“I am on record as saying that we need to launch a war on gangs of a similar magnitude and nature to the war on terror.”
"Sometimes we focus on the challenges, but our conversation today was more about the opportunities for meaningful engagement with young people. We spoke about mental health and well-being and the experience of CARICOM with the strong leadership of our young people to find solutions." - Dr Felipe Paullier, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs
CARICOM Heads of Government continue to be actively concerned about the implications of crime and violence on the social development of the Region. To date, two symposiums on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Issue have been convened, keeping at the forefront of the deliberations the importance of balancing the rights of the individual and the public safety interests of the whole of society.
“We must take a very strong approach to it from a legislative perspective to create the laws that will enable us to have surveillance to detain them - of course, within the accepted rules of human rights and the treatment of citizens - but certainly, there needs to be what we call in Jamaica enhanced measures to treat with this new and emerging threat to our democracy.”
“…Heads sourced and obtained the services of a former [Attorney General] of Belize, Godfrey Smith, who has been tasked to review our legislative templates and to come up with new legislative proposals for consideration by the Heads for changes to be made on the legislative side to treat with what we are experiencing as against what we are surprised by.”
HOSTED BY BARBADOS IN GEORGETOWN, GUYANA 22 NOVEMBER 2024
READ MORE"The Community remains committed to collaborating with Haiti in its pursuit of lasting peace, security, economic prosperity and social progress, which are stepping stones to the quality of life that the people of Haiti fully deserve and the prosperity and advancement to which all Caribbean citizens aspire."
As the Region seeks to consolidate integration in the year ahead, we look forward to continued collaboration with our stakeholders and partners, including the CARICOM Committee of Ambassadors and CARICOM Youth Ambassadors, as well as the guidance of the Bureau of the Conference, which will comprise Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica effective 1 January 2025.
Through it all, our modus operandi has been to speak with one voice and to premise all our interactions on the vision of a Caribbean Community, which is truly “A Community for All”.
“This distinguished gathering no doubt is used to dealing with the complexities of transnational organised crime, and as we move forward, the Secretariat pledges support to you in enhancing multi-disciplinary and intersectoral cooperation with all relevant stakeholders for a strengthened approach to deal with crime, insecurities and violence.”