– TT minister calls for action

MINISTER of Sport and Youth Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, Shamfa Cudjoe, has affirmed the support of Caribbean ministers in tackling youth violence and crime in the Region at the conclusion of the Caribbean Youth Violence Prevention Summit.

“Youth violence and youth crime has been a problem for some time in the Caribbean,” Cudjoe said. “Every young person we’ve lost represents a missed opportunity. Somebody who could have been a lawyer, a doctor, an innovator, an inventor, a businessperson, a scientist… you name it.”

The two-day summit was held at the Marriott Hotel and focused on charting the way forward on tackling youth violence and crime, due to the awareness that youth are most affected by crime and violence in the Region. Joining scores of youth and stakeholders in the field were several ministers of government and dignitaries.

The main aim of the summit is to facilitate engagement on the Caribbean Youth Action and Advocacy Agenda on Violence Prevention (AAA) document, which seeks to provide guidelines on curbing youth violence in the Region.

The TT minister related that over the years, governments have established several policies and programmes with the aim of curbing youth crime and crime generally, while fostering youth development.

“I would like to say that for efforts to arrest this problem, so much work still needs to be done. Even against the backdrop of these numerous projects we have not yet realised success,” the minister said however. “We must admit that these programmes, even though that we claim that we have employed young people and help them to develop skills and so on, the matter of violence and crime across the Caribbean still exists and we have not yet seen the desired results.”

And the minister cited many reasons why these programmes have failed, including the lack of resources or political drive, strained funding and limited youth input.

The summit however has filled her and her sister Caribbean ministers with renewed zeal, owing to the high quality of work done.

From a governance perspective, she shared that the lack of empirical data has contributed to the creation of ineffective programmes and policies. The AAA, however, is an evidence-driven policy which is very important in arresting the situation through developing policy, according to the minister.

On behalf of several Caribbean ministers present at the summit, the Trinidadian minister committed to youth development in the Caribbean and to eradicating crime and violence across the Region.

Further, with respect to the AAA, she said: “Your heads of government are on board; you don’t need to convince us anymore.

“This whole issue of safety and security is imperative, not only for youth development, but also in developing a good business environment, ensuring a proper standard of living, and the list goes on and on and on. This is about economic development, this is about our very survival in international trade and our survival as a people,” she stated.

The AAA was crafted by young people throughout the Region and was presented– in its final draft form– to the scores of participants at the summit for further perusal and scrutiny.

At the conclusion of the summit, Co-Chairs of the Learning for Youth Networking & Change Sessions (LYNCS) Asha-Gaye Cowell and Kurba Marie Questelles highlighted that the document will now be taken to the Caribbean Heads of Government at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Inter-Sessional Meeting later this year.

“This is a call to action, this is an action agenda and there is no youth action without YOUth action,” Cudjoe highlighted. “We all have a role to play as it relates to this action agenda.”