Amid ongoing worries about the high rate of violent crime in The Bahamas, Prime Minister Perry Christie used his address at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government meeting in Trinidad to push the United States and other developed countries to do more to help the region fight crime.
In fact, he said the United States and others have a “moral obligation” to give back to The Bahamas and to the countries in the Caribbean region.
“More must be done to help with development; to strengthen the sharing of intelligence and funding resources with respect to deportees coming back to the region; more must be done to help in the education of our populations,” said Christie while acknowledging on Wednesday evening that the United States is already assisting The Bahamas in its fight against crime.
“Indeed, isn’t it a fundamental irony that when we are most challenged for resources, when our traditional partners are cutting back on funding for our countries, our young people who gain their education at public expense in the region are more and more moving to the United States and to Canada?
“So we are paying for the expertise which enriches their societies. It is therefore incumbent upon us to make the case that the developed countries have an obligation, dare I say, a moral obligation in all of the circumstances, to give back to our societies.
“I use this opportunity again to say, that the developed world, the United States and Canada, have a stake in the success of the countries of the region.”
Christie noted that he spoke to US Attorney General Eric Holder while in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in February regarding the challenges that small island nations continue to face.
He pointed to the challenges surrounding human and gun trafficking.
Christie said during his conversation with Holder, he petitioned the United States to dedicate more resources to enable the region to more effectively meet the disastrous consequences of crime.
“Since that time, a delegation of American officials has visited our country and we are now working very closely on several initiatives to fight crime and to enhance security,” Christie said.
However, he added that the work cannot stop there.
We must do more to impress upon our friends and neighbors that stability of our democracies and the stability of our countries are directly connected to the extent to which there can be a greater sharing in the strategies employed to address these challenges,” he said.
“Our security agenda and the fight against crime are unremitting, and we are engaged actively in seeking solutions pan Caribbean wide to these thorny problems.”
This is not the first time that Christie publicly called on the United States for assistance. He said last month that The Bahamas needed help to effectively deal with criminal deportees from that country.
Between 2002 and 2011, 957 Bahamians convicted of criminal offences were deported from The United States to The Bahamas, according to the Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2011 report.
Courtesy of the Nassau Guardian
