to increased crime and violence.

2. Crime and violence undermine the integrity of public authorities

Citizen insecurity also undermines individuals’ faith in the state. If a government is unable to deal with crime and violence (or, for that matter, is complicit in it), citizens will seek other ways to protect themselves. Those individuals’ broader views of government and public institutions as valuable or effective authorities will also likely be diminished, further narrowing and complicating the scope of the state's ability to act in a meaningful capacity.

Addressing Citizen Insecurity

Heenan Blaikie Page 4

There are several underlying currents that must be considered when formulating policy prescriptions in relation to citizen security. Let me address three.

First, existing state and local government structures are paramount: citizen security is about eliminating the violation of laws, promoting the just enforcement of laws, and addressing the absence of laws. It is difficult to conceive of how policies that seek to improve citizen security could be implemented without the full cooperation and leadership of existing government structures, which ultimately write and enforce the laws addressing breaches of crime and violence.

Second, despite the admirable intentions of most governments, the capacity of public authorities in many states in the hemisphere is seriously underdeveloped or overstretched in this respect.

Third, it is not the role of the private sector to take the place of the state in addressing citizen security. Notably, many companies have adopted sophisticated corporate social responsibility measures to address issues like corruption and unethical conduct. These measures generally include commitments to comply with applicable laws. Whistle-blowing measures are often included to promote compliance. These measures must be viewed as complimenting and building on applicable laws and enforcement mechanisms; they are not intended - and should not be viewed - as replacing the state's primary role in law making and enforcing.

On the basis of these considerations above, there are several broad policy recommendations that can be made from the employer perspective:

1. Developing and professionalizing the law enforcement capacity of national and local governments is critical.

Cross-border technical assistance mechanisms that allow for training, information sharing, and the transfer of best practices between states and local governments should be enhanced. This would be helpful for security policy makers, law enforcement agencies, and the judicial arms of governments, especially in relation to combating cross-border organized crime.

Heenan Blaikie Page 5

2. Public authorities must be encouraged to uniformly and transparently enforce existing laws within their legal jurisdictions.

In some locations in the Americas, existing laws are simply not being enforced consistently (if at all). In some cases, crime and violence have become prevalent in these areas. Schemes that provide authorities with incentives to take action to exert their full legal authority should be considered. Ultimately, this could help some authorities to assert a more meaningful and positive role in citizens' lives while reducing crime and violence.

3. Policies should be implemented to promote economic development, job creation and decent work in the formal economy.

Citizens will never be secure and fully committed to social, economic and political life unless they have access to stable, productive, decent employment. The workplace is one of the key centers for building social relationships and contributing to society. For this reason, the state must adopt policies to facilitate economic growth and job creation within the private sector. Most jobs today are created by small businesses. For this reason, favorable conditions must be fostered to promote entrepreneurship, particularly among youth.

4. Governments should be encouraged to maintain a basic floor of social services available to all citizens.

Poverty and lack of opportunity help to motivate crime and violence. Basic healthcare and public education are important tools that can dramatically improve quality of life in this respect. By complementing law enforcement techniques with basic social services, states and local governments can address the roots of citizen insecurity.

5. Private sector actors should take steps that encourage and complement public leadership in relation to citizen insecurity.

Subject to my comments above that the private sector must not be expected to take on the role of the state in ensuring citizen security, employers and other private sector organizations can play an important

Heenan Blaikie Page 6

role in improving local law enforcement on a day-to-day basis. They can do this by reporting violations of laws to the appropriate agency and participating in social dialogue on security matters. In fact, private sector interaction with policymakers through governmental and political channels can provide additional positive encouragement to authorities attempting to address these issues.

Thanks you again for the opportunity to address you on this very important matter.

HBdocs - 10518885v1

Heenan Blaikie