20 March 2016 - Business View Caribbean
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males, and females are the main victims in situa-
tions of domestic abuse or sexual assault. It also
indicates increasing school violence, with a close
connection between youth violence and violence in
the community. Victimization of youth by peers and
adults is shown to often lead to more violence and
a resort to violence out of fear, or in response to a
perceived threat.
For the Caribbean, school remains one of the key
socializing environments for their youth. According
to the IADB 2012 report, “class attendance of the
region’s share of elementary and secondary school-
age children stands at 95.0 per cent and 73.0 per
cent, respectively”.
One of the outcomes of the Youth on Youth Violence
Project was an assessment of risk factors, threats
for violence, protective factors and school bonding
factors in the pilot schools of the selected member
states. To date, 520 students have been surveyed
and have also participated in various focus group
discussions, with the majority of them (90 percent)
between the ages of 11–16 years. Many were vic-