Antigua and Barbuda leads call for regional strategy on reducing violent crime

NEW YORK, 27th September, 2025…Antigua and Barbuda is at the forefront of an effort to tackle the scourge of violent crime that has touched the shores of many islands in the Caribbean.

The twin island nation is among the several countries of the region that have not been spared from the alarming escalation in violent incidents and Minister of Foreign Affairs the Hon. EP Chet Greene used a meeting of his Caricom counterparts on the margins of the UN General Assembly to advocate for regional strategy on the grave and urgent matter.

Minister Greene, in leading a timely and robust discussion on the proliferation of gun violence in the Caribbean, pushed for a cohesive regional approach to cutting off or disrupting the flow of illicit weapons into the region and mitigating against criminal activity.

The meeting of Caricom Foreign Ministers, otherwise known as COFCOR, was enthusiastic in its endorsement of Minister Greene’s sentiments and vowed to move the conversations forward.

Minister Greene’s intervention comes only a few weeks after Antigua and Barbuda led a National Day of Prayer in response to the increase in violent crime. The success of the event and the positive results that followed prompted the Government to make it an annual national event.

The COFCOR is proposing a multi-layered approach that takes into account the fact that crime is the region is “not an issue that any one Member State can resolve in isolation.”

“Regional collaboration is critical to tackling gun crime effectively. While gangs may form locally, the weapons, tactics, and strategies they use are often developed through international networks. Collective action is essential to respond comprehensively to the growing crisis,” COFCOR stated.

Forming a major part of the meeting’s agenda was the adoption of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States, the ABAS, the outcome document of the landmark 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States, SIDS4, which Antigua and Barbuda hosted back in May.

Minister Greene expressed both his pride and delight at the COFCOR placing its full weight of support behind the ABAS with a call for Caricom member states to get behind the SIDS Centre of Excellence and to ensure the UN Secretary General creates an Inter-Agency Task Force to hold the process accountable.

COFCOR wants to ensure that the monitoring and evaluation framework for the ABAS is completed no later than the second quarter of 2025.

The ABAS represents a bold and ambitious initiative that establishes a 10 year framework for SIDS to achieve resilient prosperity by addressing some of the unique challenges they face as vulnerable island nations.

Joining Minister Greene to provide technical support at the meeting were Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Walton Webson and First Secretary at the Antigua and Barbuda Mission Asha Challenger.