Achievements, challenges and opportunities at 10 years working to improve crime statistics

In May 2011, the Center of Excellence began activities, as a joint project between the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with the purpose of strengthening statistical, analytical and monitoring capacities in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary, was organized the event “The UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence: 10 years improving crime statistics“, to discuss progress made and current and future challenges in crime statistics in Mexico and the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The event was attended by Julio Santaella, President of INEGI; Kristian Hölge, Representative of UNODC in Mexico; Juan Daniel Oviedo, Director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics of Colombia; Carol Coy, Head of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica; Angela Me, Head of Research and Trend Analysis Branch of UNODC; Adrián Franco, Vice President of INEGI and Manuel Eisner, Professor at the University of Cambridge.

The discussion reflected on the advances in the generation and improvement of the quality of data to measure criminal phenomena at the regional and global level, and the role that the Center of Excellence has developed, providing technical assistance to most countries. of the region, but also with a reach in other regions and globally.

Looking to the future based on the trends and changes that the world and the Latin American and Caribbean region are going through, as well as the challenges involved in measuring new criminal phenomena, organized crime, the intensive use of technologies. and the COVID-19 pandemic itself, areas were discussed where the Center of Excellence could focus to broaden its impact. In this regard, in addition to continuing to provide technical assistance to the countries of the region, it is considered important to aim at the long-term institutional strengthening of the national statistical offices, as well as to broaden the topics on which to improve measurement and of course, continue collaborating in the development of methodologies for measuring the indicators of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The celebration of these first ten years of the Center of Excellence has been an opportunity to endorse the commitment in the continuous work to expand and improve the quality of the statistical information available in the region, as well as in the strengthen evidence-based decision-making that favor the promotion of more just, peaceful and inclusive societies.