Violence as a Dimension of Poverty

The Case of Colombia

Abstract

Latin America continues to face a number of socio-economic challenges, despite being a middle-income region and the fact that it experienced alternative forms of development during the pink-tide era. The current increasing levels of poverty, inequality, violence and the harmful effects of extractive production on the environment and traditional rural communities represent a new situation at both regional and national levels. The concept of multidimensional poverty is an increasingly accepted approach to a better understanding of the characteristics and living conditions of vulnerable social groups: In these groups, violence is one of the dimensions that has received little attention so far. The paper focuses on the following questions: What is the relation between human security and human development concepts? How are violence and multidimensional poverty interconnected? What kinds of institutional and economic mechanisms sustain their complex relation? The article explores the origins of the human security and human development approaches and their relation to multidimensional poverty. The study relies on analysing academic and official government documents and papers by international organisations synthesising the evolution of the two branches. The case study of Colombia based on statistical data offers evidence about the complexity of the interconnectedness of security, human rights and development processes in different territorial, ethnic and social contexts. The analysis also reveals links between shortcomings in the institutional system and deficiencies in measuring poverty in persistent deprivation of marginalised social groups.