28 May 2020 – Had there been no COVID-19 pandemic, the Partners Consultative Meeting of the Global Network on Safer Cities (GNSC) would have been as important but very different. We would have celebrated our 25 years of work actualised in the development and adoption of United Nations System-wide Guidelines on Safer Cities and Human Settlements, which builds on our shared learning and experience in cities and local governments policy and practices. We would have confirmed our agenda for the next ten years to 2030. Instead, we confront a global crisis; we must reframe our knowledge and experience in light of the seismic shifts caused by COVID-19. Our agility and our deep relationships have allowed us to spend the last two days grappling with a new reality that we don’t yet fully understand.

The 2-day webinar on “Strengthening the Safer Cities Strategy while responding to COVID-19” aimed to build on the current discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on urban security and connected this to the pre-COVID process of implementing the United Nations System-wide Guidelines on Safer Cities and Human Settlements, looking at how cities are responding to the increasing crime and violence in their communities and how local stakeholders and cities can support each other in the delivery of safety for all inhabitants.

Find the Report Safer Cities for All UN Habitat and the Global Parliament of Mayors