Cabinet Office Bahamas: The United Nations (UN) has not made a direct request to The Bahamas for the suspension of repatriations to Haiti

Govt: No formal request on repatriation halt


BY CHESTER ROBARDS
Guardian Staff Reporter
thenassauguardian
chester@nasguard.com

Nassau, Bahamas



The United Nations (UN) has not made a direct request to The Bahamas for the suspension of repatriations to Haiti, a press release from the Cabinet Office revealed yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette also told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that Haiti has had no drastic changes on the ground that would warrant ceasing repatriation exercises.

“We’re a sovereign country and obviously we have to review issues on the ground (in Haiti) and unless things change in Haiti our policy will remain the same,” Symonette said.

The Bahamas suspended repatriation exercises following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti for several weeks last year.

This week, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Adrian Edwards, speaking at a press briefing at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, urged countries with high Haitian refugee populations like The Bahamas to halt repatriations until the situation in Haiti improves.

Edwards suggested that “precarious conditions continue to persist” in Haiti since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated its capital city.

“UNHCR and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights are renewing their appeal to governments to suspend, on humanitarian grounds, all involuntary returns to Haiti,” he said.

“Despite the recent elections and ongoing reconstruction efforts, Haiti, weakened by the earthquake, cannot yet ensure adequate protection or care, especially for some vulnerable groups in case of return, such as unaccompanied minors, disabled persons, people with health problems, victims of trafficking or of sexual abuse.”

The Cabinet Office release said the Government of The Bahamas had taken note of the request made by the UNHCR and ensured that “if a formal request is made by the UN to the Government of The Bahamas, such a request will be considered and a determination made as to the broader implications of such a request for The Bahamas and the best interests of our citizens.”

The release also insisted that The Bahamas has always been sensitive to the plight of the Haitian people.

“The Bahamas' record of dealing with the Haitian illegal immigration issue since the earthquake has been one of sensitivity and prudential judgment with regard to various domestic imperatives and our international obligations and relations,” the release said.

Symonette told The Guardian, “I talked to both the previous (Haitian) ambassador to The Bahamas who was in Jamaica, and Colin Granderson, OAS (Organization of American States) election representative in Haiti, and at the time none of them were aware of any changes in the current situation on the ground in Haiti, neither [is] our ambassador,” said Symonette, who recently returned from Jamaica.

“Therefore, repatriations to Haiti will be guided by if there are any changes on the ground. So we’ll continue obviously along those lines and should situations necessitate ceasing we will cease.

“...We haven’t had another earthquake or a hurricane. Yes, they had some rain the other day which killed some people, but there hasn’t been a drastic change that would affect our repatriation exercises.”

Jun 25, 2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Political Blog

American schools are passing students while failing to prepare them for today's challenges

By Wellington C. Ramos



Last week I had the opportunity to sit in an audience and watch about two hundred students graduate and receive their Masters, Bachelors and Associate degrees from the college where I have been teaching for years now.

While I was sitting down, my mind started to reflect on the years I spent with the New York City Department of Education as a paraprofessional, teacher and truancy counselor for about twenty years. Many of our students in the public schools are being promoted to a higher grade without meeting the academic requirements of the grades and are not gaining any meaningful knowledge.

Throughout my years in the public schools, I have worked in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. This has equipped me with the tools to analyze and evaluate the differences in all levels of education throughout the New York City public school system.

My worst experience was working in a middle school. The students I encountered there were undisciplined, disrespectful, unmannerly, cutting classes, leaving the school building, disrupting classes, lacking the motivation to learn, failing most of their subjects, violent and engaged in several other anti-social behaviors. Yet, despite all this, most of them were sent off to high schools with the hope of achieving their high school diplomas.

Today there are about 50,000 students in the New York public school system that are over 17 years of age and have less than ten high school credits and still in the ninth grade. The chances of these students graduating from high school are slim to none. The mayor of the city and his old school chancellor have no program for them so they will all end up as high school dropouts.

Despite this, they decided to increase the standards these students should meet in order to graduate, when they have difficulty meeting the old standards. Common sense should dictate that if they couldn’t meet the old standards they will not be able to meet the new ones.

