Prime need for hemispheric cooperation on environment threats -Minister Rohee at 11th CDMA conference

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Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee reaffirmed Guyana’s support for any hemispheric-wide consensus for the strengthening of security and defence in the Americas.

 The Minister along with Chief-of -Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Mark Phillips attended the 11th meeting of the Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas (CDMA) in Arequipa, Peru.

Minister Rohee said that attention must be paid on how peace and security can advance the national and human security interests of countries in the hemisphere.

“It is institutions such as the CDMA that can help in pointing the way forward in this complex and volatile world as we struggle for the creation of a New Global Human Order,” the Minister said.

Guyana has adopted the policy of inter-agency coordination in a civilian-led integrated approach in dealing with the various security and defence related threats

The Minister informed that Guyana supports the call to modernise and adapt the Inter-American Defence System to make it more relevant to the multi-dimensional challenges facing the nations individually and collectively.

 He noted that any discussion on security in the hemisphere would be deficient unless attention is paid to the special security threats faced by the small islands and low-coastal states of the Caribbean. This is a threat that is recognised by the United Nations and the Organisation of American States.

“Nowhere is the need for such hemispheric cooperation more necessary than in the threats related to environment protection…” Minister Rohee said.

Guyana fully supports the specific proposals related to the coordination of military conferences on defence issues, mechanisms to collaborate on military health systems, coordination of efforts in the area of search and rescue, defence sector involvement in environmental protection, sharing of lessons learned and information on the participation of women in the armed forces and support for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

Some of the challenges Guyana and other countries in the hemisphere face include: narcotics, arms and human trafficking; climate change; illegal mining and logging and the resultant environmental degradation; natural disasters; health care; terrorism and other poverty related issues.

These threats beckons defence sector of the various jurisdictions to ensure greater involvement in forensic sciences training and application, particularly as it relates to identification of human remains and curbing the small arms trade through exporter/production identification.

“It is important for us defence ministers to recognise and re-affirm that peace and security cannot exist in the absence of a deepening of democracy and the firm respect for the rule of law throughout our hemisphere,” the Minister said.

The CDMA was created to provide a valuable forum of debate for the countries of the hemisphere with the purpose of increasing cooperation in the areas of defence and security in 1995.

It was designed to provide the Ministers of Defence with a venue to discuss topics such as confidence and security building measures, peace support operations, civil-military relations, and emerging threats such as transnational organised crime and terrorism.