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Gang violence takes rising toll in lives, threatens Caribbean economies, says UNDP

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (PRWEB) February 08, 2012

Crime has become one of the main challenges threatening economies and livelihoods in Caribbean countries, but the right mix of policies and programmes can halt the problem, according to the Caribbean Human Development Report 2012 launched here today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The report, Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security, says that with the exception of Barbados and Suriname, homicide rates including gang-related killings have increased substantially in the last 12 years across the Caribbean, while they have been falling or stabilizing in other parts of the world.

Although murder rates are exceedingly high by world standards, the report says that Caribbean governments can reverse the trend, calling for regional governments to beef up public institutions to tackle crime and violence —including the criminal justice system—while boosting preventive measures.

“Violence limits people’s choices, threatens their physical integrity, and disrupts their daily lives,” said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark at the report’s launch ceremony with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Heraldo Muñoz.

“This report stresses the need to rethink our approaches to tackling crime and violence and providing security on the ground. We need to follow approaches that are centered on citizen security and address the causes of this recent increase in violent crime, including social, economic, and political exclusion,” Helen Clark said.

The new study recommends that Caribbean governments implement youth crime prevention through education, as well as provide employment opportunities that target the marginalized urban poor. A shift in focus is needed it says, from a state protection approach to one that focuses on citizen security and participation, promoting law enforcement that is fair, accountable, and more respectful of human rights.

The Caribbean Human Development Report reviews the current state of crime as well as national and regional policies and programmes to address the problem in seven English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Tackling the problem

Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 8.5 percent of the world population, yet the region accounts for some 27 percent of the world’s homicides. Even though the total number of murders in Jamaica dropped after the report’s completion to 1,124 in 2011, a seven-year low, the country has the highest homicide rate in the Caribbean and the third-highest murder rate worldwide in recent years, with about 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. This is surpassed by only two Central American countries, El Salvador and Honduras with 66 and 82.1 murders respectively per 100,000 people says the report, citing UN Office on Drugs and Crime figures. In Trinidad and Tobago, the report notes that murder rates increased five-fold over a decade, to more than 40 per 100,000 in 2008, and then declined to 36 in 2010.

The report states that gang-related homicides in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are “substantial and increasing”: The number almost doubled in both countries from 2006-2009. In 2006, Jamaica experienced 1,303 homicides, of which 32.5 percent were gang-related. By 2009, the number of homicides had increased by 377; 48.1 percent were gang-related. In 2006, Trinidad and Tobago experienced 371 homicides, 26.4 percent gang-related; by 2009 the country reported 506 homicides, 34.8 percent gang-related.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) estimates reveal the cost of gang-related crime is between 2.8 percent and four percent of gross domestic product in the region through both the cost of policing and as a result of lost income from youth incarceration and reduced tourism. According to the study, crime costs Jamaica alone over US$ 529 million a year in lost income. In Trinidad and Tobago, a one percent reduction in youth crime would boost tourism revenue by US$ 35 million per year. For every additional “gang” in a community, homicide rates increased by about 10 percent, according to a recent research featured in the Caribbean Human Development Report.

Crime erodes confidence in future development, reduces the competitiveness of existing industries and services, for example, by imposing burdensome security—and may deter investment, the report says. Education and health care also suffer when resources are diverted to law enforcement.

The following are key recommendations from the Report, which result from extensive consultations with 450 experts, practitioners, and leaders and reflect a large-scale survey with 11,555 citizens in the seven assessed countries:

    High rates of violent crime can be turned around by achieving a better balance between legitimate law enforcement and preventive measures, with a stronger focus on prevention;
    Governments should create or invest more in units to address gender-based violence and adopt more preventive measures to ensure that violence against girls and women is no longer tolerated;
    Because crime harms social cohesion, Caribbean nations must better address youth violence and street gangs, whose crimes are rarely prosecuted;
    Public security requires community collaboration. Youth organizations and groups advocating for women’s rights, victims’ rights, and human rights should become more active, and Governments should commit to more actively engaging citizens.

