Music featuring gun violence, harmful behaviours affects youth: Antigua Govt  

The Government Spokesman for Antigua and Barbuda, Melford Nicholas, expressed concern about the influence of music on the nation’s youth. He stated that music made regarding harmful behaviours, gun violence and negative stereotypes of women are one of the main reasons behind the surge in crime and violence in the country.

As a result, he has expressed his desire of taking proactive steps to use that influence of music on the youth of the country in a positive manner and address increasing crime rates in Antigua and Barbuda.

For the same, Minister of Festivals has been assigned a duty to work closely with the promotion’s community, focusing on promoting responsible content creation and dissemination.

While shedding light on the music being produced and consumed by the youth, he stated that there is some music that hits the airwaves and reaches the ears of young children is in itself “destructive.” He continued to say that such music is promoting gun culture, negativity and unhealthy social behaviour.

The Government Spokesman, Melford Nicholas stated that for the same they have exchanged dialogues with the music industry as well. He added that they have urged the industry to adopt self-regulations practices and prevent the promotion of crime and criminal activities in music.

He stated that there is a need for self-management, self-regulation and self-censorship in order to prevent the negative influences of music on the youth of the twin-island nation.

Nicholas stated that it is a collaboration between the music industry and the Government towards promoting positive and societal values through utilizing the influence of music on the youth of the nation.

Nicholas asserted that they are openly exchanging dialogues with the stakeholders of the country and are planning to establish new guidelines for the content creation of the music.

Moreover, the Minister of Festivals, who also holds the education portfolio, has been given the task of developing stringent strategies to address the usage of guns and violence in music and protect youth from indulging in and being influenced by such criminal activities.

He added that this is definitely very challenging for the government, but it is very necessary to take such measures to protect young individuals from crime and violence.

Also, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne have also called these youth “the future of the country.” He stated that it is required to protect youth from negative influences by providing them a positive and supportive environment.

He stated that it is their fight against crimes in the country, and for that, his entire administration is working hard to curb the growing crime rates in the island nation. He has, therefore, urged every citizen and every public person of the island nation to come forward and take innovative measures to address this issue collaboratively.