RENTAL DEAL!

Page 8 ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016
CARICOM explores…
NEW PLATFORMS IN
FIGHT AGAINST YOUTH
CRIME, VIOLENCE
Each year, approximately
200,000 youths
aged 10 to 29 die, and
many more sustain serious
injuries because of violence
across the world. Youth violence
is a global challenge
that the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) knows
only too well: its young people
are both the main perpetrators
and victims.
But CARICOM is accelerating
its fight. Its most current
initiative is a two-day
youth forum in Georgetown,
Guyana. The forum begins
on Monday, with an opening
ceremony to be chaired by
CARICOM Secretariat director
for human and social development,
Myrna Bernard.
Guyana’s vice president and
minister for public security,
Khemraj Ramjattan, will deliver
the address.
The Forum
The forum, funded by the
Caribbean Development Bank
(CDB) and the government of
Spain, is an outcome of the
two-year CARICOM/Spain
Project: Youth on Youth Violence
in the Caribbean. This
project which aims to reduce
youth on youth violence, particularly
in schools, is now
being piloted in five member
states: Antigua and Barbuda,
Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia and Trinidad and
Tobago.
New platforms for transformation
will be explored to
break the cycle of youth crime
and violence. Specifically,
CARICOM policy-makers,
the media and other stakeholders
will be sensitised on
the major elements of youth
crime and violence and on the
responses to break the silence.
Good practices will be shared
with a view to replicating the
lessons learned.
At the same time, strategies
for a multi-sectoral ‘whole of
society’ response to the challenge
will be examined, as
well as the means for greater
collaboration among institutions
and development partners
to sustain CARICOM’s
response to youth crime and
violence.
Approximately 100 participants
from across CARI-
COM will engage in interactive
sessions centered on four
main topics/issues: violence
against children; school violence;
gender based violence;
and youth gangs and
violence, together with the
cross-cutting themes of gender,
culture and other social
determinants.
The forum will employ a
mix of feature presentations,
panel discussions and video
presentations, with participation
from a wide range of
stakeholders including policymakers
in all sectors: law enforcement,
the private sector,
labour, development partners,
civil society, academia, faithbased
and community organisations,
youth, reformed nontraditional
leaders and special
interest groups.
Youth Violence in
CARICOM
Crime and violence has
negatively impacted the quality
of life of CARICOM
member states. It has placed
pressure on limited resources,
reduced local and foreign direct
investment and threatened
the achievement of the developmental
goals of these states.
According to the CARI-
COM Eye on the Future Report
of 2010, the number one
concern of youth is crime and
violence. Sixty percent of
CARICOM’s population is
under the age of 30. The main
perpetrators as well as the
victims of crime are young
people. Moreover, violence
is the lead cause of death
among males aged 15-24 in
the Caribbean.
Not only is the incidence of
youth violence increasing, but
according to a 2010 regional
survey in seven member states,
the pattern indicates: a gender
dimension to violence in
which violent acts are carried
out mainly by young males
against other young males, and
females are the main victims
in situations of domestic abuse
or sexual assault.
It also indicates increasing
school violence, with a close
connection between youth
violence and violence in the
community. Victimisation of
youth by peers and adults is
shown to often lead to more
violence and a resort to violence
out of fear, or in response
to a perceived threat.
For the Caribbean, school
remains one of the key socialising
environments for
their youth. According to the
IADB 2012 report, “class attendance
of the region’s share
of elementary and secondary
school-age children stands
at 95.0 per cent and 73.0 per
cent, respectively”.
One of the outcomes of
the Youth on Youth Violence
Project was an assessment of
risk factors, threats for violence,
protective factors and
school bonding factors in the
pilot schools of the selected
member states. To date, 520
students have been surveyed
and have also participated in
various focus group discussions,
with the majority of
them (90%) between the ages
of 11–16 years. Many were
victims of bullying, classroom
theft and robbery from
other students.
Information from the survey
revealed that violence in
schools was perceived to be
related to gangs moving into
the schools and communities
(27%); easy access to
drugs and guns (14.8%); and
a lack of positive activities
(13.2%), among other factors.
The challenges being faced in
the schools and communities
were very similar across states
and, in many cases, pointed
to issues that had to do with
boredom in school, poor conflict
resolution skills and a
general lack of discipline.
According to the students
Youth on Youth Violence Group
surveyed, strategies to reduce
violence in schools should include
mentoring programmes
for students (18%); gang prevention
programmes (14.6%);
parenting training (13.1%);
and police presence (25%). To
date, five schools have been
engaged, the smallest with a
population of 400 students.
Deepening crime
prevention initiatives
For CARICOM, crime and
insecurity remains one of the
principal obstacles to social
and economic development.
Conservative estimates place
annual direct expenditure
on youth related crime and
violence in five CARICOM
states at between 2.8 percent
and 4 percent of GDP.
CARICOM’s Community
Strategic Plan for 2015-2019
identifies Deepening Crime
Prevention Initiatives and
Programmes as an area of
focus to build the social resilience
of the Community.
The Deepening Crime Prevention
Initiatives strategy
takes on board the CARI-
COM Social Development
and Crime Prevention Action
Plan 2009-2013, which
provided a template for addressing
the issue through
a cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary
approach based
on five pillars: prevent and
reduce violence; foster social
inclusion; promote re-integration;
empower victims;
and protect the environment
and economic resources.
The prevent and reduce violence
pillar provides the basis
for the CARICOM/Spain
Youth Violence Project. This
pillar notes “addressing violence
in school settings in the
Caribbean is crucial to efforts
to prevent violence in the region”
and “comprehensive
policies and programmes are
needed to promote pro-social,
non-sexual and physically
non-violent environments in
classrooms and throughout
schools”.
The forum, which ends on
Tuesday, and its follow-up
will accelerate the necessary
action, both at the policy and
operational levels, to further
the prevention of youth violence
and crime agenda and
help restore the Community
to a place where every citizen
is safe.