PM at Caricom meeting: We must be responsible for our own security

CARICOM is grateful for international assistance in securing the region but it is ultimately the organisation's responsibility to ensure the region's citizens are safe, the Prime Minister said today.

“We are grateful for the support of our international partners, but we maintain that the Caricom needs to develop its own set of priorities on crime prevention, firearms, cyber-security effective monitoring and maritime co-ordination.” Dr Rowley said in his opening remarks at the 19th special meeting of the Conference of Heads of State and Governments of the Caribbean Community on Security, at the Trinidad Hilton.

Rowley is the head of Caricom's security committee, the Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (Console),

In his capacity, Rowley said the implementation division of the security council, Caricom IMPACS, is already working with Interpol, the United Nations, (UN) the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU), who have implemented programmes in Caricom states that compliment the region’s own projects and initiatives. However, he said, it was ultimately up to Caricom to protect the member states, as the threats to the region evolve.

“The region has experienced an evolution in security threats, including but not limited to globalisation and the resulting impact of illegal human and narco-trafficking, illegal migration and deportation, growing radicalism and terrorism and the application of technology, the emergence of privatisation and of security, economic issues and environmental and health issues. Our regional security framework is the mechanism through which greater collaboration among the regional security forces and regional institutions and other entities will operate, in our efforts to combat transnational crime and other security threats.”

The heads are expected to hear from IMPACS on strategic initiatives that could be pursued at the Eighth Caribbean-US Security Co-operation High-Level Dialogue, held in the next couple of weeks in Washington, DC.

They are also expected to continue discussions on the best practice for the vetting process for security personnel, which will also be part of a larger discussion on the management of the regional security framework.

Rowley pointed out that Caricom was still in the fine-tuning stages of their regional security framework and noted that a legal structure is needed in the areas of passenger information, cargo information and information sharing. There were also outstanding instruments still needing to be signed by member states before some regional security treaties can be completed.