Call for evidence: security in the Caribbean

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• Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on the Overseas Territories

The UK Government has ultimate responsibility for the national security of the Overseas Territories. Caribbean British Overseas Territories face a number of distinct challenges relating to criminality, whether it be trafficking of arms, drugs, people or illicit finance.

The Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee’s call for evidence will help to inform the Sub-Committee scrutiny of the Government’s approach to understanding the demand and supply side of illegal activity, as well as efforts to support Overseas Territory administrations as they seek to address them.

The call for evidence asks what challenges criminal activities pose to the national security of the Caribbean British Overseas Territories and how the UK has responded to this challenge. It asks what factors make a territory vulnerable to organised crime and whether enough has been done to effectively address the underlying causes of these activities. It also asks whether the UK’s defence footprint in the Caribbean is appropriate to the scale of the challenges Overseas Territories face.

The deadline for submitting evidence is 4 June 2024.

The Sub-Committee welcomes evidence addressing the following questions

• What is the UK Government’s response to criminality in the Caribbean territories and is this response delivering the intended results?
• What challenges do criminal activities pose to the national security of the islands?
• What historical and cultural factors should be taken into account as the UK Government considers the nature of the support it offers?
• What factors make the respective territories vulnerable to organised criminals and becoming transhipment centres for illicit commodities?
• To what extent has recent support for the territories from the UK Government been appropriate and effective in addressing crime and the underlying causes of criminal behaviour?
• Is the UK’s defence footprint in the Caribbean appropriate to the scale of the challenges Overseas Territories face?
• How could the Government’s approach be improved: and what more could it be doing to support the territories in addressing these issues? 
• What more should the Government be doing to work with source countries of drugs, trafficked people and weapons to address the supply side of illegal commodity trafficking?

Each submission should be no longer than 3,000 words and contain a brief introduction about the author. Submissions should be in malleable format such as MS Word (not PDFs) with no use of colour, logos or photos. Further guidance is available on our Written Evidence Guidance.

Further information

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