DRF walks for community conflict resolution

AMID A 14.8 per cent decline in murders recorded in Jamaica up to March 2, when compared to the similar period last year, the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF) yesterday used Peace Day 2024 to engage in peace walks through some troubled streets in the capital city, calling for peace and conflict resolution.

Jamaica has been categorised as one of the most violent countries in the Caribbean. In 2022, there were approximately 52.9 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the island nation. This was the highest homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean that year.

Cherrol Taylor, director of operations at the DRF, believes crime can be fully eliminated and the paradise island be more embraced for what it was truly meant to be - crime-free and peaceful.

It was for that reason and more that the group she leads at the DRF took to the streets of Olympic Gardens, Whitfield Town, Denham Town and Mountain View in Kingston and St Andrew yesterday.

“These are the individuals, from a proactive standpoint, who are here to help you residents to resolve your conflicts, so we are giving back to the community, and this is all possible through a partnership with USAID, through the Ministry of National Security,” she said.

Taylor noted that more than 90 persons participated in the DRF community training efforts, called Mediation Training, which have now resulted in a boost in the number of the island’s certified mediators, conflict interrupters and persons who would have received a certificate for participation.

PEACE WALK

Some of these persons were also a part of the peace walk yesterday, as a way of showcasing them and honouring them, Taylor told The Gleaner.

She said these individuals are expected to bring social capital to the communities involved such as those where yesterday’s peace walk took place.

Prior to the peace walk, and in recognition of Peace Day, the DRF made a presentation to a cadre of conflict resolution responders within the communities of Olympic Gardens and Denham Town with awards distributed during a pinning ceremony.

Patricia Rose, one of the trained conflict resolution responders and gazetted mediators, said the trained persons at the DRF provide the facilities for persons involved in grouses to seek intervention with benefits to both parties, and outside the court system.

“We restore relationships, especially family, because community conflicts are between community members and family, and our whole aim is to keep the peace as the march suggests today. Keep the peace in the community. We received training in how to resolve conflicts through the process of mediation. As a gazetted mediator, it is my duty and opportunity to aid the process of having community members resolve their conflicts through the mediation process,” Rose told The Gleaner.

“This mediation process saves you time, money and the tedious task of going through the court system,” she said.

The peace walks took place from Olympic Gardens Civic Centre to Bay Farm Road Transport Centre and also within Denham Town.