BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – REGIONAL and international security experts will convene in St. Kitts next week for a conference on youth crime and violence prevention.
The announcement was made yesterday (June 17) by Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas during his monthly press conference. He informed the media gathering that the conference would be held from June 22 to 23 under the theme “Confronting the challenges of youth crime and violence: Defining a multi-sectoral response”.
Over the past several years, the Federation has seen an upsurge in the number of violent crimes committed, particularly in relation to homicides and gun-related incidents. The homicide toll for 2008 was 24, the highest recorded in the nation’s history.
The current Labour administration has taken several steps to combat the issue, including the consultation of an ex-FBI official and the creation of an Anti-Gang Unit within the Royal St. Christopher-Nevis Police Force. However, the success of these measures is yet to be realised, as the Federation is on pace to exceed last year’s historic figure with 13 murders to date.
According to Douglas, youth crime and violence is not familiar to the Federation alone, as other Caribbean countries have suffered from the menace. He noted that whatever form violence takes takes, “a regional challenge demands a regional response”.
“Crime is an issue that must be kept on the front burner. It is the first order of business here in St. Kitts and Nevis and in several other countries in the region. Trans-border criminality takes many forms: it can involve the physical movement of persons, the movement via the media of criminal values and behaviours, the movement of illegal narcotics and illegal weapons across national borders or the movement of funds via global telecommunications networks.
“While Caribbean countries will implement their own strategies on crime, we are nonetheless increasingly committed to high-level regional collaboration in response to this regional challenge, particularly the phenomenon of gang violence,” he explained.
Douglas gave more details about the conference, revealing that regional and international national security officials and experts would be tackling issues of intervention and prevention, rehabilitation and integration, and the governance implications of violence.
The Prime Minister asserted that the conference would be a helpful tool in the fight against gang violence and noted it was reflective of the region’s desire to effectively combat the issue.
“It will provide a useful framework for the continued investigation and understanding of the causes and consequences of violence and for preventing violence from occurring through primary prevention programmes, policy interventions and advocacy. This is reflective of unequivocal determination, as a region, to strengthen and sharpen our insights, strategies and countermeasures where gang violence is concerned,” Douglas stressed.
All Caribbean countries are expected to be represented at the conference, in addition to officials from the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Inter-American Coalition for the Prevention of Violence, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
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