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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:03 pm
Time: 12:03 pm
Results for violence (caribbean)
1 results foundAuthor: Women's Institute for Alternative Development Title: Small Arms Proliferation and Misuse Toward a Caribbean Plan of Action Summary: Bank note that murder rates in the Caribbean — at 30 per 100,000 population annually —are higher than for any other region of the world. Understandably, mounting fatalities from illegal weapons worry Caribbean policymakers and citizens alike. In the last two years, at least six Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States have held general elections in which crime and security were central issues. The proliferation of illegal small arms threatens the ability of Caribbean states to meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As the World Bank (2007) states, “high rates of crime and violence in the Caribbean are undermining growth, threatening human welfare, and impeding social development.” Crime and violence have become development issues in the Caribbean. A major factor in the surge of gun-related criminality is the trafficking of narcotics. Illicit drugs are transshipped through the region from South America to North America and there is a linked movement of illegal weapons from North America to several destinations in the Caribbean. At the same time, the rise of crime has been characterized by the increased use of more powerful weapons, resulting in higher mortality levels. Caribbean countries exhibit crime patterns similar to those of other countries where low economic growth has coincided with large populations of young men. The Latin America and Caribbean region boasts the highest homicide rate of men between the ages of 15 and 29 in the world, more than three times greater than the global average. Indeed, youth violence is a high-priority, high-visibility concern across the Caribbean. Youth are disproportionately represented in the incidence and severity of gun violence, both as victims and perpetrators, and violent crimes are being committed at younger ages in many countries. A wide variety of risk factors contribute to the prevalence of youth violence, including poverty, youth unemployment, large-scale migration to urban areas, drug trafficking, a weak education system, ineffective policing, the widespread availability of weapons, drug and alcohol use, and the presence of organized gangs. Deaths and injuries from youth violence constitute a major public health, social, and economic problem across the Caribbean. Much of the work that seeks to reveal the use and impact of small arms and light weapons in the region has highlighted the masculine perpetrator and victim. Although this is a legitimate sphere of inquiry, it is important to recognize that a more integrated approach is required. The lives of Caribbean men and women are influenced by the gender disparities and structural inequalities that persist in many facets of Caribbean life. In a post-“structurally adjusted” Caribbean region, and as a result of shifting trading arrangements, there remains the persistent challenge of positioning the economies of the region to address the growing levels of poverty. Over the years, the larger economic shifts have seen the growth of the commoditization of violence, which speaks to the fact that an increasing number of citizens have had to rely on criminal violence of various kinds to survive. Details: Belmont, Trinidad and Tobago: Women's Institute for Alternative Development; Waterloo, ONT: Project Ploughshares, 2008. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: WORKING PAPER 08-1: Accessed April 11, 2011 at: http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/WorkingPapers/wp081.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Central America URL: http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/WorkingPapers/wp081.pdf Shelf Number: 121292 Keywords: Economic ConditionsGun ViolenceHomicidesIllegal WeaponsViolence (Caribbean)Violent Crime |