EDITORIAL: Continued campaign
There are ongoing campaigns about many important topics in Barbados and these are useful to create awareness for certain causes and to help persons avoid dangerous situations. Many of the campaigns are health-related such as the COVID-19 and Dengue campaigns, as well as Nutrition campaigns. There are also international campaigns from organisations such as UNICEF and PAHO on the same topics.
June 12, 2021 saw the launch of an updated Anti-violence campaign in Barbados, the campaign is mostly geared towards the youth who have been exposed to a rising level of violence in society in recent years and need to be discouraged from becoming involved in such behaviour. Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Dwight Sutherland, indicated that there was violence at every level of society that needed to be addressed. The campaign is a multi-agency collaboration with assistance from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Royal Barbados Police Force and the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, among others. Corporate Barbados has also been asked to get on board and join the campaign. The plan for the campaign is to create a safe, enriching, productive space now and for the future.
This programme is not a new one and has been revamped at a time where it is of the utmost importance. As far back as 2018, teachers were given training as part of the anti-violence programme on how to encourage other means of resolution of conflict and how to deal with students who have behavioural problems. With new funding, the campaign can be even more impactful on the Barbadian society. It is also important that the Ministries place focus on finding the root causes of the increases in violence, so that those too can be tackled as a way to lessen violence.
The programmes, which form part of the campaign, will use all forms of media and will include school programmes, a social intervention programme, and will also look at building healthy teen relationships.
Just like this campaign, violence is nothing new but the types of violence experienced recently and the gruesome nature create greater concern. There now appears to be a serious problem with gang violence in this country and we are experiencing a greater number of murders which appear to be premeditated. Recent news reports suggested that some of the violence are by persons who are not even involved in the dispute, but are third parties hired to send a message. The problem is even more serious because of the ease with which these persons are able to obtain guns, from simple hand guns to assault rifles. Therefore, as the violence evolves, the public campaigns need to evolve to really display to persons the consequences of violence. These consequences include a lack of freedom and life in prison, a criminal record which may hinder persons from finding suitable employment, the constant fear of retaliation for violence committed and even death if such retaliation does occur.
At this stage, it is not clear whether such a campaign will be successful in limiting violence. Some have even asked if research was done to see if such campaigns worked before the relaunch occurred. It is hoped that the programmes can reach those at risk of falling into a life of violence, but those people must be provided with alternative tools for dispute resolution and for productive activities.
In our view, a consistent anti-violence campaign is necessary, so that young people are aware that there are alternatives to a life of violence. The Barbadian society needs as much assistance as it can get with returning to a safe path.