US budgets $77M for regional security in 2012

Oct 14, 2011 News

– Guyana to get riverain patrol boats

Guyana is slated to receive riverain patrol boats and related equipment next year through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).
This was disclosed at the second meeting of the CBSI Commission, which is being held at the International

Co-chair of the CBSI Commission, Astona Browne, addressing yesterday’s forum.

Convention Centre at Pattensen.
During the meeting, Julissa Reynoso, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America and the Caribbean, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of State, announced to security officials and international development partners that the 2012 budget of US$ 77million would be used to support greater coordination and control of border and maritime routes, training and capacity building for law enforcement and justice sector, even while continuing previous efforts in education and workforce development for vulnerable youth and at-risk populations.
Reynoso announced that in the next few months, her country would be delivering to the Eastern Caribbean, high-speed interdiction boats and relevant equipment as part of the US Secure Seas Effort. Those boats would complement ones provided to the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica as part of a broader regional maritime security program.
“We are proud of the accomplishments of the past year under the CBSI,” she said. “We have encountered many challenges but we believe that the CBSI provides a useful and necessary framework for coordination and collaboration with our partners in the Region.”
The CBSI is a shared regional security partnership between CARICOM Member States, the Dominican Republic and the United States.
The CBSI Commission meeting will conclude today and already the partners have identified three core objectives to deal with the development threats facing the Caribbean.
These are to (1) reduce illicit trafficking through programs ranging from counter narcotics to reducing the flow of illegal arms/light weapons; (2) advance public safety and security through programs ranging from reducing crime and violence to improving border security; and (3) promote social justice through programs designed to promote justice sector reform, combat government corruption, and assist vulnerable populations at risk of recruitment into criminal organizations.
According to a statement from the CARICOM Secretariat, Reynoso was of the firm opinion that the partnership to date had spawned measurable results in the three priority areas.
In the area of law enforcement information sharing, she reported on surveys of fingerprint processes, equipment, recordkeeping and training in six Member States, and that automated fingerprint identification system equipment were now being purchased for those six Member States.
In the area of justice reform, she explained that the CBSI had agreed to dedicate a regional legal advisor to develop a task force to address critical crime issues including homicides and to advise on legal reforms.
In addition, the US and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) were working through the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) to screen passengers into Caribbean ports of entry.
Training on integration of information into national databases, regional border interdiction exercises and border enforcement training for fifty CARICOM customs, immigration and police officers were also planned for the coming months.

Julissa Reynoso, Deputy Asst. Secretary for CAC Bureau

In the area of promoting social justice, Ms Reynoso stated that the partnership was supporting education and youth workforce development including youth entrepreneurship.
The US is also working with its CBSI partners to promote effective prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of financial crimes, including money laundering, terrorism financing and public corruption. Preliminary assessments have been conducted in Trinidad and Guyana, with technical financial crimes assistance and training slated to begin next month.
Amidst concerns that the CBSI partnership had not made the impact that it should have, Ms Reynoso noted that in its first year there might have been challenges but in the coming year, things would be better.
Guyana’s Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, in his feature address, said that he was pleased with the work that has begun in putting programmes in place to address the region’s most challenging security issues.
However, he stressed that more needs to be done to enable the region’s people to benefit further.
“We need to energise the process in order to begin delivering for the benefit of the people whose governments are part and parcel of this partnership.
He said that the region is very fortunate to have the United States of America as a partner in regional security matters that are of interest to both sides.
According to Rohee, it has long been accepted that only through partnerships can the Region effectively fight crime in all its manifestations.
“The inextricable link between the fight at the national level and the fight at the international level is unavoidable, and it would be a serious error of judgement were the two to be divorced from each other, thus a stabilising factor and a major pillar for maintaining this link, is the partnership which has been established between the Caribbean countries and the United States,” Rohee said.
He stressed that Guyana is committed to fighting crime in all its manifestations, and in this regard, several anti-crime laws were recently passed in the just concluded ninth Parliament.
US Ambassador to Guyana Brent Hardt, in his address to participants at yesterday’s opening ceremony, said that the CBSI has emerged as a truly genuine partnership among 16 nations of the Caribbean and the United States of America.
According to Ambassador Hardt, the partnership has evolved, with each member state sharing responsibility for ensuring progress toward a collective CBSI goals and objectives.
According to the envoy, it is imperative that the CBSI achieve its objectives, similar to the successes of other regional security bodies so that there will be no sub-region that will be seen as more hospitable for drug and other illicit trafficking.
“Given this broad regional scope, it is important to recognise that the CBSI, as a sub-regional partnership, also provides a vehicle through which other nations throughout the world with interest in the Caribbean can coordinate their regional activities with CBSI partner nations to foster more efficient and effective multilateral efforts,” Ambassador Hardt said.
In this regard, he welcomed the active involvement of countries such as Canada and Britain, and bodies like the European Union, the United Nations, Organization of American States and other partners who are making valuable contributions to the region’s security.
Ambassador Hardt added that the meeting would provide the partnership with the opportunity to take stock of collective accomplishments to date, review the results of the Technical Working Groups and use those results to lay the ground work for Second Caribbean-United States Security Cooperation Dialogue set for the Bahamas in November.
“At the end of our gathering tomorrow (today) we hope that all participants will be able to return home with renewed commitment to the CBSI partnership and a renewed belief that we can work together to enhance the safety and security of our citizens through our cooperation, creativity and perseverance,” Ambassador Hardt concluded.
The Dominican Republic’s Ambassador-at-Large to CARICOM, His Excellency Juan Guiliani Cury, in adding his remarks, outlined several priorities which the partnership had been addressing. Those include organised crime, youth crimes and maritime and aerial space security.
“We are committed to fighting those evils,” he averred. “Our country will work closely and with courage to achieve this extremely important task.”
Ms. Astona Browne, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, St. Kitts and Nevis and Co-Chair of the CBSI Commission asserted that significant strides had been made in combating crime in the Region and avowed that “we will advance with our mandate to take security in the region to a higher level.” However, she warned that “we cannot survive alone.”
“We must build strong bridges of cooperation with traditional and non-traditional states and agencies that are committed to the cause of global peace,” she said.
Notwithstanding the perception that progress was slow, Ms Browne asserted, “We will continue to interrupt the plans of criminals who would venture to move through our borders and disrupt those who would dare to perpetrate criminal activities in our waters.”
The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative was launched in May 2010 following US President Barrack Obama’s announcement to plough an initial US$45 million into the Caribbean to start a “shared security partnership” among CARICOM Member States, the Dominican Republic and the United States,with a view to tackling crime and violence in both regions.