CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington told a regional Youth Forum in Suriname last week that free movement within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is being gravely hampered by the Immigration Restriction Acts within member states.

According to a news release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen, Carrington said that member states will need to re-orient their thinking to frame legislation that facilitates hassle-free movement within the Community. This, he said, would facilitate further interaction of the youth across the region.

Noting how impressed he was with the way young people articulated their issues, the CARICOM Secretary-General told the forum that they were definitely “on the right course.”

He pointed to two issues that should be considered seriously: gun and gang violence as well as climate change and development.

“We have to find a way to separate man from guns,” he lamented. “That combination is wreaking too much havoc on our Community.”