YOUTH in the Caribbean are susceptible to alarming levels of violence and crime. Not only does this affect the human capital needed to facilitate development in the region, but really, it just makes life harder to live. And that bothers me.

I spent some time at the Caribbean Summit on Youth Violence Prevention this past week. The main focus of the event was to facilitate engagement among stakeholders, especially young people, on the Caribbean Youth Action and Advocacy Agenda on Violence Prevention (AAA) document.

In short, this document is a roadmap or a blueprint that was crafted to augment efforts to combat youth violence and crime. It is based on three pillars: preventing and reducing crime, fostering social inclusion and promoting reintegration.

The good thing about this document is that it is evidence-based and was crafted for the specific Caribbean context. Further, it zeroes in on the central role of youth. And here’s why that’s important: According to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2012 Caribbean Human Development Report on Citizen Security, 80 per cent of prosecuted crimes were committed by youth 19 to 29 years old. Recent studies also show that a majority of victims, as well as perpetrators of crimes recorded by the police, are young males 18 to 35 years old.

So we have this document. It has been crafted and refined and now will be taken to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government at this year’s inter-sessional meeting, which will be held in another month’s time- on February 26 and 27- in St. Kitts and the Nevis.

The Caribbean leaders (Ministers from several territories) present at the forum, indicated their commitment to youth violence prevention and their support for the AAA. It is at the Intersessional meeting, however, that we will be able to see their real actions. I’m not just highlighting this for context, but so that we can understand that part of eradicating this issue is holding our leaders accountable to their promises.

In fact, at the culmination of the summit, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago Shamfa Cudjoe spoke glowingly about the work done by the young people and how pleased all the ministers present were about the agenda. That’s all good and well, but what remains to be seen is how supportive governments would be in adopting the agenda and thereafter implementing it.

I know it sounds like I’m being wary of the Caribbean ministers, but what I’m wary of, is that streamlining such efforts requires penetrating bureaucratic processes. These processes take time, they take sacrifice (especially from the young people and partners doing the work), they take compromise and, more importantly, they take lots of commitment.

This document focuses on creating a culture of peace. It might be good and well to validate the crafters of the document and say ‘Hey! Young people made a document to tackle youth violence and we support it’ but it is another thing to actual foster efforts to implement this. That’s why on the part of young people like me, we have to put these commitments on the record (like through this column) and make sure these people stand by their words.

Crime is a huge problem in the Caribbean. As a sociology student, I know that youth crime in the Caribbean has underpinnings in a myriad of social factors- a breakdown in the family, male absenteeism and the lack of male role models, a social strain felt to live up to society’s expectations, inter alia. I also know that because of the Caribbean’s geographic location (it is a trans-shipment point in between South America, a producer of drugs and North America, a major drug market) organised crime has permeated this region.

But youth crime-and by extension, crime- must be stymied. Not just because we don’t like having problems in our region, or because we’re trying to create a better environment for young people but because it threatens the very livelihood of the Caribbean people. We tout ourselves as tourist destinations, but security concerns can hinder that. Further, every life harmed or damaged is a blow to the human capital potential necessary to continue developmental efforts.

Is it a big problem to tackle? Yes. Does it seem too big to eradicate? Also yes, but concerted and collaborative efforts put up a big fight too eh. Creating an evidence-based document is a huge step. Taking this to the policymakers is another huge step. The next big step to be taken is ensuring they adopt it. Then, the work on using the policy to stymie youth violence and crime really begins.