The Caribbean is now the most murderous region in the world, Foreign Affairs Minister Suruj Rambachan said yesterday. T&T was part of that, he added. He spoke about the situation during yesterday's Lower House debate on an order pertaining to the Caricom Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS). He said the bureau handled various duties concerning crime prevention and security in the region, including screening persons moving through the Caribbean.
He said a United Nations' report showed the region's murder rate of 30 per 100,000 was the highest among regions. He said in 2008, 79 per cent of murders in T&T were gun-related murders. Rambachan said a 2011 report by IMPACS' adviser Francis Forbes showed between 2006 and 2010 some 7,026 firearms were seized in the region. It showed that the second highest number of firearms seized was in TT - 1,285 - second to Jamaica. He said T&T and Jamaica, in 2009, accounted for 67 per cent of the total number of illegal firearms in the region.
Problems affecting the region's anti-crime thrust included issues involved in ballistics-tracing, insufficient information to trace imported firearms, inadequate oversight over private security firms handling firearms and similar problems. Noting crime affects investment, Rambachan said if T&T lowered its homicide rate, growth rate would be achieved.