CARICOM 1.6. CARICOM comprises 12 islands and 3 continental states 3 within a geographical zone that lies directly in the path of one of the most active international drug trades: between the world’s primary source of cocaine (the Andean Region of South America) and its primary consumer markets (the United States and Europe). Adding to the challenge of the international drug trade, CARICOM Member States have extensive coastlines and vast territorial waters to patrol, and lack adequate law enforcement capabilities. The 12 islands are spread over approximately 60,000 square kilometres of the Caribbean Sea which has an area of 2.75 million square kilometres. Just over 2% of CARICOM’s area is land, within an overall area that is three quarters the size of the 27 Member States of the European Union combined. This makes it extremely challenging for each state to monitor its coastlines and territorial waters which are, on average, 15 times larger than their land mass. Four member states share land borders with other sovereign territories. 1.7. Although diverse in terms of population size, 4 all the Member States of CARICOM are considered small states. The Community has inherent sustainable developmental challenges which include small populations, very large maritime frontiers, susceptibility to external shocks and natural disasters, vulnerability to global economic developments and the threat of both domestic and transnational organised crime. 1.8. As a Community with approximately 17,000,000 million people, over half of which are in Haiti, CARICOM Member States are committed to the principles and values of democratic choice, freedom, justice, prosperity, respect for and promotion of human rights and good governance. CARICOM’s crime and security mandate is guided by these principles and values all of which reflect the convictions of the Community. The Impact of Crime 1.9. Most CARICOM Member States have high rates of homicide and violent crime. This has reduced citizen security, impeded socio-economic development, eroded confidence in nation building and heightened fear among the population. The Caribbean Human Development Report (2012) indicates “that Region wide, only 46% of respondents said that, overall, they felt secure or very secure living in their countries”. 5 1.10. The greatest threats to the Region’s security and sustainable development are transnational organised criminal activities involving illicit drugs and illegal guns; gangs and organised crime; cyber-crime; financial crimes and corruption. Tier 1 Threats are the main drivers of criminality, have already crippled the development of a number of Member States, and have the potential to undermine all hopes for socio-economic development in CARICOM and the advancement of the CSME. 3 The islands include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. The 3 continental states are Belize, Guyana and Suriname. 4 The populations of these countries range generally from over 47,000 (St. Kitts and Nevis) to just under 2.7 million with Jamaica, Trinidad and Haiti being the only of these to exceed 1 million and Haiti standing out at a population of over 7 million. 5 See UNDP Report (2012). 14