Caribbean Partners in Belize to Study Justice System
A group from across the Caribbean is in Belize to learn more about our Criminal Justice System. The team is here under a project called CARISECURE. The project aims to strengthen youth and violence policies and programmes through the use of quality, comparable and reliable citizen security information. The opening of the working tour kicked off on Monday in Belize City. News Five’s Andrea Polanco reports.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
A team of delegates from across the Eastern and Southern Caribbean are in Belize on a three day technical exchange and study tour of Belize’s Justice System under the regional project CARISECURE. While Belize is not one of the participating countries, the participants will have the opportunity to observe and learn process of evidence use and data management from Belize’s criminal justice system. Including in the tour are visits to the Belize Crime Observatory, National Forensic Lab, as well as the Wagner’s Youth Facility – in an effort to increase capacity, share experience on citizen security, particularly as it relates to crime and violence among the youth population.
Juliet Solomon
Juliet Solomon, Team Leader, CARISECURE Project
“This three day study tour is among the first key activities of the CARISECURE – formerly known as Strengthening Evidence-based decision making for citizen security in the Caribbean. It is based on the premise that violence and crime among adolescence and youth between the ages of ten to twenty-nine can be reduced through the use of evidenced-informed programs which target the root causes of criminal activities. The CARISESCURE project aims to improve crime and violence policy making a programming in ten southern and eastern Caribbean countries through the use of quality, comparable, and reliable national security information. Throughout the life of the project, we will work with national governments, sub regional and regional organizations and institutions to enhance their technical and analytical capacities to make evidence formed decisions and policies that can effectively address the underlying causes of youth violence and crime.”
The project is funded through the USAID and lead by the UNDP. Launched in 2016, CARISECURE was initiated to curb crime and violence in the Caribbean and Latin American regions. Citizen security issues continue to impact this region – as seen in the Human Development Reports of the UNDP. In order to address these issues, there is a need for data and evidence based learning.
Karen Bernard
Karen Bernard, U.N.D.P. Resident Rep.
“The average homicide report in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2010-2014 exceeded twenty per one hundred thousand people. Currently, Belize, this rate for 2016 was thirty-nine per a hundred thousand people. So, these are substantial concerns. Freedom from violence in general is one of the main concerns that people who responded to a survey for this Human Development Report preparation survey indicated and in that survey forty percent of the people across the Caribbean and Latin America reported that they do not feel safe. Considering that crime and violence in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean are increasing and have damaging effects on the development and growth our countries, there is a recognized need that we create more secure environments of our citizens and that requires nationally and regionally policies and programs to be established which are based on data and evidence. Learning about how crime data can be optimally managed and used, is ultimately what facilitates our work towards a safe Caribbean. So that citizens can lead a more dignified and productive lives. That is ultimately what the goal of a project is like CARISECURE and INFOSEGURA.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
