Tipping Point

Last Tuesday, the Americas Programme of the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a panel discussion titled: 'Jamaica at the Tipping Point: Civil Society versus Transnational Crime', at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The discussion focused on the state of Jamaican civil society and the challenges posed by transnational organised crime.

It was moderated by Dr Richard L. Bernal, Alternative Executive Director for the Caribbean Office Inter-American Development Bank Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies. The following are excerpts from the presentation by Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks.

"Today's topic posits two main arguments -

1. That Jamaica is at the "tipping point" poised to enter (fall into) a new reality, and

2. The tipping point takes place in the context of (if not triggered by) the confrontation between civil society and transnational crime.

We agree that Jamaica is at a tipping point or, as we see it, a point of catharsis. We also agree that at the heart of this catharsis is an unprecedented confrontation between the state with civil society support on the one hand, and the local criminal networks that are linked to, or are integral parts of wider transnational criminal networks, on the other.

How did we come to this point and where are we headed as a nation?

• Serious socio-economic problems that have developed in the context of decades of weak economic performance, exacerbated by the global economic crisis;
  
• Persistent poverty, especially in inner-city communities lacking in many social amenities;
  
• Criminal gangs had become the overlords of some of these communities through fear and favour, dispensing their largesse to procure the support of the citizens and using violence to impose their criminal will and embed themselves in communities. This posed great challenges to conventional policing measures and social intervention.

Many gangs located themselves in politically defined zones and in the past associated themselves with political candidates or parties, and in some cases actively supported them. Even though new sources of criminal wealth made these gangs independent, they retained their territorial alignments and in some cases de facto political alignments.

Jamaica's unenviable location between the main sources of illicit drugs and the main centres of demand has made it particularly attractive to transnational criminal networks as a transit point for illicit drugs.

The nefarious linkage between narco-trafficking and arms smuggling, as in many other countries, has greatly challenged our security forces.

The resources available to these gangs from drug trafficking are mind-boggling. It has been estimated that in some major supplier countries in the hemisphere, 2009 earnings from narcotics trafficking may be as high as US$38 billion, far greater than the combined GDP of many countries in our region. These resources, and the arsenals provided by the smuggling of illicit arms and ammunition, empowered and emboldened the Jamaican branches and allies of the transnational criminal networks to threaten the state and launch an armed offensive against its institutions, ostensibly in defence of the subject of an extradition request from the USA.

Unprecedented assault

For Jamaica, this unprecedented assault on its institutions and threat to law-abiding citizens was the proverbial tipping point. The criminal networks erected paramilitary-styled barricades in west Kingston, booby-trapped with explosive devices. They brazenly attacked police stations, burning two to the ground. Their lethal attacks on our security forces left three officers dead. Death threats were made to representatives of the state as well as to individuals and organisations, (including the media) whom they perceived as opposing their interests.

The Government of Jamaica declared a State of Emergency on May 23, and deployed our well-trained military force alongside the constabulary to abort the criminal designs. In so doing, the Government defined the "pivot of this tipping point" by disrupting and moving to dismantle not just the criminal networks that confronted the security forces, but all criminal networks in the country. This campaign continues.

The Government was not alone. Civil society, availing itself of all the tools available in a modern democracy - unfettered media, advanced telecommunications available to all, freedom of speech and assembly - pushed for resolute but balanced action against the criminal networks. Civil society, in its diversity united on one clear theme - the state could not resile from the threat posed by the criminal networks, but should act decisively and judiciously to combat the existential threat that confronted our nation.

Civil society remains at the heart of the campaign to seize this moment, as they will be at the heart of the long, uphill road to transformation. They are at the forefront of calls for accountability from our security forces, complementing the Government's own leadership and its deliberate measures to ensure this. This includes the deployment of the public defender and the political ombudsman to address allegations of human-rights abuses and concerns from citizens affected by the actions of the security forces.

Civil society is deeply involved in the debate on enhanced governance that is also a feature of this transformational thrust in Jamaica today. Its views are being given great weight in the dialogue on new anti-crime legislation, especially those that would demand greater restrictions on individual liberties.

Civil society is also deeply involved in the all-important social intervention agenda that is a sine qua non for the success of our effort to transform Jamaican society. This intensive social intervention campaign will initially be focused on the most vulnerable com-munities. In it, we will address the basic needs of these communities while moving to establish sustainable longer-term oppor-tunities for training, employment and social welfare that address the needs of all Jamaicans. Private-sector groups engaged in economic activity and social welfare will play an important role in this thrust. It is the actions that we take as a nation that will make the tipping point a point of transformation.

Common challenges

Jamaica's experiences cannot be divorced from the common challenges that face countries and regions throughout this hemisphere and beyond. The Organisation of American States, has correctly concluded that transnational crime, especially trafficking in illicit drugs and the smuggling of weapons, poses the greatest threat to the security and stability of countries in our hemisphere. These threats will only be routed when there is determined collaboration of supply, transit and demand countries committed to dismantling criminal transnational networks. We must take decisive steps to fulfil our shared commitment to finding new and more effective ways to deal with both the demand and supply sides of illicit drug trafficking as well as of the illegal trade in guns and ammunition.

Our call for united action is not an abstract one, we recognise that without the co-operation that we share with the United States and Canada in our robust intelligence and law enforcement arrangements, and without the material and logistical support that we share, our efforts to combat the threat posed by transnational criminal networks would be even more difficult. Furthermore, it must be recognised that despite the much-debated extradition request in respect of Christopher Coke, our active mutual legal assistance programme and our extradition arrangements with the United States continue to have a real impact on the problem. In fact, we have successfully extradited 29 accused persons to the United States over the past two and a half years.

We look forward to strengthening our co-operation with the USA, Canada and other friendly countries in breaking the back of this serious threat. Jamaica is doing its part at a great price in lives and livelihood, but its resolve will not be shaken - the stakes are too high for us to do otherwise.