Buenos Aires, May 14 (IANS/EFE) Latin America has the highest murder rate in the world, a report from the Organisation of American States (OAS) has said.

The murder rate in Latin America is 25.6 per 100,000 people, the study conducted by the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Thursday.

In comparison, the murder rate in Europe is 8.9 per 100,000 people, while that for the Western Pacific region is 3.4 and in Southeast Asia it is 5.8.

The report, which includes the Caribbean as part of Latin America, says the average murder rate for the Caribbean nations is 30 per 100,000 people, for South America it is 26 and for Central America it is 22.

Latin America has just eight percent of the world's population, but it is the region where 40 percent of the world's homicides and 66 percent of kidnappings for ransom are committed, said Amerigo Incalcaterra, representative for South America with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"A democratic government that has a clear commitment to the people... must be very clear that the best way to make those commitments effective is respecting, protecting and promoting the human rights of all people without any type of discrimination," Incalcaterra said.

The report says among the victims and the perpetrators of crime in Latin America, people between the ages of 15 and 29 stand out, with the murder rate rising to 68.9 per 100,000 people among that group.

The report concludes by saying that, in addition to loss of human lives, violence impacts the economy, with the cost of violence and maintaining law and order fluctuating between two and 15 percent of the cumulative gross domestic product (GDP).