Project Ploughshares is undertaking three initiatives to strengthen the capacity of governments and civil society in the Caribbean to reduce gun violence and crime

1. The first initiative is a three-year project launched in 2008 to increase community safety and the reduction of armed violence in the Caribbean by supporting the civil society coalition, Caribbean Coalition on Development and Reduction of Armed Violence. The project undertakes community-based research, training, policy development and public engagement, and is funded by CIDA.

2. The second initiative is a two-year project that started in mid-2010 to assist CARICOM member states in their preparations for Arms Trade Treaty negotiations leading to the Treaty conference in 2012 at the United Nations. This project is funded by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada through the Global Peace and Security Fund Program.

3. The third initiative is a three-year project launched in the fall of 2010 in partnership with the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the University of the West Indies, and Caribbean civil society organizations with funding from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada through the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program.

The project supports:

• the management of information on small arms,
• research on private security companies in the Caribbean,
• the development of policies and programs to address gun violence and crime, and
• civil society engagement with CARICOM officials on reducing gun violence.

Some facts

• Between 2005 and 2008, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) registered 9,733 homicides, giving it the highest homicide rate in the world; of these homicides, more than 70 per cent involved guns.
• The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that at least 50 per cent of all cocaine smuggled from South America to the United States and Europe transits the Caribbean.
• According to the Association of Caribbean Police Chiefs, there are as many as 1.6 million illegal guns in the English-speaking Caribbean, a region with no domestic manufacturing of firearms. 

Per capita homicide rates: Caribbean v. other regions

Recent Publications

War in Paradise: Civil society groups battle Caribbean gun violence July 2011
Security as Commodity: The Global Growth of Private Security Companies April 2011
Talking Crime in the Caribbean with Francis Forbes: An Interview December 2010
Tackling Trouble in Paradise: Regional Action on Small Arms in the Caribbean May 2010
Evolving Approaches to Armed Violence Reduction in the Caribbean May 2010
Strengthening CARICOM Implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms January 2010