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Good Afternoon. On behalf of the Secretary General of CARICOM, His Excellency Irwin LaRocque and the Executive Director (Ag) of CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, Mr. Michael Jones, I wish to firstly thank the Government of the Republic of Korea for hosting this important forum and for sharing with us the wonderful culture and true hospitality of their people. I also wish to thank the CARICOM Secretariat for asking us to speak today on what we do and how we do what we do in terms of regional security.
Today, I wish to speak to you on the importance of functional cooperation within CARICOM especially within the security arena. The old adage that no man is an island is one which we at CARICOM IMPACS adhere to religiously. We recognize that for there to be peace and stability, in order to truly be able to address the issue of transnational organized crime and in order to address traditional and new and emerging threats, we must indeed be our brother’s keeper. Since its establishment in 2006 by the CARICOM Heads of Government, CARICOM IMPACS has functioned as the conduit through which-
1) The Region shares its information and intelligence;
2) Operational standing committees comprising Commissioners of Police, Military Chiefs, Comptrollers of Customs, Chiefs of Immigration, Heads of Intelligence and Financial Intelligence Units and now Heads of Correctional Facilities are able to meet and identify regional trends which are placed before a regional body of Ministers of National Security and ultimately the CARICOM Heads of Government;
CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS)
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REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
3) Regional resources are mobilized recognizing that there is a merit to addressing risks and threats in a coordinated manner while recognizing economies of scale;
4) National security is supported and strengthened where required.
In order to fulfil these mandates, the following are necessary- 1) Inter-Country sharing and coordination
2) Sub-Regional and Regional Coordination and Cooperation 3) International Cooperation.
The structure described is known as the Regional Framework for Crime and Security and is driven from the bottom up. In other words, it is a structure that facilitates the operational practitioners to present a threat picture and to recommend the way forward which would address effectively boost capacity in Member States to address a given problem. The results of the operational meetings are then further pursued by CARICOM IMPACS to ensure policy, project development and implementation bearing in mind that fifteen small countries many with fledgling economies and small work forces would need solutions which take all these considerations on board. CARICOM has a Regional Crime and Security Strategy which guides its work in areas such as transnational organized crime, migration, cybersecurity, financial crimes and corruption to name a few. Recently, the Heads of Government approved the CARICOM Counter Terrorism Strategy which will see more activities occurring as we seek to sensitise Member States and move towards the prevention of violent extremism.
Today, however, given the theme of my presentation, I would like to highlight a couple of successful programs run by CARICOM which demonstrate why cooperation is indeed
important and necessary. I will seek to highlight examples of sub-Regional Coordination and Cooperation and International Cooperation and perhaps even be bold enough to suggest ways in which perhaps, this collective body can explore cooperation in some common but significant areas. Because time is limited, I will highlight only a couple of programmes but I have left a power point presentation which goes into much more detail and can be viewed at your leisure.
While at the national levels inter-country sharing happens at both the operational and strategic levels; at the Regional level, the Heads of Government established a structure that even when formed, may not have envisaged the level of cooperation that is happening today. CARICOM IMPACS is a three-pronged entity comprising the Headquarters (headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago) and two sub- Agencies, the Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC) (Headquartered in Barbados) and the Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre (RIFC) (also in Trinidad and Tobago). One example of regional cooperation is as follows- While the IMPACS HQ’s mandate is research and development, policy development, project development and implementation; the JRCC manages the world’s only multilateral Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) Programme and soon it will manage the only multilateral Advance Cargo Information System (ACIS) Programme. In fact, the IMPACS Executive Director (Ag) will be addressing the Central American Sub Region in the next 6 days as they wish to consider implementing a similar regime. In 2006, 10 countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago) came together and designated the JRCC as the entity to receive their advance passenger information on their behalf.
This decision allowed for a two-pronged approach in risk management as it relates to passenger movements. This included, the JRCC receiving the information and analyzing using designated regional databases populated by participating Member States, while Members simultaneously receive the information through their immigration departments via the respective border management systems. This structure allows both national and regional to undertake a more fulsome risk assessment, since in addition to
the national assessments, an independent entity (with the requisite legal status) can see trends across the board. However, while this was successful, the Region recognized its own geo-political and socio-economic realities and determined that in order for the programme to be more successful that it had to reach out to countries where there are large Caribbean diasporas and so for the last 11 years, the United States Customs and Border Patrol and for the last three years, the United Kingdom Immigration Enforcement have been embedded in the JRCC assisting Member States with their risk assessments and targeting of criminal elements. The joint programme has yielded significant operational and strategic successes especially in the areas of drug trafficking, arms trafficking and human trafficking.
