The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has noted that human insecurity in Ghana has helped to increase poverty and threaten the socio-economic gains achieved over the past decade. In the UNDP's 2007 Ghana Human Dvelopment Report, which was launched last week in Accra, the long cherished perception of security in the country is fast being eroded. However, the report says Ghana is a very safe and stable country with relatively low crime levels compared to other countries in the West African sub-region. The report noted that deaths resulting from the excessive use of force by the Ghana Police Service, mob-violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, infringement on citizens' privacy rights, forcible dispersal of demonstrations and forced evictions are becoming rampant and creating fear among the populace. "In fact human insecurity is evident along most streets, in both rural and urban communities.” "There are also violence and discrimination against women, child trafficking and child labour in their worst forms have resulted in considerable health, social and behavioural consequences, which are undeniably linked to poverty, human rights abuse and exclusion," it added. The UNDP's report, which examines the different manifestations of exclusion, review gaps to inclusion in various areas of national development said crime in Accra, the country's capital has been accentuated by rigid centralization of government bureaucracy and opportunities fostered by social change. It has however commended government for the steady improvement in human development in the country since 1995. Data available indicates that Ghana's human development index has risen from 0.531 in 1995 to 0.568 in 2002 and decelerated slightly to 0.540 in 2006. This achievement, it said, puts Ghana among countries classified as being of medium human development stage in terms of long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. There have therefore been suggestions to link the three northern regions, which have been neglected for a while into the government's development plan. Source: B&FT