U.S. Government Launches Workshop to Improve National Policy Making on Youth Involvement in Crime and Violence

The United States Government, through the United States Agency for International Development, launched a four-day workshop in Suriname on the CariSECURE project. The CariSECURE project fosters reliance on valid, reliable, and comparable data on citizen security across ten eastern and southern Caribbean countries to improve national policy making on youth involvement in crime and violence.

The workshop will formalize the CariSECURE National Task Force and facilitate the project’s implementation of activities strengthening the crime and violence information management systems in Suriname.

The task force brings together a select group of practitioners and key stakeholders working within the criminal justice system. They will drive the management and coordination of the Caribbean Citizen Security Toolkit, developed by CariSECURE, on behalf of the Government of Suriname; assess the strengths and weaknesses in collecting and disseminating data; and identify critical next steps for the agencies they represent. During the four-day workshop, there will be presentations and discussions about Suriname’s Criminal Justice System and its relationship with reporting agencies (such as the National Crime Statistics).

In his address during the launch of the workshop, the United States Ambassador to Suriname, Edwin R. Nolan, stated that “the instruments, systems, and processes developed under the CariSECURE project are based on teamwork and widespread participation from governments, crime prevention practitioners, and stakeholders from across the region.” He also stated that “the availability of reliable and robust data assists Governments and institutions to develop more targeted responses to the challenges of growing crime and violence.”

It is anticipated that by 2020, countries will be utilizing citizen security data in order to make operational, tactical and strategic evidence-based decisions in order to reduce existing levels of youth crime and violence.

For more information about the CariSECURE project please see: http://www.bb.undp.org/content/barbados/en/home/operations/projects/democratic_governance/CariSECURE.html