Downward trend in most crimes, including homicide, in northern Central American countries
InfoSegura analysed official data provided by national institutions, and found a significant improvement in citizen security indicators during the first half of 2023 with regard to the same period the previous year. Homicide–one of the key indicators–exhibited an 80.8 per cent drop in El Salvador, 7.2 per cent in Guatemala and 13.7 per cent in Honduras.
At the other end of the scale, the number of homicides of women rose in Honduras, and reports of missing persons increased in El Salvador.
El Salvador. Data reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic (FGR) between January and June 2023 show 75 persons who were victims of homicidal violence. However, in 2022, the same period closed with 390 victims. An analysis of the causes of homicides reveals that although those related to crime in general dropped 91.3 per cent, those caused by social relations, those related to gender-based violence and those in homes increased significantly (+41.7% and +116.7%, respectively).
The number of people reported missing increased 16.9 per cent, and reported cases of theft also rose (+11.6%). There were lower numbers of injuries (-10.3%), as well as robbery (-49.3%), cases of extortion (-49.4%), vehicle theft (-21.3%) and vehicle robbery (-67.2%).
Guatemala. This reporting period, there were 1,659 homicide-related deaths, 128 fewer individuals than the first half of 2022, according to data provided by the National Civil Police (PNC). Police homicide records show a significant reduction of 22.5 per cent in homicides of women, as compared to men with only a 4.4 per cent decline.
This first semester, there was also a significant decline in the number of reported sexual crimes (-38.6%), intrafamily violence (-7.8%) and people reported missing (-15.6%). Conversely, there was an increase in the number of crime-related injuries (5.3%) and cases of robbery and theft (8.5%).
Honduras. Preliminary data provided by Working Group on Violent Deaths–including the National Police, Public Ministry/Directorate of Forensic Medicine, National Registry of Persons, Citizen Coexistence and Security Observatories, National Statistics Institute, ONV-IUDPAS/UNAH, Technical Inter-Institutional Coordination Unit (UTECI) and the Secretariat for Security–crime figures decreased across the board in the first half of 2023.
In all, there were 261 fewer victims of homicide with regard to the first half of 2022. By sex, homicides of men fell 19.4 per cent, while homicides of women soared 46.7 per cent with 229 more victims. Cases of suicide plummeted 32 per cent, and there was a 10.8 per cent decline in traffic accident-related deaths.
The recent GraphForThought published by the UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean shows that although the homicide rates in Central America exhibit a downward trend, countries in South America and the Caribbean show a significant rise in homicidal violence.
For the last nine years, the InfoSegura Regional Project that the UNDP is implementing in partnership with USAID has been conducting systematic analysis of the state of citizen security in Central America and the Dominican Republic, thus contributing to the design and implementation of evidence-based and people-centred public policies.