The survey shows that the population wants governments to focus on crime prevention as well as control. Nearly 90 percent of citizens surveyed support preventive measures, such as increased investment in job creation, poverty reduction, education, and other initiatives to build youth skills and competencies. Meanwhile, some 80 percent said that “criminals should be punished more harshly.” The poll also showed that four out of 10 citizens considered their countries capable of solving or better managing insecurity.

The new study also highlights other effects of crime that generally go unreported, such as low educational achievement and poor health among youth, physical and psychological pain, suffering and trauma caused by youth violence, reduced quality of life, the marginalization of youth and negative stereotypes that fuel further aggressive behaviour among young people.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Other key results of the Caribbean HDR survey with 11,555 citizens in the seven assessed countries:

Security perception:

    46 percent said they felt secure or very secure in their country. The sense of security was strongest in Barbados (79 percent) and weakest in Trinidad and Tobago (25 percent).
    Nine percent of respondents were victim of a crime on the previous year.
    12.5 percent of residents in the region reported gangs in their neighbourhood.
    48 percent of respondents worried at some time about being a victim of crime.

Trust in police forces

    Two-thirds (66 percent) of citizens said they trust their police to address crime
    Trinidad and Tobago respondents had the least confidence in their police (53 percent reported having a great deal of or some confidence in the police) and rated police performance lowest (only 17 percent rated the police as good or very good at controlling robbery and 17 percent for burglary).

Citizens’ participation

    56.6 percent of the surveyed citizens were ready to cooperate with others to reduce violence in their countries.
    72 percent said that their community had done something to address crime on the previous year.

Gender-based violence

    Some 11 percent had experienced domestic violence, ranging from a low of 6 percent in Jamaica to a high of 17 percent in Guyana.
    37.7 percent of young female respondents feared sexual assault.

About youth’s views and concerns

    40 percent of youth aged 18-24 reported feeling “secure” in their countries.
    Over the last decade, 19.4 percent of youth had been victim of a crime.
    21.7 percent of the youth surveyed carried weapons at night, 16.2 percent carried weapons during the day and 32.5 percent kept weapons at home.
    Youth responders’ main concerns focussed on four issues: unemployment (27.7 percent), violent crime (20.0 percent),cost of food (13.2 percent), and cost of living (10.5 percent).
    Over 20 percent of youth lived in a neighbourhood where a murder was committed in 2010; 29.1 percent where a shooting occurred, 16.4 percent a rape; 44.2 percent fights in the street; 16.1 percent gang violence; and 29.7 percent witnessed one community member threaten another.
    Over 50 percent of youth find their justice system corrupt and 47 percent consider the police incompetent.
    The positive messages of the report should also be highlighted. For example, some countries have managed to control crime and violence. Citizens are willing to participate and help to solve the problem.

The Caribbean Human Development Report 2012 is available on http://www.regionalcentrelac-undp.org/en/hdr-caribbean


UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

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Doctors Without Borders Press Release: South Sudan: Pattern of Extreme Violence Against Civilians

South Sudan 2012 © Heather Whalen/MSF

Juba (PRWEB) January 24, 2012

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of extreme inter-communal violence in Jonglei state in South Sudan, with their resources and lifelines, including hospitals and water supplies, also deliberately targeted, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

Wounded people are still arriving at the MSF hospital in the town of Pibor, three weeks after a violent attack on the town and outlying villages in Pibor County. Many people were injured in the bush, where thousands remain, too afraid to come out of hiding. The hospital was also targeted during the attack.

“We are seeing a cycle of attacks and reprisals throughout this area of northern Jonglei,” said MSF Head of Mission Jose Hulsenbek. “For the civilians in this part of South Sudan, the fear of having to flee their homes or being killed is very real.”

