The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat will host its first regional conference on Youth, Crime and Violence from October 10-11, 2006.

The OECS Secretariat will host its first regional conference on Youth, Crime and Violence from October 10-11, 2006.The inaugural event, to be staged at the Cara Suites Hotel in St. Lucia is part of the youth development activities to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Basseterre. “Youth and Community” is a phrase embraced in the theme for this the Silver Jubilee Year of the OECS. Director of the OECS Social and Sustainable Development Division Dr. Vasantha Chase links the upcoming regional youth dialogue as a value added component to the role of the OECS Secretariat’s Education Reform Unit.

In addition, during the 43rd meeting of the OECS Authority held in June in St. Kitts and Nevis the OECS Education Reform Unit prepared and presented a paper on School Discipline to the Heads of Government.  Based on the recommendations  coming out of that paper the heads recognized the importance of an OECS Youth Initiative that should be part of the Secretariat’s portfolio we in the secretariat then felt that this Youth Initiative should be under the patronage of the Honourable Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit.

The OECS Conference is to gather and share information on youth, crime and violence in the OECS region; discuss and disseminate information on data available to policy makers, institutional directors and youth leaders; and inform crime prevention and intervention practices using local data.

The recommendations coming out of this conference in St. Lucia will be incorporated into this OECS Youth Initiative and will be presented to the 44th meeting of the OECS Authority scheduled for Antigua and Barbuda in in November and once the Authority has endorsed this Youth initiative we hope to launch it before the year is out in Dominica-Chase.

Dominica’s Prime Minister, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit will attend the OECS Conference on Youth, Crime and Violence. The OECS Secretariat sees the conference Youth, Crime and Violence as a major first step in its plans to acknowledge and address issues and challenges facing youth in the sub-region, particularly as the Organisation prepares to advance into a full Economic Union.  Papers presented will therefore become part of the growing literature on youth in the OECS and the wider Caribbean region.Participants for the OECS Conference on Youth, Crime and Violence. 

The OECS Secretariat anticipates that the conference will generate rich discussions among participants on a number of areas of interest to the youth, under the broad theme of Youth, Crime and Violence. Some of the topics will include School Violence, Drugs, Economics, Socialisation, Gender, Public Policy and Legal issues. The OECS Secretariat plans to use the recommendations of the conference to inform policies, refine methodologies, and enhance prevention strategies, programmes and projects for OECS Member States.