Where is SeguridadExpo 2026 being held?

SeguridadExpo 2026 is being held in Santiago, CHL.

What is the primary focus of SeguridadExpo 2026?

The event structures its program around four key strategic pillars related to security and safety.

When does SeguridadExpo 2026 take place?

The event is scheduled to take place in the fall.

SeguridadExpo 2026

Name: SeguridadExpo 2026
Start: 2026-09-08T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-09-10T00:00:00Z
Location: Santiago

Sep 8–10, 2026Santiago, ChileIn-person

Starts in 31 daysRegistration open

SeguridadExpo 2026 is a significant international exhibition focused on security and safety, taking place in Santiago, Chile. The event serves as a crucial platform for professionals, innovators, and policymakers to converge and discuss advancements in various security domains. It emphasizes the integration of technology and strategic planning to address contemporary security challenges.

Committees & topics

Topics
Border Security in an Era of Mixed Migration and Transnational Threats · Prison Ecosystem Security and the Governance of Detention · Combating Transnational Organized Crime · Public Order and the Management of Mass Events · Data Protection and the Legal Governance of Artificial Intelligence

Why it matters

This event is particularly relevant given the evolving landscape of global security. As nations grapple with complex threats ranging from cyber warfare to organized crime, forums like SeguridadExpo provide an essential space for knowledge exchange and collaboration. The focus on strategic pillars such as public safety, industrial security, and cybersecurity highlights the multifaceted nature of modern security concerns.

The exhibition's location in CHL, a nation actively engaged in regional security dialogues, further amplifies its importance. It offers a unique opportunity for Latin American countries to engage with global leaders and adopt best practices. The discussions and innovations showcased here can significantly influence national and regional security policies, fostering a more secure environment for citizens and industries alike.

For diplomats and policymakers, understanding the technological advancements and strategic approaches discussed at SeguridadExpo is paramount. These insights can inform international cooperation agreements, aid in the development of robust national security frameworks, and contribute to a more stable global order. The event underscores the necessity of a holistic approach to security, integrating technological solutions with human expertise and international partnerships.

How to prepare

To effectively engage with SeguridadExpo 2026, delegates should undertake thorough preparation, focusing on the event's strategic pillars. A deep understanding of current trends in public safety, industrial security, and cybersecurity will be crucial. Delegates should also research the specific security challenges and priorities of CHL and other participating nations to tailor their contributions and discussions.

Utilizing frameworks such as "what-is-stakeholder-mapping" and "dynamic-analysis" can help delegates identify key actors and potential areas of collaboration or contention. Understanding the "hidden-stakeholders" in security discussions, including private sector entities and non-governmental organizations, is also vital for comprehensive engagement. Preparing country-specific perspectives, as outlined in the "country-perspectives" section, will enable more nuanced and impactful participation.

Delegates should also consider the broader geopolitical context, including how global security trends intersect with regional dynamics in South America. Developing "engagement-strategies" that promote dialogue and cooperation, rather than solely focusing on national interests, will be beneficial. This preparation will allow delegates to contribute meaningfully to the discourse, foster international partnerships, and advance their national security objectives.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Chile

As the host nation, CHL is keen to showcase its commitment to enhancing national and regional security, fostering international collaboration, and adopting cutting-edge security technologies.

Role in topic

CHL plays a central role by providing the venue and a significant portion of the regional context for the discussions. The nation's experiences and initiatives in public safety and industrial security will likely be prominent topics, serving as case studies for other participating countries.

United States

The USA is expected to emphasize technological innovation in security, particularly in cybersecurity and advanced surveillance systems, and promote international standards and cooperation.

Role in topic

The USA often acts as a leading innovator and exporter of security technologies. Its participation will likely involve showcasing advanced solutions and advocating for collaborative approaches to global security challenges, particularly in areas of cyber defense and critical infrastructure protection.

Brazil

BRA will likely focus on regional security cooperation, combating organized crime, and securing its vast borders, seeking partnerships for technology transfer and capacity building.

Role in topic

As a major regional power, BRA's perspective on border security, urban crime, and environmental security will be significant. The country will likely seek to strengthen regional security frameworks and explore technological solutions applicable to its unique geographical and social challenges.

Spain

ESP will probably highlight its expertise in counter-terrorism, public order management, and maritime security, seeking to share best practices and forge alliances.

