Caricom chairman: Do more to keep young men from crime

CARICOM chairman, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis KC, urged more help for young Caribbean males vulnerable to becoming perpetrators or victims of crime, in his opening remarks at a Caricom crime conference on Monday at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain.

"An epidemic of violence grips our region, one that claims lives and generates fear and anger.

"In 2022, Jamaica had a staggering homicide rate of 52.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, Trinidad and Tobago had a rate of 39.4 per 100,000, and The Bahamas, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines all recorded homicide rates above 30 per 100,000. This is over five times the global average."

He said millions of people in the region's crime hotspots could become victims of any day, recalling his comfort families who had their sons and daughters to crime.

Davis said some used epidemiological terms to analysis crime.

"Violence is contagious, and those who map the commission of violent crimes find that their data mirrors the spread of infectious diseases within a community. "Violence can strike in waves and can grow exponentially.

"Those who come in close contact with violence are most likely to spread it and most likely to fall victim to it."

"As we would with any public health crisis, we must define and monitor the problems, identify the risks and protective factors, and develop mitigation and prevention strategies to halt the epidemic."

Davis underlined the urgency of this work by saying on a typical day, 13 young adults aged 16-30 die due to violent crime, leaving families broken by grief and loss, and our communities threatened. "We need to mobilize resources with the same determination we would bring to fighting any other life-threatening epidemic."

He said the battle was a complex tangle of social, economic, and environmental factors.

"It is not merely a policing or legislative problem. Nor is it solely the domain of the courts.

"While better laws and expanded police capacity are important elements of a successful strategy, we need all hands on deck: parents, social workers, educators, rehabilitation specialists, social scientists, community workers and activists, mental health professionals, religious leaders, and many others."

Davis said Bahamian psychiatrist Dr David Allen has linked the physical and sexual abuse of children to physical, mental, and sociological illnesses later in life.

"Many of these children grow up to be the perpetrators and victims of further violence."

He quoted Allen, "An abused child becomes a dangerous adult."

"We need to interrupt these cycles of violence."

Davis urged zero tolerance for violence against women and children.

"And there must be more outreach to, and support for, our at-risk young men.

"It is critical that we provide more support for our boys in their transition to manhood to keep them on a productive and peaceful path."

He said the recent Carifta games showed what young people can accomplish with positive avenues for self exploration and achievement.

"Recreational, educational, social, and career-related outreach are all needed to appeal to our youth and shield them from the recruitment tactics of neighbourhood gangs and drug dealers."

Davis then lamented in The Bahamas, 98.6 per cent of illegal firearms came from the United States, in Haiti 87.7 per cent, in Jamaica 67 per cent, and in TT 52 per cent.

He said Caricom has asked the US government and US-based gun manufacturers to help Caricom member states to identify weapons purchased in the US, to hold weapons dealers and traffickers accountable for the many lives lost to gun violence each year.

"We must call on our neighbours to the north to better police the trafficking of guns from the US to the Caribbean.

"Last month, The Bahamas, along with Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico, working along with the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Human Security, jointly filed a brief in the United States Court of Appeal in support of a $10 billion lawsuit to hold US gun manufacturers liable for the destruction American-made guns have caused in our countries.

"It was an action initiated by the Mexican government. We intend to challenge the laws that previously protected gun manufacturers from lawsuits."

He said, "The impact of violence goes beyond personal loss, as terrible as that is.

"High levels of sustained violence undermine investor confidence in the region, scare visitors away from tourism-dependent economies, and place a strain on healthcare, educational, and social support systems."

Davis warned Haitian unrest has implications for the entire region.

Hoping the symposium could generate interventions and solutions regionally, he said, "There are no quick fixes. Yet we must act quickly to save our people from this epidemic."