Welcome Remarks by The Hon. Dickon Mitchell, Chairman of CARICOM | Second Regional Symposium on Crime and Violence

By CARICOM | Photo Courtesy of Caricom.org

Salutations

• The Hon Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados and Convenor of the Second Regional Symposium on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Issue
• Dr the Hon Mohamed Irfan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and Host
• Other Heads of Government
• Dr Carla Barnett, CARICOM Secretary- General
• Heads of Delegations
• Stakeholders and Partners, including those joining virtually
• Ladies and gentlemen

I welcome this opportunity to address you this morning.  On behalf of CARICOM, I express my thanks to The Honourable Mia Mottley Prime Minister of Barbados for convening this second iteration of a regional symposium on crime and violence. In equal measure, we also thank His Excellency Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana for agreeing to host this event.

This augurs well for the vision created by the Honourable Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and Lead Head on Energy and Security (Drugs and Illicit Arms) in the CARICOM Quasi-Cabinet, who convened the first iteration of this very important undertaking. 

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This vision in bringing the issues related to the high levels violence and crime experienced in our countries into the realm of a public health approach has signaled a strong intent by us as leaders to decisively and collectively treat with this challenge that threatens the development of our Community’s citizens. Indeed, it is the aspiration of the Community that every citizen is secure and has the opportunity to realise his or her potential with guaranteed human rights and social justice; and contributes to, and shares in, its economic, social and cultural prosperity.

Following the first Symposium in support of the decisions of the CARICOM Heads of Government and in keeping with the Secretariat’s Strategic Plan, the CARICOM Secretariat has been actively collaborating with the relevant CARICOM Institutions, Member States and Developmental Partners to implement the Declarations issued last year through several successful inter-sectoral partnerships. This culminated recently with a PAHO/CARICOM strategic engagement that delivered components for strengthening the Public Health Approach through capacity building within the community.

Today, we will have the opportunity to engage with our regional technical experts, to discuss and analyse issues related to securing the full developmental potential of the Region’s citizens through focussed discussions to facilitate the move from  “what” does crime and violence as a public health issue mean, to  “how” do we implement a meaningful action plan through the lens of public health, that focuses on prevention through empirical evidence and surveillance. As with any Public Health approach, we will need to change behaviours even as we put in place the frameworks for crime prevention.

Today we will interrogate the policy prescriptions for addressing the vulnerabilities within specific groups including women, youth and the community, both as victims and partners. We will strategise on strengthening the resilience created by positive family, educational and community involvement, and explore approaches to keep safeguarding our cultural expressions as a tool for positive development, whilst mitigating opportunistic negative infringements to make this legacy one that is mired in deceit and violence. The CARICOM Social Development and Crime Prevention Action Plan indicates that in the Caribbean context, there is an enormous potential for the cultural industries to play an important role as sources of jobs, self-employment, build confidence and break down stereotypes between groups at risk, and the police. 

We will also have an opportunity to create stronger networks as we continue to support and learn from each other by exchanging ideas leading to the outcomes and deliverables that are in sync with the Community’s interest, namely, to secure a viable, sustainable, and prosperous Community for all.

The Secretariat will be called on after this event to support Member States in unpacking the complex requirements to wrest our community development gains from the hands of transnational criminal organisations and secure the Region’s related economic development by ensuring that our culture and our citizens remain safe to engage in positive economic activity and socialize in positive ways. This includes maintaining sync with other justice and security related instruments and data strengthening activities.

I look forward to today’s discussions and deliberations.

Thank you.

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