(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Council of National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) Senator the Honourable Martin Joseph on Thursday, told the Opening Ceremony of the CONSLE that the Caribbean Community should utilize every means to finance the security agenda.
Minister Joseph recalled the priorities of the Council as outlined by the Conference of Heads of Government at its Thirteenth Special Meeting in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in April 2008, and asserted that the Council had not swerved from those priorities but continued to direct the policies that would address the rising levels of crime, the illegal narcotics trade, the illegal arms trade, gang warfare and the overarching security of the Region
However, he pointed out that the emphasis placed on security as a fourth pillar of the Community in the context of the harsh economic realities, coupled with the gravity of the security challenges of increased crime and violence, demanded that no stone remain un-turned to provide a budget for the security agenda. He cited one such ‘stone’ as the reenactment of the Resource Mobilization Sub-Committee. This Sub-Committee, he said, would engage international partners in obtaining and streamlining the financial and other resources that were or could become available.
The Chair of CONSLE pointed to support that the Region was receiving from international partners such as Canada, the United States and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and urged CARICOM to pursue those offers in “a deliberate and focused manner,” and also “seize the opportunity to become fully engaged in the processes that must ensue in the next coming weeks and months in order to establish the basis for a sustained relationship with those partners.”
He also suggested that the CONSLE, in seeking to realize its mandate, should make as priority, “those projects that have already been funded; those projects that would generate funds, such as the CARIPASS; those projects that are on the brink of execution and those that would have an immediate impact on the security situation in our individual Member States.”
Minister Joseph then acknowledged the work that was done by the Security Policy Advisory Committee (SEPAC), supported by the CARICOM Secretariat and the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), over the past two days in preparation for the meeting and invoked God’s protection on the Community and Member States “as we endeavour to strengthen political engagement on the issues that were defined earlier by our Heads, and that are currently affecting our fellow citizens.”