In addition, they have changed the focus to testing and scores instead of curriculum content and gaining knowledge, which means their reading, writing, math, verbal and analytical skills will be lacking. Studies released recently confirmed that these students are not prepared to do college level work or enter the workforce as productive employees.

Since Mayor Bloomberg took over the New York City schools, he has acted as if he is an educational expert. The parents of the students in the New York City public schools have little say and are not consulted on many things regarding their children’s education. The school district boards have become insignificant and there are a series of re-organizational schemes that have been implemented. There is no proof to date that these changes have led to the students gaining more knowledge and becoming better functioning adults.

Today, when you are on the trains, buses or the streets of New York City and you look at how most of these students dress, speak and behave, you would wish that you could be in another place at that time instead of being in their presence. These students are our future and if we are happy with what we are seeing then we all should applaud our schools for doing a wonderful job. If we are not happy then we should be demanding that something be done about this situation now.

I believe that this is the time for the Governor of New York State to convene a commission to look into the problems of the New York City public schools and other schools that are failing in this state before it is too late. That commission should be given the authority to go to all the schools in the cities to find out why these schools are failing and the children are not graduating with the skills to master reading, writing, computational, analytical and public relations skills.

We cannot continue to blame the children for all the problems we see because their behaviour could be as a result of what is taking place in their homes, neighbourhoods and schools. These children are also experiencing different things from what we experienced when we were growing up. Achieving knowledge and education, is only a part of growing up but, for our children to make it in this world today, they will have to portray a positive attitude at all times when they are in public.

June 23, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Political Blog

Revolutionary racism in Cuba

by Naomi Glassman, COHA Research Associate





Cuba’s economy has struggled during the fifteen years since the fall of the Soviet Union, bringing economic disparity of an increasingly racial nature. Cuba’s population is split primarily between whites, mestizos and Afro‑Cubans (blacks and mulattos), with the percentage of Afro-Cubans varying between 62 percent[i] and 33 percent[ii] depending on the source. Like most former colonies, Cuba’s history of racism originated with the arrival of colonial Spanish settlers and their subordinated African slaves. Cuba was the last Latin American country to abolish slavery, by means of a royal decree issued by the Spanish King in 1886.





In his 1891 essay “Nuestra América,” Cuban author and independence fighter José Martí stated that there is no racism in Cuba because there are no races.[iii] He argued that Cuban unity and identity depended on all Cubans identifying as Cubans, instead of racially. White Cubans have often cited Martí’s position subsuming race to national unity as an argument that racism is not an issue in Cuba because “we are all Cubans.” But the legacy of slavery lingered, and was exacerbated by Cuba’s semi-colonial status under U.S. hegemony. Interactions with wealthy, white, prejudiced visitors from the U.S. contributed to social and economic divisions along racial lines. Afro-Cubans endured segregated facilities, discrimination under the guise of eugenics, and blatant racism at the hands of groups as extreme as the Ku Klux Klan Kubano.[iv]





After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro acknowledged the prevalence of racism and launched a set of reforms intended to eliminate racial disparity in public spaces, education and employment. However, he failed to adequately address its cultural and societal roots. After a few years, he declared his policies a success and made any further discussion of race or racial inequality a counterrevolutionary crime, insisting that talk of race would divide the nation. During Castro’s reign, the silence on issues of racism made further debate or improvements impossible, countering the initial benefits of his reforms. Even though the Castro government achieved more for blacks in fifty years than previous administrations had in the last 400 years,[v] his policies only addressed issues of unequal access without changing structural biases underlying society. With a new wave of economic changes affecting the country, race and racism are once again becoming important issues in Cuba.