Role in topic

ESP, with its experience in European security cooperation and its historical ties to Latin America, can offer valuable insights into combating transnational threats and managing large-scale public safety events. It may also present solutions for maritime security and critical infrastructure protection.

China

CHN is expected to present its advancements in AI-driven surveillance, smart city security solutions, and its Belt and Road Initiative's security implications, aiming to expand its influence in security technology markets.

Role in topic

CHN is a major global player in security technology, particularly in areas like AI and facial recognition. Its participation will likely involve showcasing its latest innovations and exploring opportunities for collaboration and market expansion in Latin America, especially concerning infrastructure security.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Border Security in an Era of Mixed Migration and Transnational Threats

Border security has evolved from a primarily military concern about state-to-state incursions into a multidimensional challenge involving irregular migration, smuggling networks, trafficking in persons, contraband flows, and the movement of foreign fighters. The end of the Cold War, the post-9/11 securitization of mobility, and successive migration surges — from the 2015 Mediterranean crisis to the sustained displacement at the US-Mexico border and the Darién Gap — have pushed states to invest heavily in surveillance technology, biometric entry-exit systems, and integrated border management doctrines promoted by the IOM and Frontex. The core dispute today is how to reconcile sovereign control of frontiers with international obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and human rights law. States increasingly externalize border controls through agreements with transit countries (EU-Türkiye, EU-Tunisia, US Safe Third Country arrangements), while critics argue these arrangements push enforcement into jurisdictions with weaker rights protections. Simultaneously, the proliferation of drones, AI-driven surveillance, and shared biometric databases raises questions about interoperability, data protection, and accountability. At present, the agenda is shaped by record global displacement (over 120 million forcibly displaced per UNHCR), the entanglement of border crossings with organized crime, and disputes over burden-sharing. Latin American states in particular are grappling with the Darién corridor, Venezuelan outflows, and the spillover of Ecuadorian and Mexican cartel violence into border zones.

Key players

Prison Ecosystem Security and the Governance of Detention

Penitentiary systems across the Americas and beyond have become strategic nodes of organized crime rather than instruments of rehabilitation. Overcrowding, corruption, and weak state presence have allowed gangs such as the PCC and Comando Vermelho in Brazil, MS-13 and Barrio 18 in the Northern Triangle, Tren de Aragua originating in Venezuela's Tocorón prison, and Ecuadorian groups like Los Choneros to use prisons as command-and-control centers. The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules, 2015) and the Bangkok Rules set baseline standards, but implementation gaps are wide. The core dispute concerns the trade-off between hard-security responses — exemplified by El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison and state of exception — and rights-based approaches emphasizing due process, classification systems, and reintegration. Hardliners point to dramatic homicide reductions; critics document mass arbitrary detention, deaths in custody, and the export of the model to other states. Technology vendors are pushing biometric inmate management, signal-jamming, drone interdiction, and AI-based behavioral analytics, raising new procurement and oversight questions. Today, the prison ecosystem is recognized as a critical infrastructure for public security. Recent riots and massacres in Ecuador, Honduras, and Mexico, the assassination of prosecutors and journalists with orders issued from inside prisons, and cross-border coordination among incarcerated leaders have moved the issue onto regional security agendas via the OAS and UNODC.

Key players

Combating Transnational Organized Crime

Transnational organized crime (TOC) has expanded in scope and sophistication since the adoption of the 2000 Palermo Convention (UNTOC) and its protocols on trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, and firearms. What were once primarily narcotics-focused cartels have diversified into illegal mining, environmental crimes, cybercrime, extortion, fuel theft, and the trafficking of synthetic drugs — most notably fentanyl precursors flowing from East Asia through Mexican networks into North America. The Global Organized Crime Index documents a steady worsening of criminal markets, with state-embedded actors increasingly blurring the line between organized crime and governance. The central dispute is doctrinal. One school, championed by the US and several Latin American governments, frames the most violent groups as terrorist or insurgent threats, justifying militarized responses, asset seizures, and extraterritorial designations. Another, grounded in UNODC and EU practice, emphasizes anti-money-laundering frameworks, judicial cooperation, controlled deliveries, and addressing demand and corruption. Disagreement persists over extradition, the use of plea agreements, and the role of private-sector compliance (FATF standards). Current flashpoints include the fentanyl crisis, the rise of Tren de Aragua and Balkan cocaine brokers, illegal gold mining in the Amazon basin, cyber-enabled fraud hubs in Southeast Asia, and the convergence of armed groups with crime in the Sahel and Haiti. Cooperation mechanisms such as Ameripol, Europol, and the UNTOC Review Mechanism are central to the response.

