WASHINGTON DC, USA – The flood of guns into the Caribbean, coupled with poverty, have left many Caribbean states, including Jamaica, in a persistent state of crime and violence, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller told Diaspora representatives attending the opening day of the Conference of the Caribbean currently underway here.

In addition, she said the region’s high debt-servicing burden, reduced official development assistance, and declining trade terms due to the phasing out of preferential trading arrangements have added to the developmental challenges and vulnerability of the region.

Simpson Miller, speaking in her capacity as chairman of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Affairs, said the region was not a producer of firearms and ammunition, but it remained flooded with the weapons nevertheless.

“In many of our Caribbean societies, poverty is fuelling persistent crime and violence. The Caricom region does not manufacture guns. Yet we are flooded with guns and ammunition, which worsens our situation of crime and violence,” she said.

Said the prime minister: “The situation is made worse by criminal deportation. In a global environment, crime requires an international response. This must involve programmes for rehabilitation and reintegration of deportees into the societies to which they are sent, as well as mechanisms for effective monitoring.”

Noting that it was an impressive gathering of political decision-makers, high-level representatives of the business sector, multilateral institutions, the academic community, NGOs, experts on Caribbean development, and leaders of the Caribbean Diaspora here in the United States, she said for the conference to be meaningful, “we must place at the centre of our deliberations, the sustainable development of all the people of our community”.

According to Simpson Miller, the United States remains Jamaica’s main trading partner and is home to large numbers of Caribbean peoples.

She said it was a credit to the regional relationship with the United States that the Caricom-United States Trade and Investment Council have been reactivated after a seven-year lapse.

“It is my hope that through this council we will be able to conduct an effective dialogue on development through greater trade and investment flows,” the prime minister said.