CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana:

CARICOM STATEMENT ON CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY

Heads of Government reiterated their firm commitment to the principles stated in, and to the implementation of the actions set out in the Declaration on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Safety Issue.

Following the inaugural symposium on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Safety Issue and the Declaration of the Heads of Government in Trinidad and Tobago on 17-18 April 2024, CARICOM Heads of Government met in caucus in Georgetown, Guyana, on 27 February 2024 to discuss the prevailing dire state of crime, violence, and public safety amongst its Member States.

Heads of Government reiterated their firm commitment to the principles stated in, and to the implementation of the actions set out in the Declaration on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Safety Issue.

In reaffirming the right to freedom of expression and to public speech CARICOM Heads of Government strongly condemned the development, presence, tolerance, or acceptance of violent, anti-social music and social media content that denigrate women and encourage or promote or support the use of violence, guns, and other anti-social behaviour, particularly targeted to our Youth.

CARICOM Heads of Government affirmed their support for engaging with young people in the creative economy, including the entertainment and music industry, and the sporting industry to develop, support and spread across the Region positive content to offset the negative impact of anti-social, violent, and criminal behaviour, which some elements in that sector promote and support.

Given the serious, significant and chronic negative developmental impact that crime and violence is having on Member States, CARICOM Heads of Government committed to working with all sectors and institutions, including civil society, academia, labour, churches, our creatives, law enforcement, the judiciary, political parties, employers and businesses, and our external partners to implement all of the measures set out in the Declaration on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Safety Issue.

CARICOM Heads of Government remain committed to maintaining this Region as a zone of domestic peace and safety to ensure the preservation of our Caribbean civilisation.

CARICOM STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Heads of Government reiterated the call for improved readiness programmes, simplified approval procedures, a change to the criteria for determining access to low-cost finance, and for the adoption of programmatic approaches to address the bottlenecks in accessing finance. The Region reiterates its support for the Bridgetown Initiative’s call to expand capital adequacy of international financial institutions.

CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana – Thursday, 29 February 2024: – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remains on the frontlines of global climate crisis, an issue the Region has been aggressively advocating on for the past thirty years. Despite the many commitments and promises of international partners, the window of opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing.

Heads of Government are concerned that while COP 28 was widely regarded as a historic event, with the completion of the first global stocktake (GST), on progress in achievement of the Paris Agreement goals, the outcomes of GST show that emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise and the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of Parties will not keep global temperatures below the 1.5 degree goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Heads of Government also expressed concern to be heading to COP 29 where a New Finance Goal will be articulated to replace the 100bn goal, which has not yet been met, even as developing countries require trillions to deal with the escalating impacts of climate change. Developed country parties have not provided enough finance at scale, technology and capacity building support required to help developing countries tackle their pressing needs to build their resilience, especially in adapting to the adverse and increasingly catastrophic impacts of climate change. The clear absence of definitive timelines for action and quantitative commitments for scaling up of investments, and particularly adaptation finance emerging out of COP 28, cause great concern to our Region.

The Conference noted that Small Island Developing States (SIDS), recognized as the most vulnerable group of countries and a special case for sustainable development, have been facing strong push back against the recognition of their special circumstances especially in the context of climate finance. There is limited international support for special allocations for SIDS within financing arrangements and available climate finance from international and private sources is limited, expensive and too onerous to access.

In light of the preceding, Heads of Government called for CARICOM to take a strategic, unified and coordinated approach to ensure that the Region remains influential in the climate and development arena through engagements with key partners and advocacy groups.

They called for renewed focus by the Region to advocate for inclusion of forests, nature-based solutions and blue carbon into market mechanisms with the aim of articulating clear regional positions and strategies.

Heads of Government reiterated the call for improved readiness programmes, simplified approval procedures, a change to the criteria for determining access to low-cost finance, and for the adoption of programmatic approaches to address the bottlenecks in accessing finance.

The Region reiterates its support for the Bridgetown Initiative’s call to expand capital adequacy of international financial institutions.

Heads recognized that the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, scheduled to be held in Antigua and Barbuda, 27 – 30 May 2024, will be an inflection point for many of these discussions to be articulated. As such, the Region remains committed to participating in the Conference at the highest level.

CARICOM Statement on Matters Related to Financing for Development in the Region

1.    WHEREAS:

1. Heads of Government are of the view that funds should be streamlined to ensure that there are no conflicting mandates.
2. In this regard, Heads of Government support the establishment of the Blue-Green Investment Bank, which is being established by Barbados, whose mandate is exclusively on investments aimed at achieving adaptation and safeguarding resilience in our Region and in our individual Member States.
3. Heads of Government are also of the view that pursuit of the CARICOM Development Fund’s mandate should support investments aimed at stabilising Disadvantaged Countries, regions and sectors, with a view to achieving high levels of long-term economic growth in our Region and our individual Members States. 
4. Heads of Government noted the existence of substantial amounts of funds held by households and the private sector in the financial institutions of the Region, both bank and non-bank. A fraction of these deposits could be mobilised to finance Bonds issued by the CARICOM Development Fund after consultation with the Regional Central Banks and preserve compliance with the prudential requirements of the financial sector in the respective jurisdictions.

2.    IT WAS AGREED THAT:

1. the Lead Prime Minister for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME),  Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, will coordinate the establishment of a Working Group on Financing for Caribbean Development, to be convened and headed by Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo to address the matter of mobilising financing including from the sources identified above, to be intermediated through the Blue-Green Investment Bank and the CDF to advance the objectives of regional resilience and growth;
2. this Working Group on Financing for Caribbean Development should conclude its work within four months of the current meeting with a view to submitting the Report by the next meeting of Heads of Government.