As Regional leaders continue to be concerned over the high-level of crime in the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has offered his country’s assistance to curb the societal scourge in neighbouring countries.
Barbados is said to have the least violent crimes than many of its Caribbean neighbours and according to its Head of State, “So far as is possible, we will render whatever assistance that we can to our colleagues in the Region to the
Prime Minister of Barbados Freundel Stuart
extent that any advice we may give is thought to be able to render benefit to them.”
Stuart was at the time speaking with reporters on the side-lines of the recently concluded 28th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom. Asked what advice he would give to this fellow Member States who are grappling with high crime spate, he pointed out that with its experience of general crime stability, Barbados will try to assist in whatever way in terms of advice and/or strategic planning to help tame the upsurge in crime.
“We try to share these things with other countries and to a certain extent that works, but when all is said and done, crime problems cannot be solved by advice, it has to be solved in their context and position.”
The Prime Minister reflected on other Member States that are experiencing “horrible crime challenges” such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Kitts and Nevis. He pointed out that Barbados is fortunate to not be dealing with such challenges and credited this to law enforcement’s detection rate which is highly effective.
“We try to make sure that the perpetrators of crime are brought to justice. Now all of our countries have challenges with deals in the Criminal Justice System. That is a mountain we are trying to climb, but it helps people considerably to know that when crimes are committed, the Royal Barbados Police Force can be trusted to scurry out the criminals and are being brought to justice and that keeps faith alive in the society.”
According to the Prime Minister, if in jurisdictions there are only a 15 or 20 per cent detection rate, then that undermines the confidence of the public. “We don’t have that problem… It’s just that historically we’ve not been victim to that.”
During the Inter-Sessional Meeting, Regional Heads resolved to increase their efforts to curb the scourge, including greater focus on the social determinants of crime, especially among the youth. To this end, they committed to ensure their Attorneys General and Ministers responsible for Legal Affairs take action to finalise agreements which are essential to the implementation of the Regional Crime and Security Agenda.
The Leaders also committed to take full advantage of opportunities for capacity-building to address existing and emerging threats, including those related to Cybersecurity and Cybercrime, Crime Prevention and Drug Demand Reduction.
The Caribbean Human Development Report 2012: Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security report published by the United Nations Development Programme last year, found that high levels of violent crime are hindering development in the Caribbean.
“The increase in violence and crime in Latin America and the Caribbean is an undeniable fact that erodes the very foundation of the democratic processes in the Region and imposes high social, economic and cultural costs.”
It went onto highlight that with Latin America and the Caribbean accounting for merely 8.5 per cent of the world’s population; the Region puts out some 27 per cent of global homicides. The report found that countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago continue to struggle with its crime situation, recording 1,192 and 410 homicides respectively in 2015.
“Violence and crime are therefore perceived by a majority of Latin American and Caribbean citizens as a top-pressing challenge. The resulting alarm has often led to short-sighted, mano dura (iron fist) policies, which have proven ineffective and, at times, detrimental to the rule of law.”
