Saint Lucia adopts UNODC’s LACSI Initiative: the approved regional questionnaire for an internationally comparable Crime Victimization Survey
The Center of Excellence (CoE) visited Santa Lucia from April 9 to 12 to begin the process of technical assistance for the adoption of the Latin America and the Caribbean Crime Victimization Survey Initiative (LACSI Initiative), which consists of an approved regional questionnaire that follows the international standards of the United Nations generated and promoted by UNODC such as the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS, 2015) and the Manual of Victimization Surveys (2010). Adopting this Initiative means that Saint Lucia will be able to generate quality, reliable, timely and comparable crime statistical information to monitor the progress of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially 4 Goal 16 indicators (16.1.3, 16.1.4, 16.3.1 and 16.5.1), which are under the sole custody of UNODC that promotes just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
To begin this assistance that will be carried out between 2019 and 2020, UNODC presented the basic characteristics of the LACSI Initiative, meeting in which the Steering Committee was formalized. Finally, a short course on Crime Victimization Surveys was delivered to all attendees. All this, in order to draw a roadmap to implement Saint Lucia’s National Crime Survey of Victimization (SLNCVS) 2019-2020, second country in the Caribbean to adopt this Initiative after Jamaica, and the 7th country in the LAC region.
In these sessions, 46 people from different institutions participated, such as the Central Statistical Office, the Gender Department, the Department of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Police and Corrections among others, as well as non-governmental organizations and the academia. These activities were carried out within the framework of the cooperation activities between UNDP and UNODC, through the CariSecure project.
