CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque says the social, psychological and economic cost of crime and violence in the region is too high, and the impact, particularly on youth, needs to be addressed.
He made the observation and plea at the opening of the 29th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) (Youth and Culture) at CARICOM headquarters in Guyana yesterday.
LaRocque said even though it was a minority of youth in the region who had fallen victim to a life of crime, it was an important group that urgently needed to be assisted.
The theme of the COHSOD meeting is ‘Leveraging CARICOM’s Human and Cultural Assets for the Development of the Community’, and LaRocque said it spoke pointedly to the tremendous opportunity for CARICOM to develop its youth and cultural assets.
