Foreign aid should include crime-prevention plans

Tony Blair was right when he stated that “development progress depends on governance and growth” [“In a generation, an end to global aid,” op-ed, Nov. 27].

Mr. Blair called for rich countries to help poor ones build systems to implement development plans and tackle poverty. Of course, the most fundamental service of government is to protect its citizens from violence, but in the poorest countries, basic law enforcement may be the most broken system of all. Mr. Blair left unnamed the epidemic of unchecked everyday violence against the poor that sabotages the best of development investments, costing billions of dollars in lost productivity and ruined lives.

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Development professionals and donor governments recognize that criminal violence is destroying countries when it reaches the level of Mexico’s drug war or Central America’s free-fire zones. But rampant sexual violence, labor slavery, human trafficking and illegal detention undermine development in most poor countries. Innovative and effective ways to help governments deter violent crime against the poor and vulnerable are desperately needed.

Gary Haugen, Washington

The writer is president and CEO of the human rights organization International Justice Mission.