CARICOM, Caribbean Policy Center, E.U. and SPEAR collaborate
nicole haylock
The alarming crime situation is top among the social ills that the government has to prioritize. The CARICOM Secretariat, the Caribbean Policy Development Center, the European Union and SPEAR are holding consultations with the civil society organizations and representatives from government agencies. They are hoping to come up with a regional approach to take on the pressing social, economic and environmental issues. News Five spoke to two of the main facilitators about what is expected out of the consultations being held at the Biltmore Plaza.
Nicole Haylock, Executive Director, SPEAR
“The purpose of the consultation is to gather civil society organizations as well as governmental agencies to dialogue about the integration process. We think that it is about time for us to sit down and charter an action plan on how to move forward in terms of integration and working together to confront and address national issues as well as regional issues.”
Cecilia Babb, Executive Coordinator, Caribbean Policy Dev. Center
cecilia babb
“The CARICOM Secretariat in this project is trying to learn directly from civil society organization representatives what issues in regional integration they are concerned about, we want to also know what level of organization exists among the civil society organization and how they rate their participation in national development and in regional integration.”
Nicole Haylock
“Nationally, we have some very pressing issues: crime and violence, climate change, the oil exploration situation, the general economic state is an issue and you know the common social ills that are prominent like the youth, juvenile delinquency etcetera. Instead of wasting and squandering resources and having little impact, shortcomings or implications, we need to look at in dept ways, long lasting sustainable ways to address some of those issues and we believe the best way to do that is if we share resources and we coordinate our efforts and energies, both government and civil society.”
Cecilia Babb
“They’ve been, in the morning session, taking stock of where we are now as civil society. So we’ve looked at some of the history, what some of the achievements have been, what are some of the lessons we can learn from the way we functioned in the past? The session that is on right now is looking at exactly how civil societies have engaged with government. One of the things that emerged this morning was that you don’t have to oppose or be seen as an opposition. You can have a different view because you represent a particular cause and a particular constituency but there is room for partnership.”
Cecilia Babb also noted that one of the key things that could come of regional integration is infrastructure for more affordable travel among CARICOM countries.
NO MORE TALK! NO MORE CONFERENCES! That doesn’t fight crimes.
If they want results that will protect us, check out the “GUARDIAN ANGELS” in the States. It is an organization of private citizens who patrol to look out for crime, and confront criminals and videotape what they do. They have had incredibly good results and lowered crime everywhere they are active. I say we need them here!
i have a solution to some of the crime in belize which are being commited by the youth of belize what should be done is to have a mandatory draft for all belizeans 18yrs and up as soon as you reach 18 you should have to do 4yrs in the armed services and especially any person 18 up to 35 who is not going to school or have a job should be drafted this way they get some kind of education in the military and also get some decipline and some repreive from the gangs and crime this is what is done in isreal and it works also it promotes patriotism the problem is the youth have no jobs and no decipline i hope someone sees this and really consider this idea any of you who think this is a good idea sa i. news 5 please make this your next poll . and if your worried about the money for this am sure it can come out of all the corruption in the country.
The Regional Integration may same a very positive option to our government since they can borrow more money easily from International Lending Institutions, and small tax exemptions for the little that we export. I am concerned because as a small developing nation i believe that there is very little that we can gain from this type of relationships. Our population is much smaller than any of the other Caribbean Countries therefore our benefits are less. Allowing the movement of factor and labor and service to a small country like ours would only break the small business that we have here and reduce the opportunity for employment of our locals. I consider to have lost our national identity by allowing our government to Issue passport that state carcicom in the front. We are Belizeans . Our GOB needs to start getting serious about the people business and stop the mismangement of funds from the people purse.
This is a good initiative. Nice to see Ms Haylock in that professional attire and doing good for our country.