Key players

Public Order and the Management of Mass Events

Public order policing has been reshaped over the past decade by waves of mass protest — the 2019 social uprisings in Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, France, and Lebanon; pandemic-era mobilizations; farmer and anti-austerity movements; and the security demands of mega-events such as the World Cup, Olympics, and large religious gatherings. The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms and the 2020 UN Human Rights Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons set the international baseline, but compliance varies widely, and documented abuses — eye injuries from kinetic impact projectiles, indiscriminate tear gas use, and arbitrary detentions — have triggered domestic and international litigation. The core dispute lies between the state's duty to maintain public order and protect critical infrastructure and its obligation to facilitate peaceful assembly under ICCPR Article 21, as interpreted in General Comment No. 37 (2020). Operational debates focus on command responsibility, crowd-density management after tragedies such as Itaewon (2022) and Kanjuruhan (2022), the deployment of facial recognition at events, the role of private security, and the militarization of police equipment. Mega-events additionally raise questions of legacy surveillance infrastructure that outlasts the event itself. Today, ministries of interior face simultaneous pressures: rising protest frequency, hybrid threats including drones and disinformation during events, and heightened scrutiny from national human rights institutions and international monitors. Doctrine is shifting toward dialogue-based 'negotiated management' models, but implementation remains uneven.

Key players

Data Protection and the Legal Governance of Artificial Intelligence

The legal architecture for data protection emerged from Council of Europe Convention 108 (1981) and matured through the EU's GDPR (2018), which has become a de facto global benchmark exported through adequacy decisions and emulated in Brazil's LGPD, Japan's APPI, and a growing number of Latin American and African statutes. With the rapid deployment of generative AI since 2022, regulators have had to confront training-data scraping, biometric categorization, automated decision-making, and the cross-border transfer of model outputs — issues only partly anticipated by existing instruments. The core dispute is regulatory philosophy. The EU AI Act (in force 2024, phased application through 2027) takes a risk-tiered, ex-ante approach with prohibitions and conformity assessments. The United States favors sectoral regulation, voluntary commitments, and executive-branch guidance, while China has imposed prescriptive rules on recommender systems and generative AI tied to content control. Latin American jurisdictions are negotiating between Ibero-American Data Protection Network standards and the pull of the EU model, while the Council of Europe's 2024 Framework Convention on AI provides the first binding international treaty on AI and human rights. In the security sector specifically, the tension is acute: biometric surveillance, predictive policing, and law-enforcement use of facial recognition sit at the intersection of data protection law, anti-discrimination law, and procedural due process. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OECD AI Principles have called for moratoria on the highest-risk uses pending adequate safeguards.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for SeguridadExpo 2026.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Trump's Legal Battles Impact 2026 Elections

Trump's Economic Reset

GOP Conservative Factions Clash Over Trump

Trump's Polling Decline Impacts 2026 Midterms

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Dynamic Analysis

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Crisis Management

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

By committee

Frequently asked questions

SeguridadExpo 2026

Sep 8–10, 2026Santiago, ChileIn-person

Starts in 31 daysRegistration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Border Security in an Era of Mixed Migration and Transnational Threats · Prison Ecosystem Security and the Governance of Detention · Combating Transnational Organized Crime · Public Order and the Management of Mass Events · Data Protection and the Legal Governance of Artificial Intelligence

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Chile

As the host nation, CHL is keen to showcase its commitment to enhancing national and regional security, fostering international collaboration, and adopting cutting-edge security technologies.

Role in topic

United States

The USA is expected to emphasize technological innovation in security, particularly in cybersecurity and advanced surveillance systems, and promote international standards and cooperation.

Role in topic

Brazil

BRA will likely focus on regional security cooperation, combating organized crime, and securing its vast borders, seeking partnerships for technology transfer and capacity building.

Role in topic

Spain

ESP will probably highlight its expertise in counter-terrorism, public order management, and maritime security, seeking to share best practices and forge alliances.

Role in topic

China

Role in topic