GREATER GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Seventh Meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) was held last week Wednesday, November 5 with leaders agreeing that law enforcement and crime prevention necessitated multidisciplinary solutions.
Addressing the opening ceremony at the Guyana International Convention Centre, CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite told the Council of Ministers that given the multi-faceted nature of crime, a multi-sectoral approach ought to be adopted.
Ambassador Applewhaite noted that a collaborative approach was being adopted in the development of a regional strategy for crime prevention being spear-headed by the CARICOM Secretariat, and advocated for a joint meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) and CONSLE to move the crime and security agenda forward: “Just as we have had in the past to address policy issues in developing the Single Market and Economy in joint meetings of COHSOD and COTED, it would seem that the time has come for us to consider joint COHSOD-CONSLE meetings to ensure joint action in moving the overall crime and security agenda forward.”
The Hon. Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister of Guyana, in his opening remarks, urged the CONSLE to consider collaborative approaches to bringing the society on the side of law and order: “our people are hurting, our collective image, dented and our economies are affected. We must deliberate with that in mind and give much more urgency to solutions,” he asserted.
The Guyana Prime Minister was of the opinion that in making security the fourth pillar under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, additional focus should be placed on people-centric interventions and that every effort should be made to engage civil society, non-governmental organisations and the local communities in developing crime prevention initiatives.
“We have no excuse to be anti-social. We must certainly call upon the rest of society to join us in the challenge of maintaining law and order,” he said.
The Chair of the Meeting, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security, Senator the Hon. Martin Joseph, in adding his remarks, pointed to several critical meetings in which the CONSLE had participated over the years and to specific actions to which the CONSLE had committed itself, noting that at the end of the meeting , the CONSLE would not only clearly define the steps that had been made in advancing the Regional Security Agenda; but would be assured of the next steps required in order to ensure effective implementation of the Regional Action Plan, in the context of commitments made at CARICOM and other security fora. Dr Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, in the CARICOM Secretariat, in outlining the major issues which would occupy the Meeting noted that the agenda was an ambitious one that required decisions to be taken on a number of critical issues.
Among those issues he cited are the drafting and ratification of legal frameworks for the implementation of the Advance Passenger Information Systems (APIS) and the Advance Cargo Information Systems, (ACIS); building human resources capacity among law enforcement officers to cope with new security threats and challenges; developing a regional strategy for crime prevention and securing regional and international partnerships to assist in the mobilization of technical and financial resources for crime prevention.
Dr Greene who chaired the opening ceremony thanked the Government of Guyana for hosting the meeting; acknowledged the work of the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) in advancing the regional agenda for crime and security; applauded the chairmanship of the Security Policy Advisory Committee (SEPAC) in the two-day deliberations which preceded the Seventh CONSLE and noted the hard work of the CARICOM Secretariat in preparing documentation and logistical arrangements for the meeting.
