ABSTRACT
A safe and secure environment for people, communities, and states is an essential condition for sustainable economic, political and social development, and conflict mitigation. The United Nations demonstrates the association between poor development outcomes and violent conflict in its Human Development Index, and identifies democratic governance, peace and personal security as essential ingredients for “human development in its fullest sense” (United Nations Development Programme 2002: 85). Participatory poverty assessments undertaken since the 1990s have consistently identified the lack of security as a major concern for poor people, including: (1) crime and violence, (2) civil conflict and war, (3) persecution by the police, and (4) lack of justice (Narayan et al. 2000: 155).
