Online Postgraduate Course
Urban Violence and Insecurity from a gender perspective
February, 15^th – June, 27^th, 2010

The objective of this online course is to offer a multidisciplinary view of the general issue of urban violence, the specific issue of violence towards women, and of how to approach these innovative issues through actions and policies to build cities with more democratic, secure and better living conditions for all.

The first Spanish version of the course was initiated in 2008 as one of the strategies of the LAC Regional Program Cities without violence towards women, safe cities for all, executed by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), under the coordination of the Sub Regional Office for Brazil and Southern Cone countries and dthanks to the financial support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID). The Latin American Women and Habitat network is the main program counterpart.

In 2010 the Regional Program is offering the course simultaneously in Spanish and English, to cover the demand of a wider range of students. It will gather participants from Latin America, The Caribbean and selected cities from the rest of the world where UNIFEM Global Safe Cities Free from Violence against Women and Girls initiatives are being launched.

In Latin America as in the rest of the world a wide and complex set of processes have led to more violence in cities, reinforcing differences and fears that seem unable to be tackled. Fragmented cities are an expression of the spatial organization of inequalities and insecurities, in which real and symbolic walls prevent mainly women, girls, children, the elderly, as well as men from coexisting freely and in solidarity.

Violence and its social, economic, political and territorial impacts are priority issues on the agendas of national and local governments, as well as in terms of citizen demands. Violence towards women in public spaces -as a condition of their gender, but also as a result of their class, race, ethnicity, and religion- has motivated women to demand new and more effective measures in order to diminish the violence as well as the effect that urban violence has on their lives. However, public and private responses are not only insufficient, but many times they reinforce situations of social vulnerability and fail to reflect the complexity of these issues.

The pursuit for more democratic cities ,more safer, and in which citizens live a more inclusive coexistence, implies the eradication of violence against women and the promotion of their rights as citizens.

Within the framework of human rights and citizens rights to live, enjoy and use cities, UNIFEM and CEUR-CONICET (Argentina, Buenos Aires) have organized this course, which provides the training offered by the Regional Program.

The course address to different stakeholders, privileging governmental and non-governmental institutions, professionals working in the issues of violence –private and public- and youth interested in including urban violence against women and safe cities for women and men in public policies and civil society agendas.

CEUR-CONICET
Saavedra 15, 6º piso
City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Telephone and fax: (54 11) 4952 4222
Email: ceur@conicet.gov.ar