Worried about the impact of that rising crime could have on European Union (EU) territories European tourists and businesses, the bloc of nations will inject more funds to combat the drug-driven scourge by,among other strategies, reintegrating deportees and ex gang members, according to the Head of the EU Delegation Robert Kopecky. 

Addressing the opening of a workshop on the implementation of prevention strategies and actions to address youth gangs and violence, he said the EU endorsed the 15-nation Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) Crime Prevention and Social Development Action Plan. 

“The EU wants to widen its commitment to support this plan which will deal with the links between youth gangs and violence, including gender-based violence, and high levels of unemployment; address low social capital and cohesion in high risk communities; and bolster life skills among at-risk youths,” he said. 

Other priority areas to be addressed through the 10^th European Development Fund (EDF), which is expected to come on stream by year-end, include the judiciary and juvenile justice systems, initiatives to reintegrate deportees and ex-gang members into their communities and entrepreneurial training to address unemployment. 

Kopecky also announced that the EU was likely to assist the administrations in the Caribbean states to deal with the threats from criminal activities which might destabilize these governments with a possibility of region wide contagion. 

That, he said, would involve Capacity Building at the national and regional level focusing on the most significant agencies. Those include IMPACS, the Regional Security System (RSS) and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). 

The envoy to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories explained that the 27-member EU was keen on combating crime in the Caribbean because Europe was under threat in several ways. 

“The threats to stability in the region pose a direct threat to the EU Territories in the Caribbean, to European investments in the region and to thousands of EU citizens present in the region as tourists at any given moment. In addition, one of the main destinations of narcotics passing through the Caribbean is the EU,” said Kopecky. 

He said the EU wanted significant efforts to curb the transnational movement of illicit drugs, to reduce the demand within Member States of both Caribbean Forum (Cariforum) and the EU to effectively address crime related to drug-trafficking. Kopecky said those required a coordinated and sustained approach by all the key players, including law enforcement agencies, Financial Intelligence Units, practitioners in drug demand reduction programmes, practitioners in the justice system, regional crime and security institutions and third countries' active involvement including those in Latin and North America. 

The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2012 Caribbean Human Development Report on Citizen Security states that organised transnational crime particularly that which involves drug trafficking, plays a pivotal role in the security crisis currently affecting countries in both Latin America and the Caribbean. 

He observed that the drug trade was not only driving crime and violence in the region but was also eating away at social development. “Transnational crimes are associated with illicit drug trafficking and undermine the social fabric and territorial integrity of CARIFORUM Member States as well as the Member States of the European Union,” he added. 

Other spin-off effects from the drug trade, he listed, include the get-rich-quick syndrome, the major public health issue of drug addiction, the emergence of gangs and gang-related violence, kidnappings, illegal trade of small arms and light weapons and money laundering and corruption. “The increase in criminal activity and gang violence also poses a particular threat to national and regional stability and the social fabric of society. The fight against such violence requires a considerable share of already scarce national and regional resources, forming a major obstacle to development, and is a highly destabilizing factor,”  he said. 

He said the challenges to governance were also a grave concern and are severely exacerbated by the small size and the capacity of administrations in the Caribbean, which made countries very vulnerable as targets for corruption, and where rule of law can become easily undermined. 

The EU Head of Delegation said crime was discouraging investors and hampering development and growth both directly and indirectly. 

Officer-in-Charge of the Caricom Secretariat’s Directorate of Human and Social Development, Myrna Bernard said the problem of violent crime and drugs resulted from a number of factors. They include inadequate and poor parenting, the receding influence of institutions such as schools, faith and community based organizations which address many of the protective factors for young people, high levels of youth unemployment, exposure to and experience of violence at home, in school, in communities and the wider society, poor or inadequate educational opportunities, social exclusion’, are among the major determinants identified with violent youth gangs and crime.   

“The context for this meeting has been shaped, not only anecdotal  reports but increasingly so, by research findings that highlight the serious development challenges posed by this situation and which challenge  us to  re- examining  the paradigms within which we have viewed and treated with Crime and Security in our region,” she added.

The workshop is receiving presentations from several experts from Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis and Belize.