The Caribbean region is situated on vital maritime corridors that connect South American production zones to North American and European markets. Consequently, the Regional Security System member states and the broader Caribbean serve as natural transit hubs for cocaine and cannabis, as well as firearms that are primarily imported from North America. Human trafficking and migrant smuggling also exploit these same routes, as criminal groups bundle their operations (transport, forged documents, protection) and use overlapping logistical networks. The RSS has a mandate to support collective defense, counter drug smuggling, and assist in preserving the internal stability of the member states. Limited resources, porous borders, and corruption vulnerabilities at some ports and airports make it difficult for individual states to effectively police these converging threats.
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Rational
The convergence of illicit flows creates serious internal security and governance challenges for the RSS member states. Drug trafficking and the inflow of illicit firearms drive gang formation, lethal violence, and corruption pressures at ports, airports, and within frontline agencies. When border management is treated purely as a sovereignty or interdiction issue, risks arise that victims of trafficking are misidentified as offenders, migrants are pushed into more dangerous routes, and community trust in state security institutions erodes. A narrow, commodity‑specific approach (focusing only on drugs or only on small arms) also fails to capture how criminal organizations bundle activities, use the same corruption networks, and shift quickly across commodities as enforcement priorities change. The theme aims to generate an integrated and comprehensive understanding of how human mobility, illicit markets, and security sector responses interact along Caribbean corridors and to translate that understanding into directly usable policy guidance for RSS states. The possible outputs will offer the RSS decision‑makers a coherent framework to address illicit flows not as isolated problems, but as interconnected phenomena that require coordinated regional action.
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Objectives
- Propose a coherent policy framework to address illicit flows not as isolated concerns, but as interconnected phenomena that require coordinated regional action.
- Assess governance and legal frameworks by comparing migration, anti‑trafficking, firearms, and narcotics laws, as well as operational cooperation agreements, to identify gaps, overlaps, and priorities for harmonization within the RSS.
- Develop evidence‑based policy options with concrete, scalable proposals for RSS-wide and national reforms that improve interdiction and resilience without undermining rights or legitimate mobility.
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Expected Outcomes
- Development of the corridor risk atlas and typology. A concise atlas of maritime and air corridors affecting RSS states, highlighting high‑risk nodes, modus operandi (e.g., ghost guns concealed in parcels, go-fast vessels, small cargo), and cross‑commodity synergies.
- Review and mapping of existing legislative and regulatory norms. Development of draft model provisions for harmonizing definitions of trafficking and smuggling, firearms control, asset forfeiture, carrier sanctions, and victim-centered protections, tailored to RSS legal traditions.
- Capacity‑building roadmap. A prioritized menu of training, technology, and institutional reforms (e.g., shared databases, advanced cargo information, maritime domain awareness) that RSS can use to structure donor engagement and internal budgeting.