A problem that is of special concern to us is the continuing influx of guns, and the increase in gun-related criminality, not only in The Bahamas but throughout the region. I am convinced that there is a great deal more that we can and should be doing to fight this common menace.
As a country that produces the guns that end up taking innocent lives and causing terror in our communities, we implore the United States to become more proactive in controlling the export of guns. We implore the United States to step up the policing of its own borders against arms traffickers.
We must [also] focus on eliminating the sense of hopelessness and joblessness of our young people. If we fail to address it we do so at our own peril.
CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Rt. Hon. Perry Christie addressing the Opening Ceremony of the Caribbean-United States High Level Citizen Security Dialogue in The Bahamas, Thursday 4 June 2015.
See full remarks below:
It is my pleasure to welcome to The Bahamas all participants in this Caribbean-United States High-Level Citizen Security Dialogue. The Bahamas was the first Caribbean host of the Dialogue in November 2011. It is now our delight to serve as host on the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative [CBSI].
I am especially pleased to welcome Ministers of National Security from around our region, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta S. Jacobson, and Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, William R. Brownfield, all of whom are no strangers to our beautiful isles.
Let me add words of congratulations to the Assistant Secretary. I learned that President Barak Obama has nominated you for the post of Ambassador to Mexico. I wish you well in your future assignment.
This is an important meeting.
Security and stability across the Caribbean region is critical to the quality of life of our people. The illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and firearms other organised crime activities, underpin much of the crime our countries are experiencing. In this regard, it cannot be emphasised enough that we, the states of the Caribbean, are, by accident of geography, the victims of the ever-burgeoning trade in illicit drugs and firearms. We straddle the two lanes and flight paths between the producer countries in South America and the vast consumer markets in North America. In short, we are caught in the middle principally as transit states.
The Bahamas, much like other Caribbean States, has a long history of cooperation on law enforcement and security matters with the United States of America. Critical though it is, we recognize that CBSI or more broadly the use of military and policing efforts alone will not provide a quick fix for the many security challenges facing the countries of the Caribbean and the United States. Rather, CBSI is grounded in the region’s realities and reflects the traditional cooperative relationship with the United States. What it must also come to recognize and embrace, the social roots of the security issues including economic factors like unemployment and the lack of training that need to be addressed.
Today is an important opportunity for us to act together to counter our region’s continued vulnerability to transnational criminal activity, including drugs and firearms trafficking, human smuggling, illegal immigration and money laundering. It is also a time to look and examine some of the factors within our borders that lead to embracing a life of crime.
At the national level such crimes unleash the forces that undermine law and order, social stability and retard our economic and social development. Crime and violence, and particularly gun violence too often shatter the peace and the welfare of our societies.
Too many of our young people are at risk of falling victims to drug abuse. Guns fuel deadly drug feuds. As a result our criminal justice systems are heavily over-burdened and prisons over- crowded.
I have spoken so many times about this issue that some may think that I am broken record, but I never tire of saying so, we must address the problem of youth unemployment, the question of young male dysfunction, the joblessness and the sense of hopelessness among our young. This is so in the United States and it is so across the region. We must recommit ourselves to save the young, to engage the young and rid them of the hopelessness and despair. They must trained and be able to do productive work. That is the underlying message of all that we will say today in our discussions. I say again, if we ignore it, we do so at our peril.
We know that the he costs of the physical security measures we are required to take are daunting. Our own country has just spent 250 million dollars beefing up its naval defences. This is further complicated by the economic challenges generally faced by the region and by the slow recovery from the global economic and financial crisis which continues to impact our own economies.
I acknowledge and express the thanks from the region for the contributions of assets by the United States Government, adding value to our region’s security initiatives, cooperative operations and arrangements.
It should also be acknowledged that the countries of the Caribbean have also stepped up action, including through CARICOM and other regional organizations, to address the region’s crime and security objectives.
