An increasing crime rate is threatening economies and livelihoods in Caribbean countries, states the United Nations report that calls for the right mix of policies and programmes to tackle the problem.
The Caribbean Human Development Report 2012, prepared by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), says that with the exception of Barbados and Suriname, homicide rates – including gang-related killings – have increased substantially in the last 12 years across the Caribbean, while they have been falling or stabilizing in other parts of the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 8.5 per cent of the world population, yet the region accounts for some 27 per cent of the world’s homicides, according to the report.
The report – the first UN Human Development Report focusing on the Caribbean – is the result of extensive consultations with 450 experts, practitioners and leaders and reflect a large-scale survey with 11,555 citizens in the seven assessed countries in region: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
“Violence limits people’s choices, threatens their physical integrity, and disrupts their daily lives,” said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark at the report’s launch.
Although murder rates are exceedingly high by global standards, Caribbean nations can reverse the trend, states the report, which calls for governments to beef up public institutions to tackle crime and violence while boosting preventive measures.
Among its recommendations, the report calls on Caribbean governments to implement youth crime prevention through education, as well as provide job opportunities that target the marginalized urban poor.
Because crime harms social cohesion, Caribbean nations must better address youth violence and street gangs, whose crimes are rarely prosecuted, the report adds.
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