The Advocacy Organization, Zandoli International has supported Prime Minister Allen Chastanet in his assertion that deportees from the United States are affecting the crime rate in the Caribbean.
The Chairman of Zandoli’s Committee Against Sex Crimes, Jonathan Bhagan says while the official statistics from the US government indicate that the total number of deportees returned to St. Lucia in the last 5 years is less than 100, this still represents an influx of potentially dangerous individuals to a developing state, which lacks a highly sophisticated law enforcement apparatus.
With regard to Sex Offenders, St. Lucia, like the majority of the Caribbean region, does not have an official Sex Offender Registry database. Ideally, a registered Sex Offender deported from the US to St. Lucia, would be automatically registered on a Sex Offenders Registry in St. Lucia. This cannot yet happen. Further, crucial policies that are essential by-products of Sex Offender Registries, such as legislation to prevent sex offenders with certain inclinations from having certain jobs are also lacking. eg. a pedophile not being able to have a job at a kindergarten.
Bhagan says the Caribbean Committee against Sex Crimes is keen to work with both the St. Lucian and US governments to enact the necessary policies, which would cause the Caribbean region to comply with international best practice, with regard to Sex Crimes.
To this end it has drafted a treaty, which, when enacted, will mandate that every Caribbean island has its own local Sex Offenders Registry. These local registries shall then be amalgamated to create a regional Registry, which shall be accessible to the US government and other international stakeholders.
The US government shall benefit from these Sex Offender Registry policies, because whenever a CARICOM national enters the US, the US immigration and national security apparatus shall have access to this important information from the Caribbean region.
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