The matters coming before this Dialogue highlight the priorities to which our partnership will turn its attention in the year ahead: firearms controls, countering narcotic trafficking and addressing the Caribbean’s at-risk youth. At the core of all our endeavours must be our commitment to the mutually supportive cooperative partnership we have established that will foster greater regional coordination and ensure long-term sustainment of Caribbean-United States efforts.
A problem that is of special concern to us is the continuing influx of guns, and the increase in gun-related criminality, not only in The Bahamas but throughout the region. I am convinced that there is a great deal more that we can and should be doing to fight this common menace.
As a country that produces the guns that end up taking innocent lives and causing terror in our communities, we implore the United States to become more proactive in controlling the export of guns. We implore the United States to step up the policing of its own borders against arms traffickers.
We call for more robust surveillance and reconnaissance measures to be instituted. We already have the experience of the joint anti-drug operational activities with the United States of America. However, more resources ought to be employed in a region-wide effort to fight crime. In particular, we call for a massive increase in joint tactical operations so that more air and maritime assets can be consistently deployed so that the thousands of square miles that comprise the territorial waters of Caribbean States can be more effectively patrolled.
We, in The Bahamas, stand ready to play our part in these joint efforts, without which the war on arms-trafficking, human smuggling and the transshipment of illicit drugs will never produce the victory we all strive for.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We must focus on eliminating the sense of hopelessness and joblessness of our young people. If fail to address it, we do so at our peril.
Addressing violent crime is central to domestic peace and survival of the countries of the region, and the proliferation of gang activity, illicit drugs, and small arms and ammunition trafficking are of particular concern for my country. We do not manufacture weapons nor do we form the demand for the drugs that find their way to our shores, yet, again, we are bound by geography, to confront these challenges. While existing regional security cooperation against transnational threats is commendable, greater regional cooperation to mitigate transnational crime in the hemisphere is required.
Too often as policy makers, however, we do not really grapple with root causes of the problems that we face. The challenge of chronic high youth unemployment across the hemisphere, particularly for our young males and other vulnerable groups, alongside the challenges these groups face for equitable educational attainment, creates the context for juvenile delinquency and eventually lives of criminality.
The Bahamas believes that social intervention can be a pre-emptive strike to prevent juvenile delinquency, particularly when the focus is on employment and education. We have therefore implemented programmes, such as the Urban Renewal Initiative, which seek to engage and reinvigorate our urban communities. The Ministry of Education has embarked upon a policy programme that focuses on raising the educational attainment amongst the bottom 50% of those in our public school systems. In an effort to both diversify our domestic economy and facilitate greater integration of young people into our economy, the Government has also recently established an Agriculture and Marine Science Institute, which we hope will also enhance our self- sufficiency and concretize agricultural production as a pillar of our economy.
In conclusion, I leave you with this. In whatever we do, we must remember that it is for the young people of the region that we do what we do. No country can be secure unless the young are trained, employed and buy into the values of the societies which we create. Let us today commit ourselves then not only to the efforts at improving the physical and military aspects of our security but also at ensuring that our future generation has the tools and the values to make and keep themselves safe.
Delegates:
Our challenges, individually and collectively, are many but they are not insurmountable and, where no one State can unilaterally solve the greatest challenges facing the region, our collective will to work together has the capacity to transform the region into what we want. In order for the fruit of our cooperation to be sustainable, however, our goals must be practical, seek to address real as opposed to ideologically perceived needs.
The test of effectiveness of our CBSI efforts will be the cumulative effect of what each of our countries achieve nationally, and what we accomplish as the mutually beneficial partnership into which the Caribbean and the United States have entered. I give my assurance, The Bahamas is a willing and committed partner in CBSI. And we will actively participate and contribute towards ensuring that the CBSI can and does improve the common security challenges and the safety and security of the region and of the United States.
The outcome today’s Dialogue will no doubt strengthen the partnership between us. Let us build on these discussions, seeing them as part of a continuing conversation, and leaving here with a concrete set of actions which we mean to accomplish.
I thank you.
