NCHR learned about these crime challenges during a workshop hosted by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, organized by the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI), and co-hosted by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) 4-5 December.
Deputy police commissioners had gathered to take stock of developments and discuss how to build safer communities in the Eastern Caribbean. NCHR had teamed up with Ivar Fahsing from the Norwegian Police University College, William Cecconello from CogJus, and Fernando Guzzi from the Santa Catarina civil police in Brazil. Our task was to share experiences from Brazil , Norway and the UK, and facilitate a discussion on investigative interviewing, the rule of law and human rights as expressed in the international standard set by the CTI manual, Mendez principles, the UN manual on investigative interviewing for criminal cases, and the UNODC e-learning courses on investigative interviewing.
The discussions revealed that the states of the Eastern Caribbean had come a long way in their adoption of investigative interviewing practices. Furthermore, the region has common training architectures and well-established cooperation and communication. Accordingly, there are great opportunities to join efforts and utilise existing practices and structures to localise the international standard. The discussion centred on how advancing interviewing and investigative practices will foment stronger trust and relations with local communities, more accurate and reliable information and evidence, more efficient cooperation, and better investigative outcomes. Thanks to the competence and experience in the room we could move more quickly to discuss implementation. It was agreed that the workshop should be followed by a train the trainers initiative utilising the existing structures and the presence of the UNODC field office in Barbados. The island states of the Caribbean are small in population and hence vulnerable to organized crime. They deserve greater attention and cooperation from the international community given their role at the forefront of transnational crimes that affects us all.
Thank you to CTI, the government of Antigua and Barbuda, OESC, CogJus, The Santa Catarina civil police, The Norwegian Police University college, and not least all the participants for a memorable event. We came away with new colleagues, friends and knowledge.