On Tuesday, October 4, at the Grand Coastal Inn at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara, stakeholders of the Caricom Crime Prevention and Social Development Action Plan (CCPSD) began a four-day sub-regional meeting with the intention of tackling gangs and violence among Caricom youth.
Gangs and violence are among the priority issues to be addressed in the CCPSD, being implemented in phases. The plan is designed to provide intensive support services and programmes to reduce involvement in gang life, and to equip “gang leavers” with life skills to help them reintegrate into their societies.
The first phase of the plan focuses on youth violence.
Caricom Officer in Charge of the Human and Social Directorate,Myrna Bernard
Stakeholders were drawn from four member states: Belize, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago, and comprised leaders of faith-based organisations, the private sector, and government representatives, particularly persons from the judicial system and probation workers of the member states.
The stakeholders are deemed critical partners in the fight to eliminate gangs and gang violence. They are involved in exchanging ideas on several topics, including culture and code of gangs, and their impact on family life.
According to a release from the Caricom Secretariat, stakeholders “will explore models that focus on anti-gang services, life skills, and income-generating projects.
They will also share international, regional, and national best practices for addressing gangs and gang violence, and develop tools and protocols to implement this component at the community level.” The CCPSD plan was jointly developed by the Caricom Secretariat, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to address the development challenges posed by the high levels of crime and violence in the region.
Caricom has also, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), addressed the priority of gangs and gang violence, and has organised a series of sub-regional consultations, titled “Youth Gangs and Violence: partnering for prevention and social development”, aimed at discussing plans to roll out the anti-gang programmes and services’ component of the action plan.
All programmes and services will be implemented through pilot projects at the community level.
Undermining society Caricom Officer in Charge of the Human and Social Directorate, Myrna Bernard, in her address at the opening of the plenary of the meeting, said crime and violence seek to undermine all social and economic progress made at the national level.
According to Bernard, the Caribbean region has one of the highest levels of crime among youth worldwide, and youth unemployment is also among the highest in the world. She cited several factors which played a dominant role in fostering youth violence.
Those include the increased incidence of narcotics’ trafficking throughout the region, and the use of youth as drug mules to facilitate transshipment; secondary trading in guns as a result of the drug trade; socially maladjusted youth; school drop-outs; poverty; social inequality; physical and sexual abuse; and anger.
She also pointed to the reported marginalisation of males and the punitive – rather than preventative – approach of the judicial systems to youth criminal activity as two other influencing factors.
Bernard presented evidence from studies, including the 2010 Report of the Caricom Commission on Youth Development, noting that spirituality, community cohesiveness, and employment are pivotal in addressing youth crime, gangs and violence.
Young people, she explained, comprised 60 per cent of the region’s population, and were best positioned to play a meaningful role in the development of the region and in strengthening the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).
“It is therefore imperative that we grasp the opportunity which this action plan presents to reduce violence among our youth, by instituting at all levels, in an integrated manner, the five pillars of the plan,” she charged.
The five pillars to which Bernard referred are: reducing violence; fostering social inclusion; promoting integration; empowering victims; and protecting the environment and economic resources. They are inextricably linked to the regional development agenda. The pilot project will be rolled out in Belize, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Caricom Social Development and Crime Prevention Action Plan (SDCPAP) is arguably one of the most important regional initiatives for securing the livelihood and wellbeing of Caribbean peoples – especially young people – through the eradication and mitigation of violence.
The action plan was developed by the Caricom Secretariat in tandem with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to “prevent and reduce levels of violence and crime in member states, through a cross- sectoral and multidisciplinary approach…”
Bernard challenged the stakeholders at the meeting to give their full participation to the process: “As we seek to develop the tools, protocols and indicators for implementation of the plan over the next four days, it is important to remember that the fight against youth violence and crime must be a concerted one. Success can only be achieved through the active and sustainable participation of all,” she said.
Comments are closed.