On 26 October, the Ministry of Education and Youth (MoEY) of Jamaica, in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), hosted a roundtable meeting on responses to tackle the presence of firearms in schools. The roundtable meeting aimed at promoting dialogue at the national level on this phenomenon between the different stakeholders and sectors.
During the event, the current context of the presence of firearms in Jamaican schools, their possible impacts, and the challenges that this problem represents were discussed. Representatives from MoEY, the Jamaica Police Force and the Jamaica Planning Institute exchanged views and experiences highlighting some of the measures being implemented to address gun violence in schools.
Discussions focused on preventive approaches across the Latin American and Caribbean region. “While Jamaica has not had many incidents involving the use of firearms on school campuses, it is important that educators and agents of change must work together to proactively identify preventive approach”, emphasized a participant.
UNLIREC informed those discussions with a presentation on the main findings of its regional study ‘Firearms in Latin America and Caribbean Schools- Approaches, Challenges and Responses’. During the presentation, UNLIREC highlighted the main of the manifestations of this phenomenon as well as good practices which are implemented across the region.
To promote the exchange of good practices, the Ministry of Public Education from Costa Rica participated in the roundtable, sharing its initiative entitled ‘Gun Free Schools’, a public policy that is being implemented at the national level in all public schools in Costa Rica and that has includes in regulatory frameworks, protocols and guidelines, data collection, awareness raising campaigns and concrete actions which engage young people.
This virtual roundtable forms part of the activities carried out under the Saving Lives Entity (SALIENT) fund initiative in Jamaica, which seeks to operationalize and mainstreaming small-arms control into development efforts and policies in Jamaica.
The SALIENT fund initiative is implemented in Jamaica by the Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and its Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
UNLIREC, in collaboration with UNESCO, conducts webinar ‘Violence in schools: challenges and responses’
On 25 May 2022, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), in collaboration with UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean, carried out a webinar on ‘Violence in Schools: Challenges and Responses’ for Jamaican audience. Twenty-four participants, including 18 women, from Ministry of Education and Youth, University of West Indies, Jamaican Constabulary Force, Ministry of National Security, Civil Society Organizations, UNESCO, UNICEF, and Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency of Jamaica actively participated in the webinar.
Over the past few decades, media reports of incidents involving firearms in schools have been increasingly recurring in many countries of the region. These incidents which include both the presence and use of firearms inside schools have led to injuries and fatalities as a result of intentional and accidental gunshots. This phenomenon poses enormous challenges in ensuring safe learning spaces for children and adolescents in the region.
Against this backdrop, the webinar included a presentation from UNESCO on the impacts of violence in the region and highlighted responses that can be adopted to combat violence in schools. Meanwhile, UNLIREC presented its study on ‘Firearms in Latin America and Caribbean Schools- Approaches, Challenges and Responses’. With a focus on the Caribbean, UNLIREC presented a regional overview of armed violence in schools and shared different responses being implemented in the region to tackle the presence and use of firearms in schools.
The webinar also included an engaging panel discussion on prevalent forms of violence in schools in Jamaica and school-based intervention programmes being implemented to combat such violence. The panelists included a representative from the Ministry of Education and Youth, a professor from University of West Indies and a youth leader from Bully Proof Kids (NGO). Through this webinar, UNLIREC facilitated a national dialogue by providing an opportunity for the participants to ask questions and share experiences on violence in schools in Jamaica.
This webinar forms part of the Salient Fund project aimed at reducing violence and proliferation of illicit firearms in Jamaica.
As part of the cycle of activities that UNLIREC has been carrying out between 2020 and 2021 to encourage conversation regionally and nationally about the phenomenon of firearms in schools, a webinar on ‘Firearms Prevention in Schools’ was held on the 16 December in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in El Salvador.
In this virtual event, UNLIREC shared the main findings of a study on Firearms in Schools in Latin America and the Caribbean: approaches, challenges and responses, presenting a regional overview of the main characteristics and developments of this phenomenon in recent years in the countries of the region, as well as sharing a series of initiatives and measures that have been implemented in some countries in the region to tackle and prevent the presence and use of firearms in schools.