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Click HERE to listen to an interview with MSF field coordinator in Pibor, Karel Janssens, about returning to villages where MSF has been working in Pibor to find them destroyed, the MSF staff that are still missing, and the patients affected by the attacks.

Click HERE for Patient Testimonies from Jonglei State

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A recurring characteristic of the attacks in Jonglei is their extreme violence. One woman suffering from a gunshot wound and treated by MSF in Pibor said she had fled to the bush with her husband, children, and 15 other family members. After running for eleven hours, they were found by a group of men who shot at them. “We scattered. They shot me in my thigh and my baby was hanging on my back. I tried to hide in the high grass but they found me because my baby was crying. They started beating my daughter until she kept quiet. They left us behind thinking we were dead.” Her son was also treated by MSF for a bullet wound to the chest that remarkably did not kill him.

“After these attacks many women and children are coming to us shot, stabbed, and beaten,” said Colette Gadenne, MSF operations coordinator for South Sudan. “They try to keep safe by hiding in the bush, but it seems that even running away is not enough.”

A deeply worrisome pattern is emerging, where people and their scarce resources are deliberately targeted by all the armed groups involved in inter-communal violence. Hospitals, health clinics, and water sources are all targets, suggesting a tactic of depriving people of life’s basic essentials, precisely when they need them most.

The village of Lekwongole, north of Pibor town, scarcely exists today after coming under attack. All that exists of the MSF clinic there are concrete floors and walls, although medical activities resumed there on January 18.

“The people explained that during the day they dare to come out of hiding to search for food or to seek medical care,” said Karel Janssens, MSF project coordinator. “But at night they return to their hiding places in the bush where they are at risk of contracting malaria or respiratory infections.”

MSF medical teams are now treating serious wound infections, some several weeks old. Since re-launching emergency medical activities in Pibor on January 7, MSF has treated 47 patients with gunshot wounds, among them 16 women and 8 children. An additional 43 patients have been treated for stab wounds, beatings, or wounds sustained while fleeing in the bush. Since January 7, approximately half of MSF’s patient consultations in Pibor have been for malaria; people sleeping in the bush are more vulnerable to contracting the disease.

MSF is extremely concerned for the health and well-being of civilians forced to flee, either from fighting or from fear of an attack. They hide in the bush, with little to no shelter and limited access to food. If they are able to return home, they often only find ashes where their houses once stood.

In the wake of the Pibor attack, MSF has learned that Allan Rumchar, an MSF watchman, and his wife, were killed. Of 156 locally recruited MSF staff members, 25 are still unaccounted for and MSF remains deeply concerned for them.

The violence in Pibor is not isolated. After a January 11 attack on the village of Wek in northern Jonglei State, MSF evacuated 13 patients by air, mostly women and children in need of urgent surgical care at MSF’s hospital in Nasir. That followed an August 2011 attack on the town of Pieri and surrounding villages, during which scores of villagers were killed. In the past six months, 185 people with serious wounds have sought care from MSF teams in Lankien, Pieri, and Yuai.

In a December 2009 report, ‘Facing up to Reality: Health crisis deepens as violence escalates in Southern Sudan’, MSF documented the escalation of inter-communal violence in Jonglei and Upper Nile States, and its increasing impact on civilian populations. MSF treated 392 people wounded by violence that year, and estimated that 86,000 people were displaced. The situation has not improved. In the past six months, MSF has treated more than 250 people wounded in violence in Jonglei State, the majority of whom are women and children.

MSF has been working in South Sudan since 1983, currently in more than a dozen projects in eight states. MSF runs its own medical facilities and supports Ministry of Health facilities in six locations in Jonglei State, providing basic healthcare, therapeutic nutrition, and kala azar and tuberculosis treatment, serving a total population of some 285,000 people. In 2011 the MSF medical facilities in Lekwongole, Pibor, and Pieri were targeted and either destroyed or ransacked during inter-communal violence. MSF condemns the targeting of unarmed civilians and of medical assets by any armed group.

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