Prime Minister Andrew Holness
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Prime Minister Andrew Holness
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has acknowledged that Jamaica lacks the institutional capacity to combat violence.
Mr. Holness, who is visiting Trinidad & Tobago as part of its 60th anniversary of political independence from Britain, made the admission during a press conference on Monday morning.
The Prime Minister said, notwithstanding the implementation of a multi-dimensional strategy, his administration will have to enhance and create additional measures to deal with violence.
The measures, he said, will require new legislation and an increase in professionals such as psychologists and social workers, as well as other support mechanisms to assist victims of crime.
Mr. Holness argued that this approach is necessary because current methods tend to "focus on the perpetrator of the violence and less so on the victim and what they suffer", and this needs to change.
Greater focus on victims would help to break the cycle of crime by ensuring they do not end up producing or becoming perpetrators themselves, he suggested.
Mr. Holness also acknowledged that he has a challenge managing organised or what he calls 'enterprise crime', where gangs and their affiliates "infiltrate state organisations, corrupt institutions and use that power that they gain to facilitate illegal trade" of drugs, uncustomed or imitation goods and even engage in human trafficking.
He said this area is in need of closer attention.
Additionally, Prime Minister Holness called for greater collaboration among CARICOM countries to combat the flow of ammunition and weapons into the region.
He suggested there was already a plan for greater collaboration but he did not want to "say too much on what we're going to be doing".
With the flow of illegal weapons into the region a major contributor to crime, Mr. Holness believes regional collaboration on the issue will have a positive impact.
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