Today, I am proud to state that not only are we seeking to expand international partnerships but with the assistance of the European Union, IMPACS has now brought countries such as Belize, Haiti and Montserrat onto the APIS while the Government of the United States of America has assisted in bringing on The Bahamas and Suriname.
Therefore, all fifteen countries are now part of the system and the Associate Members are currently receiving letters of entrustment to join the system. By the end of this year, all Customs Departments will be privy to the APIS and by mid-2019, the Agency will also put the system in place at Special Branches of the various police forces and/or other designated specialized units.
IMPACS has sought to further strengthen its information and sharing component beyond to our neighbors such as Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten, where there is a significant CARICOM population but also recognizing that we all share the Caribbean Basin and have similar threats and that the Caribbean Sea not only binds us culturally but enables us to share similar threats. We have, therefore, also signed agreements with the Dominican Republic and Panama and with the Central American Integration System (SICA). Increasing our nodes allows for greater risk assessment capacity, better chances of interdiction and the ability to share with our neighbors near and far the newest and latest trends which may one day affect them and vice versa.
A second example of effective cooperation is the CARICOM Cluster System and specifically the CARICOM Cluster. The Cluster comprises, the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS)In 2013, CARICOM Heads of Government approved the CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy which would guide national, regional and international activities within CARICOM. While for the most part the immediate and significant threats have not changed, such as transnational organized crime (Drugs, Arms and Human trafficking), proliferation of gangs, financial crimes and corruption (to name a few), we have seen issues such as pandemics, climate change and migration which were classified as future risks now becoming immediate and significant threats. This requires significant cooperation with other entities such as Health, Climate Change and even civil aviation to name a few and in this regard, the security cluster has been successful since its inception.
In 2016, the organizations would have been recipient of training under the European External Action Services which built capacity as it relates to Early Warning services and the necessity for such in the Region. The trainings culminated in the development of Standing Operating Procedures and Joint Civil Protection Plans which though not used in its entirety have led to the improved way that we jointly address issues such as disasters. This culminated in what is now termed Exercise Synergy where current operational practices as well as the drafted procedures were put to the test. Since then, each Agency has a sound appreciation for the other’s domain. Both the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and IMPACS are currently seeking to do two more exercises by mid-2019 focusing on pandemics and migration. On looking at the threat picture which was presented before, CARICOM IMPACS cannot do it all alone and depends on the ability to coordinate with its regional and international partners to ensure a safe, coordinated and valuable response to the continued threats for the benefit of the CARICOM Members.
From these two examples, you can clearly see national, regional and international cooperation. While success can and is measured by numbers of persons interdicted
with illegal drugs or arms or even when a human trafficking ring is busted what cannot be measured at times, is the number of lives saved with one less gun on the streets, less drugs available to the youth or even less possibility of someone getting involved in drug smuggling and lives which are ultimately saved from being trafficked and possibly entering into modern slavery.
Finally, on behalf of CARICOM, I welcome and the ability to speak here today and to highlight what can be possible areas of cooperation under this forum. CARICOM has shown an interest in the non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction through the creation of a 1540 Coordinating Mechanism in the Region. However, significant training as well as information and intelligence sharing capacity is still required in this area and in the area of precursor chemicals. With the advent of the CARICOM Advance Cargo Information System, it is our intention to monitor trends and to ensure that these trends feed into an early warning mechanism which will serve both our Members and partners alike. Other possible areas of cooperation include but are not limited to Cyber Security (in keeping with the Region’s approved cyber security plan) and again the development of information and intelligence capacity in this area both at the operational and strategic levels. Finally, I have been mentioning early warning systems. This has become especially important in recent times as the Region looks towards not only mitigation against the traditional threats but even more so now with issues such as climate change coming to the fore, there is a need to seek to integrate security and climate change as we have felt the first hand effects of climate change in the Caribbean through exceedingly strong hurricanes (similarly in this region with typhoons) and with other phenomenon such as the Sargassum sea weed which has hindered many in the tourism sector this year. These, I believe, ought to be part of future conversations as we seek to cooperate in the area of security.
Again, let me reiterate my thanks to the Government and the people of the Republic of Korea and we look forward to advancing our cooperation in the area of security.