​By Aabigayle McIntosh

The Head of the Directorate of Gender Affairs is examining a new approach to tackling organized crime.

Jamie Saunders spoke in a state media interview following his recent visit to Colombia for a high-level meeting.

According to Saunders men are typically looked upon as the main perpetrators but in recent times they have seen many women become prominent figures in organized crime in terms of things like drug, and human trafficking.

Additionally, some women use the stereotype to evade detection and accountability.

He also shared that the workshop highlighted the fact that sometimes difficult socio-economic circumstances increase youth susceptibility to organized crime.

“Rehabilitation is one of the things we want to build into the legislation particularly about the age of the offenders so that we can ensure that recidivism rates of persons immersed in org crimes can be lessened and also generally I think a committee being in place can ensure that any legislation that is created can be very gender and youth-specific,” the Gender Affairs Director explained.

He added he will be sharing this information with colleagues in Antigua and Barbuda and will then work towards the creation of a tool kit.

“This will look at organized crime and how to mainstream gender and human rights consideration into our organized crime framework as this will take into consideration our local context and our unique circumstances. I think that will go a long way into a practical set of guidelines towards how we can do this within our ecosystem,” Saunders said.