To provide a national perspective on this phenomenon in El Salvador, the Ministry of Education gave a presentation in which many topics were highlighted, including the different types of risks to which schools are exposed, the current legal framework that prohibits carrying and bringing arms to schools, as well as the different measures and actions aimed at guaranteeing safe learning spaces which are free from violence.
As part of these measures, campaigns aimed at educational communities on issues of coexistence, continuous training for teachers, as well as inter-institutional coordination with the National Civil Police and other institutions to promote actions aimed at preventing the use of weapons in educational centres were highlighted.
This webinar was attended by around 175 participants, including staff from the Ministry of Education (such as educational and pedagogical advisors, coordinators, technicians, teachers, among others), as well as staff from the prevention areas of the National Civil Police.
This webinar was made possible thanks to the valuable financial contribution of the Government of Sweden.
On the 9 November, UNLIREC and the National Agency for Controlled Materials (ANMaC) of Argentina held a national dialogue on the prevention of firearms prevention in schools. The main objectives of this virtual event were to share the principal findings of the regional study conducted by UNLIREC on firearms in schools, as well as to promote the intersectorall dialogue regarding impacts, challenges and routes for action to prevent the presence and use of arms in schools.
As part of the agenda of this meeting, UNLIREC shared the main findings from the study Firearms in Schools in Latin America and the Caribbean: approaches, challenges and answers. In this vein, UNLIREC presented the regional overview of the main characteristics of this phenomenon in recent years in the countries of the region, as well as sharing a series of initiatives and measures that have been implemented in some countries in the region to address and prevent the presence and use of firearms in schools.
ANMaC held a presentation in which they highlighted the specific policies developed by the Agency in this area in recent years, highlighting the different actions that were implemented to raise awareness in educational communities about the risks and impacts of the proliferation and misuse of firearms. Of these activities, the workshops “Beliefs that kill” and “Disarming Masculinities” aimed at students from secondary schools from different provinces in Argentina were highlighted.
This national perspective was complemented by a presentation led by the Alfredo Marcenac Civil Association from the Argentinian Network for Disarmament, which highlighted some underlying cultural elements in societies that influence the phenomenon in question, such as the symbolic value assigned to weapons as mechanisms for conflict resolution. During this intervention the experience developed in the framework of the Educational Programme for Disarmament Awareness and Peacebuilding aimed at educational institutions at different levels in the Province of Buenos Aires was also shared.
This virtual meeting was possible thanks to the generous financial contribution from the Government of Switzerland.
In recent years, the proliferation of firearms has had repercussions in all parts of society including educational centres in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The readily available arms facilitate students ability to carry firearms to schools, increasing the risk that firearms are present in fights and arguments or used to threaten or cause intentional and accidental shootings leading to injuries and fatalities.
On 9 November 2021, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama and the Government of Sweden held the Webinar entitled “Firearms in Schools” to explore this phenomenon and its impact on school safety.
During the event, UNLIREC presented the most relevant findings of its study Firearms in Schools in Latin America and the Caribbean: Approaches, Challenges and Responses. The presentation included an overview of the main characteristics of this phenomenon in recent years in the countries of the region. It also outlined a series of initiatives and measures that have been implemented throughout the region, to address and prevent the presence and use of firearms in schools. UNLIREC also shared a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening responses to this phenomenon and limit its violent impact.
The Panamanian National Police presented the national legal framework, procedures and specific programmes developed to address and prevent violence in schools, including the entry of weapons onto the school grounds.
This webinar was attended by representatives from the educational, security sectors, specialists on children and adolescents and, social development matters, foreign affairs representatives as well as, civil society organisations specialized in these topics. Taking into account the multidimensionality that characterises this phenomenon participants agreed on the importance of strengthening inter-institutional coordination to ensure comprehensive approaches and, above all, to promote actions aimed at preventing armed violence against youth.
This webinar was made possible thanks to the valuable financial contribution of the government of Sweden.
