United Nations Development Programme Jamaica

The first Human Development Report (1990), was commissioned by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and written by a team of experts led by the late Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, who argued that health and education should be given as much weight as income in measuring a country's development, and that the ultimate goal of development is the expansion of people's choices and opportunities.

Since 1990, UNDP has published many global, regional, and sub-regional HDR, but up to now none of them has been focused on challenges and opportunities for human development in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean sub-region.  Taking into account that violent crime is on the rise in many countries of the Caribbean representing a significant threat to Human Development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the decision to prepare the Caribbean HDR on Citizen Security was taken in 2009 by the UNDP Offices in the Caribbean region.

The central idea of the Caribbean Human Development Report (CHDR) 2012 is the need for Caribbean countries to complete the shift from the traditional concept of security - state security, to a broader, multi-dimensional concept that focuses on individual safety and well-being - citizens' security and participation, promoting law enforcement that is fair, accountable, and more respectful of human rights.

The UNDP's approach to compiling this report has been a democratic, people-centered approach involving several multi-stakeholder consultations which guided the research. The approach is data driven and recognizes the transnational nature of security issues.

The process of producing the Caribbean HDR involved extensive and intensive research and consultations. The research included the administration of a citizen security survey to gather primary data on a representative statistical sample of citizens of the seven countries. The data coming from the survey allowed an analysis of the region as a whole, as well as country comparisons. The consultations involved more than 450 people including experts, practitioners and a variety of institutional actors and interested parties from across the region. They were developed using the methodology of Democratic Dialogue and provided the opportunity to triangulate the findings from the data generated by the survey with the experiences of the participants who were involved in the consultative process. The report also relies on secondary data from official sources and academic research.

The Caribbean HDR presents the opportunity for the people of the region to learn more about each other and to enhance collective learning and solutions.  It does not attempt to explore every aspect of the security situation in the sub-region or to replicate or to improve on previous efforts, but rather, to extend them. There are unavoidable overlaps between the HDR and earlier reports dealing with the issue of crime and insecurity, but there is a deliberate attempt to minimize these.

The Caribbean HDR limits the discussion of drug-trafficking and organized crime to their national traits and the violence they generate. This approach calls greater attention to the internal roots of this problem and does so without minimizing the importance of international cooperation in tackling transnational organized crime networks and drug-trafficking. Indeed, the central concern of the report is violence and the responses to this problem.

Objectives of the CHDR:

1. To examine how insecurity and violence have negative impacts on human development
2. Provide policy and other recommendations to participating
   countries
3. Initiate a participatory process and platform for influencing policy

Key Reccomendations from the CHDR:

1. High rates of violent crime can be turned aroundby achieving a better balance between legitimate law enforcement and preventive measures, with a stronger focus on prevention
2. Governments should create or invest more in units to address gender-based violence and adopt more preventive measures to ensure that violence against girls and women is no longer tolerated
3. Because crime harms social cohesion, Caribbean nations must better address youth violence and street gangs, whose crimes are rarely prosecuted
4. Public security requires community collaboration.Youth organizations and groups advocating for women's rights, victims' rights, and human rights should become more active, and Governments should commit to more actively engaging citizens

The new study also highlights other effects of crime that generally go unreported, such as low educational achievement and poor health among youth, physical and psychological pain, suffering and trauma caused by youth violence, reduced quality of life, the marginalization of youth and negative stereotypes that fuel further aggressive behaviour among young people.

The Caribbean Human Development Report 2012 is available on: http://www.regionalcentrelac-undp.org/en/hdr-caribbean.

Inputs for the CHDR:

• National consultations with key stakeholders
• Primary data from national victimization surveys
• Secondary data from local and international academics
• Examination of best practices regionally and internationally

Issues addressed in the CHDR:

1. Trends - Patterns of victimization particularly gender patterns and the victimization of vulnerable groups

2. Youth violence

3. Organized crime and gangs 

4. Risk Factors and Determinants

5. Fear of crime

6. Policy orientation of Caribbean populations

7. State Policies 

8. The Police, Prosecution, Corrections & Courts

9. Identification of best practices in the region