His Excellency Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, Governor General of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis,

Dr. The Honorable Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis,

Honorable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago,

Honorable Sam Condor, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis,

His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community Secretariat,

Honorable Curtis Martin, Speaker of the House of Representatives,

Mrs. Astona Browne, Permanent Secretary for National Security,
Immigration, and Foreign Affairs, St. Kitts & Nevis,

Distinguished Ministers,

Distinguished delegates,

Distinguished members of the Corps Diplomatique,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, permit me to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Denzil Douglas and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis for hosting this very important event. I am honoured to represent the Organization of American States at this inaugural session.

As many of you know, the topic of youth crime and violence prevention is of the utmost importance to the OAS and we have made significant progress in raising this topic to the top of the inter-American agenda. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of Ambassador Izben Williams, Permanent Representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis to the OAS for his unwavering efforts in raising the impact of crime and violence in the OAS political debate, especially during his Chairmanship of the Permanent Committee on Hemispheric Security of the Permanent Council.

Honourable Prime Ministers, Secretary General, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset I wish to make a few quick points:

1. Crime and violence have become one of the most pressing social and governance challenges facing our governments and people. The growing prevalence and severity of crime in our societies is cause for major concern and cannot be left unchecked.

2. Violence has become one of the most acute development issues in the global agenda. World Bank studies have shown that, in about 60 countries, over the last ten years, violence has significantly and directly reduced economic growth. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it has hampered poverty reduction efforts and limited progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

3. Crime and violence have a significant relationship with poverty, lack of economic opportunities and education. Therefore it is of critical importance to address not only the symptoms of poverty, crime and violence, but also to analyze and address the underlying structural causes of these problems.

4. If our countries are to progress toward sustained and sustainable development, the issue of crime and violence has to be faced head on. An effective approach to confronting and reversing the rise in crime and violence cannot be only government-centric. If we are to make inroads to reducing and preventing violence our approach should be comprehensive and include all stakeholders in society: government, legislative bodies, judiciary, law enforcement agencies, business community, non-governmental organizations, religious organizations, youth groups, etc.

5. Crime has a negative impact on legitimate business and investment. As crime increases, access to financing declines, spending on formal and informal security measures increases, and worker productivity declines.

6. Moreover, fighting crime diverts limited economic resources from other critical human development sectors such as health and education. In the Caribbean, estimates suggest that reducing the homicide rate by one third from its current level could more than double the region’s rate of per capita economic growth. Consider, therefore, the opportunities lost due to issues linked directly and indirectly to crime.

Ladies and Gentlemen, violence takes many forms, ranging from transnational crime related to illegal arms, human, and drug trafficking, to gang-based urban violence and crime, politically-motivated violence, and crime fueled by socio-economic grievances.

It is with great concern that we observe the increase in youth violence and crime in the Caribbean region; an alarming trend that poses serious social and economic challenges for the smaller economies of the sub-region, particularly for those that depend heavily on tourism, but the same is also true for countries that have a more diverse economic base.

From the OAS perspective, preventing violence and reducing crime requires seamless coordination among different actors. In other words, as crime transcends borders, our solutions must also transcend disciplines and differences to embrace initiatives and best practices that work. The importance of coordination in dealing with this critical issue is equally important at the sub-regional and hemispheric levels, and among international organizations.

The redefinition of security in our hemisphere from a traditional to a multidimensional approach has allowed the OAS General Secretariat to respond to the growing security and violence problems in a multifaceted manner by working more closely with partners in the inter-American system. From solidifying, to developing programs in education for democracy and peace, the OAS has become a key player in promoting a culture of non-violence and peace in the inter-American system.

Among the many forms of assistance provided by the OAS to member states, allow me to highlight the following two.

Last year, the OAS Department of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Antigua and Barbuda, the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus) and Arizona State University began collaborating to perform a national gang assessment and prepare a strategic work plan to address the gang problem. The experience from Antigua and Barbuda will be applied to six other English-speaking Caribbean OAS member states. The ultimate goal is to establish a Regional Caribbean Observatory on Gangs that would operate at UWI-Jamaica, with the assistance of Arizona State University.

Another OAS initiative that may have application here is one being undertaken by the Inter-American Commission against Drug Abuse (CICAD) in Central America. Last year, I was able to visit a juvenile detention center in El Salvador where a drug treatment and rehabilitation program is truly changing the lives of young people. While I was visiting the Center, I had the opportunity to speak with some of the young people who told me how their lives had been turned around thanks to the program and had given them options outside of returning to their gang.

Initiatives like these are very important to our discussions today as they demonstrate the value of combining training, prevention and rehabilitation objectives when it comes to crime prevention. Programs targeted at youth and maintained over time tend to have a lasting impact.

Ladies and gentlemen, in my view, policies for tackling the sources of youth crime and violence must form part of the overall development and democracy framework. Education for democracy should be an intrinsic part of our national academic curricula not only for embedding a culture of non-violence, peace and tolerance in our children but also for providing the democratic values and leadership skills that will allow the youngest among us to succeed and develop into the leaders of tomorrow.

Violence prevention requires concrete actions in order to empower our young citizens, build human capacity through training, innovation, and policies of inclusion that contribute to the economic and social well-being of our youth. Yet, all too often, investment in educational, social, health and other programs aimed at providing youth with skills for development and advancement is often inadequate. We must accept that an investment in youth is a strategic investment in the future of our nations., and that much more needs to be done in this regard.

Honorable Prime Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the crossroads of a new hemispheric agenda; as our security concerns become more urgent and transnational it is ever more vital for the countries of the Western Hemisphere to work towards stronger, more effective bilateral and multilateral frameworks on security-related matters, and to coordinate policies and actions.

Earlier this month, the Foreign Ministers of the Western Hemisphere attending the OAS General Assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras acknowledged the critical nature of the threat of crime and violence. With levels of crime and violence on the rise in many of our Member States, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean, countries agreed that the promotion of a culture of non-violence must become an essential and critical component in our efforts to enhance the security and well-being of our citizens, and to safeguard democratic governance in our Hemisphere.

I urge each of you here today to exercise your civic, social and political leadership in support of the advancement of children and youth in our region. Ultimately, if we are to build peaceful and sustainable societies, combating poverty and crime is a collective responsibility essential to building a future for our youth.

I wish to close by challenging us to develop a few concrete recommendations over the next day and a half that can:

• provide the framework for a shared and holistic approach to confronting crime and violence;

• assist in developing a plan of action that can help move the region toward innovative ways to confront youth crime and violence in our sub-region with a focus on job creation efforts for youth-at-risk and enhanced education and skills training opportunities, and;

• contribute a hemispheric policy discussion and feed into the next meeting of Ministers of Public Security to be held in the Dominican Republic later this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, crime and violence affect all sectors, all groups and every individual in society, directly or indirectly. This discussion here today cannot be simply an academic exercise, we need concrete recommendations and initiatives. The OAS stands ready to continue its assistance to the Caribbean Community member states and specialized institutions in support of the implementation of these recommendations.

I thank you for your attention and I look forward to the outcome of this meeting.