Safety and security to get attention at Diaspora Conference

The country’s continued problem with crime and violence will receive some attention at the eighth Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference, which will be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston from June 16 to 20.

The conference will host a plenary about safety and security, as delegates seek to identify social intervention solutions to strengthen local crime prevention.

The session, to be chaired by Earl Jarrett, chief executive officer of The Jamaica National Group, will feature presentations from Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson, and Brigadier Radgh Mason of the Jamaica Defence Force. The session will take place on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.

A panel discussion, to include Professor Rosalea Hamilton, chief executive officer of the LASCO Chin Foundation; Dr Rupert Francis, lead of the Jamaica Diaspora Crime Prevention and Intervention Taskforce in the US; and Justice Michael Tulloch of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Canada, will follow.

“There is no achieving sustainable development if we can’t address our problem with crime and violence,” said Jarrett, who is also chairman of the Jamaican Diaspora Foundation. “And we must address this problem from the root upwards.”

The country, which experienced some 47 murders per 100,000 citizens last year, has implemented two states of emergency to cauterise the murder rate in the western end of the country, where problems with violence have exacerbated.

“We, therefore, welcome this session, which will allow us to tap into the intellectual resources of Jamaicans in the diaspora to unearth other approaches or ideas which we can infuse into our local efforts, to change behaviour and improve our outcomes as a nation,” Jarrett said.