PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders ended a two-day regional symposium on violence as a public health issue, declaring a war on guns to combat the illegal trade which, they said, “provides the weapons that contribute significantly to crime and violence in our region”.

In addition, the delegates attending the symposium, including academics, crime experts, police commissioners and religious and non-government organisations, agreed to implement a ban on assault rifles, saying that they are alarmed by the epidemic of crime and violence in the Caribbean.

They said it is being fuelled by illegal guns and organised criminal gangs that pose a “threat to our democracy and the stability of our societies”.

In the declaration titled “War on Guns”, the regional leaders said they were also calling on the United States to join the Caribbean in “our war on guns and urgently adopt and take action to stop the illegal exportation of firearms and ammunition into the Caribbean.

“We lament the disproportionate share of our national budgets that we are compelled to allocate to measures to address crime, violence and national security as well as mental health and other health-related challenges that directly result from the illegal exportation of guns to our shores.

“We underscore our commitment to utilise all human, financial and other resources to rid our region of the scourge of illicit weapons,” the regional leaders said in their declaration, adding “we reiterate that the Caribbean must be a zone of peace, which will allow us to achieve our goal of a secure, stable and prosperous community for all our citizens.”

Addressing the agreement to implement a ban on assault rifles, host Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley told reporters that during the symposium one of the experts had outlined that the production and sale of handguns in the United States in recent times saw these heavier, more lethal and destructive assault weapons designed for military use and for maximum destruction, now being weapons of choice, and the production levels are higher than the handguns.

“Those weapons have begun to appear in our country. They are now commonly in the hands of criminals who get them through the illegal trade, but they are also being licensed by the state and put in the hands of civilians,” he said.

“We are saying that we do not require those weapons within our societies… because of their outcome in the presence of the societies. So we can continue to provide a certain amount of protection with… handguns… and we are saying, having the volume of those guns in our communities on a scale where easily available assault weapons can carry with it what we are seeing elsewhere, it has serious destructive outcomes,” he added.

The regional leaders have agreed to stand with Mexico on its legal action again US gun manufacturers and retailers and establish an entity under the Caricom Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) to assist in the containment of corruption and financial crimes, including money laundering and cybercrimes, through greater collaboration to harmonise related legislation and operational processes.

They also noted the cost associated with the crime epidemic on the region’s social, economic and health systems, saying that they are “determined to ensure that our people of the Caribbean can exist in an environment of peace and safety”.

Additionally, the leaders said they remain convinced that the multi-faceted nature of violent crime and its pervasive effects require a “robust regional response” that includes a public health approach, which is an all of society strategy, including family, church, academia, cultural and sports personalities, minority political parties and wider civil society.

They acknowledge the concerns of the Caribbean population that there is a tilting of the balance between the rights of the individual and the public safety interests of the whole of society, which is having a debilitating effect on the rights of the community to live in peaceful societies, particularly given the trend for people on murder charges to be granted bail.

The leaders said they have agreed to strengthen the development of security as a fourth pillar of Caricom “so that collectively, we can better address the extra-territorial threats to citizen security; including strengthening the capacity of the community’s security and justice agencies to adopt and implement a public health approach”.

They also agreed to undertake comprehensive overhaul of the criminal justice system to address criminal terrorists with a focus on proactive management of prosecutions, sentencing and the diversion of young people at risk.

They will seek to strengthen regional forensic capabilities and collaboration among national forensic agencies with a view to improving the quality of evidence, speed up the conduct of trials, and prepare regional model legislation to bring greater harmonisation and efficiency to the development and revision of national laws.

In addition, the leaders say they will “immediately and effectively implement the Caricom Arrest Warrant Treaty” as well as augment the jurisdiction of magistrates, the consideration of defendants’ options to judge-only trials, and the intra-regional rotation of judges and magistrates to admit or foster their greater exposure.

The leaders also agreed to strengthen the capacity of the Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre (RIFC) to deliver its mandate through development of agreed protocols for data sharing amongst member states.

Additionally, they have pledged to reform the education system to empower citizens and better enable their socio-emotional development.