Barbados Urged to Address Youth Violence Through Collective National Effort

There’s a need for a collective, national effort to tackle the growing problem of youth violence in Barbados. The call has come from the President of the Barbados Youth Development Council (BYDC), Caleb Brathwaite, who stressed that while the measures proposed by the Prime Minister are a step in the right direction, a more comprehensive approach is necessary.

“We still believe that the Prime Minister should convene a national meeting of stakeholders — civil society, private sector associations, and community groups — to ensure that collectively we understand what it will take to wrestle this violence to the ground,” he said on Saturday morning during a news conference at the offices of the Division of Youth Affairs in the Sky Mall Complex.

The BYDC has been proactive in addressing the issue of youth violence, urging parents to enroll their children in government-run summer camps to prevent idle behaviour, which often leads to mischief.

Brathwaite emphasised, “Children should not be left idle during this summer, because we understand that when they’re left idle, they can go to mischief. We understand that.”

However, he also pointed out the need for the Ministry of Youth to take a more aggressive approach to showcasing and sharing the opportunities available to young people.

“The council does recognize that there are several opportunities that they can benefit from. However, what happens is that the opportunities are not known,” Brathwaite explained.

He called for youth commissioners to be more proactive in reaching out to young people, acknowledging that while many are doing excellent work, a broader and more intensive effort is needed.

“There must be a more aggressive approach taken in relation to ensuring that you meet people where they are,” he urged.

Brathwaite also stressed the importance of addressing the root causes of crime, which often stem from systemic failures and a lack of community programmes.

“What you’re seeing now is that these crimes are not random. These are people who are in gangs. And you have to be real. There are gangs in Barbados. We have to become real about that,” he asserted.

The BYDC president noted that the formation of gangs is often a consequence of limited community initiatives, leading young people to engage in negative activities such as gambling and violence.

Highlighting the positive impact of community programs, Brathwaite cited a boxing programme in his neighbourhood that keeps young people engaged and away from trouble.

The BYDC head also pointed to the need for a collective effort to combat youth violence.

“It requires a whole-society approach to tackle and wrestle this violence that we are seeing among young people to the ground. We do recognise that it’s not an overnight fix, and some of these measures may probably take a couple months to implement. But what really needs to happen is that we implement the short-term fixes accompanied by the long-term fixes, and we will see the goal of wrestling violence among young people to the ground,” he concluded. (RG)