I'm in New York City, sitting across from me in the United Nation's cafeteria is Novelette Grant. Novelette cuts a chic yet bold figure and as she introduces herself there is no mistaking that Grant is a woman on a mission. As Jamaica's Assistant Commissioner of Police, Grant is here to address diplomats at the UN's First committee and explain why it is that an Arms Trade Treaty is so important to Jamaica.








Photographs by fightingtheboss, Radio Capsula.

For most people the most pertinent image of Jamaica is that which was forever cemented in our minds after the release of the 1993 box office hit Cool Runnings: Jamaica as a a pretty island nation, and it is. However, Jamaica is not all dreadlocks and cool vibes - there is a gritty criminal underbelly that is facilitated by the transfer of guns and ammunition into Jamaica.

'Gun crime numbers are horrendous ... a huge percentage of sexual assaults and robberies are accompanied by the use of fire arms' Grant explains, 'Jamaica does not manufacture guns and yet we are on the receiving end of the misuse of fire arms'. Grant goes on to tell me that that weapons intended for military purposes are on the streets, in the hands of criminals and that a staggering 77% of murders are committed by guns.

The dilemma facing Jamaican police is that seizing guns and ammunition from criminals is having little impact on the rate of violent crime, this is due to the continuing flow of illegal arms and ammunition into the country. So where are the guns coming in from? Grant says 'If we knew, we'd stop them'.

After our conversation Novelette Grant addressed diplomats at an Amnesty event, held in the United Nations headquarters, where the question was asked 'How can an Arms Trade Treaty help stop arms fuelling human rights abuses?'.

For Jamaica, the persistent and cyclical nature of the guns trade has so many detrimental effects on the nation: murder and abuse of innocents, facilitation of the narcotics trade and direct economic cost and impact on development. To put a monetary figure on the cost to Jamaica, Grant told delegates, that the cumulative loss to Jamaica since 1960 is about 75% of GDP.

Grant is determined to see a resolution, she explains that her expectations as a police officer are simply that there needs to be proper governance and regulation over the arms trade, just as there is for all other trades. Speaking on the need for an Arms Trade Treaty be put in place, Grant asks delegates '[to] consider that the arms trade is no less important than any other legal trade that criminals are misusing .... we are asking you to come up with the kinds of standards necessary'.

Her argument is simple and befitting, just like all other trades, governance is necessary, there needs to be accountability when it comes to the transfer of guns. Finishing her impassioned address, Grant puts it simply, 'Look at countries like Jamaica and look at the devastation'.

Get involved - tweet your questions or comments on an Arms Trade Treat to @conflictvoice and watch the event at http://www.conflictvoice.org, live streamed from the United Nations at 1.15pm 7/10 New York time.