GEORGETOWN (CMC):

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne Friday called for a regional approach to tackle what he termed the “pernicious scourge of crime and violence” in the Caribbean.

Addressing the second Regional Symposium on Crime and Violence as a public health issue, here, Browne said that “there has been an escalation of crime and violence throughout the region which requires a holistic collaboration, approach, strategy especially, but not limited to the regional judiciary and governments”.

He identified among the challenges the emergence of the lack of civility, the need for the intensification of strategies to encourage drug demand reduction, the need to increase public education programmes, the reduction in the access to firearm and the proliferation of youth gangs which he said “must be at the core of our interventions”.

“Many of our youths are showing a lack of empathy and an overall disregard for authority. Therefore, we as leaders in the community need to focus on a total re-culturing of our households and broader society”.

He also suggested that governments create pathways to rehabilitate youths involved in gang activities so that they could become productive members of society.

Browne also agreed that crime and violence are a health concern requiring a wholistic societal approach after Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley had commended him for championing the mental health issue, which she believes many criminals are suffering from.

Browne told his colleagues and other stakeholders that the issue of mental health must not be dismissed when speaking on criminal activities, noting also the impact of some music and changes to our cultural norms represent a key element to the rise in crime and violence across the Caribbean.

“We must be more respectful of others, we must recognise the other types of crime and the transnational organised crime, the facilitators. Governments are now called upon to place more resources to better handle the upsurge of crime and violence,” Browne said.

Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali highlighted the severe economic and social burden crime and violence impose on the region.

He said a 2017 International Monetary Fund report found that violent crime is pervasive in the Caribbean, with 40 per cent of citizens identifying crime as a top issue, surpassing concerns about poverty and inequality.

Ali said the Inter-American Development Bank had more recently estimated the cost of crime and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean to be at 3.44 per cent of the region’s GDP (gross domestic product) in 2022.

“This means that it would have cost 80 per cent of allocation for education in the region, if we didn’t have this impact we could have all increased our budgetary allocation for education by 80 per cent,” President Ali said, adding that since 2019, Guyana has increased its security budget allocation by 154 per cent.

“Imagine if we could have used 70 per cent of that for public health or education,” he added.