Race and the Revolution





When Castro first came to power in Cuba, the Afro‑Cuban population was disproportionately poor and marginalized, lacking sufficient medical care, social services and educational opportunities. Castro believed that such overt racism was in direct conflict with his commitment to social justice and equality and passed policies to desegregate beaches, parks, work sites and social clubs. He outlawed all forms of legal and overt discrimination, including discrimination in employment and education. Castro also worked to increase the number of Afro-Cuban political representatives, with the percentage of Black members on the Council of State expanding from 12.9% in 1976 to 25.8% by 2003. However, overall, Afro-Cuban representation decreased as the institutions become more powerful.[vi]





Castro’s redistributive social and economic reforms had a positive and measurable impact on the quality of life for Afro‑Cubans. The government’s great achievements in extending education and medical benefits to all Cubans have narrowed racial disparities in life expectancy and matriculation rates. Alejandro de la Fuente, Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, used statistics from the 1981 census to illustrate the progress made during twenty years of Revolutionary rule. He found that by 1981 there was a gap of only one year in life expectancy rates between whites and non‑whites, which proved that Cuba had achieved relatively equal access to such indicators as “nutrition, health care, maternal care and education.”[vii] Moreover, educational reforms contributed to improved literacy and education levels across the island. By 1981, the percentage of blacks (11.2 percent) and mulattos (9.6 percent) who had graduated from high school were higher than those for whites (9 percent) leading to equivalent proportions of blacks, mulattos and whites in professional jobs.[viii] With education came improved opportunities for social mobility, as a mass exodus of wealthy white professionals to the United States after the Revolution, created many more professional opportunities for the previously marginalized Afro-Cuban.[ix] Similar social justice initiatives such as “wage increases, social security improvements, the provision of public services gratis or at nominal cost, and the gradual spread of rationing” further benefited the economically marginalized .[x] Government jobs were often distributed in a non-confrontational affirmative action style, giving “hiring preference to those who had the greatest family need and lowest income,” which again had a disproportional benefit for Afro‑Cubans.[xi] In areas with complete government control, such as education, employment and health care, social justice policies led to increased equality and improved services and opportunities for Afro-Cubans.





Three years into his rule, Fidel Castro declared that the Revolution had eliminated racism, making any further discussion of racial inequalities a taboo subject. Official discourse directly tied racism to capitalism, and thus the development of an egalitarian society officially ended racism. The government connected racial discrimination to the colonial and ‘semicolonial’ legacies[xii] and “to the capitalist elite, who had emigrated to Miami, officially making it a nonissue in Cuba.”[xiii] Castro’s government sought to develop a national Cuban identity and discussions of race and inequality were seen as creating divisions where none existed. For fifty years of Castro rule in Cuba, race and racism were taboo subjects, making debate, discourse, and study impossible.[xiv] Later developments have proven that racism was not actually eliminated, just improved and pushed underground.





Economic Reforms and Racial Inequality





The Special Period, the difficult decade following the fall of the Soviet Union, caused economic hardships for all Cubans. The government stopped numerous social services and the country struggled with widespread shortages. During this period, the structural legacy of racism meant that Afro‑Cubans faced a greater brunt of the economic challenges. Many of the economic reforms passed to bring the Cuban economy out of its deep recession served only to exacerbate these racial inequalities. When faced with a economic stagnation, the Revolution’s commitment to social justice lost ground to the need for economic recovery, especially given the official belief that racism was no longer an issue, the racist implications of economic reforms were not an issue for the Castro government.





Without Soviet sugar subsidies, Cuba’s economic development shifted to the growing tourist trade. While the tourist industry is currently the most profitable sector because of the availability of USD, it is also the industry with the greatest racial disparity in employment opportunities: Afro‑Cubans hold only five percent of jobs in the tourist sector.[xv] The tourist resorts hire primarily whites, drawing on the structural legacy of racism and the pervasive cultural belief that white is superior. Jobs in the tourist sector require less education and skills, meaning that Afro‑Cuban advances in education in the early years of the Revolution no longer translate to economic success.





Remittances -- transfers of money into Cuba from Cubans living and working abroad -- are a new source of unregulated USD in the Cuban economy. Remittances primarily benefit white Cubans, because the majority of Cubans who emigrated after the Revolution were white or lighter‑skinned mestizo. Statistically speaking, “83.5 percent of Cuban immigrants living in the US identify themselves as whites. Assuming that dollar remittances are evenly distributed among white and non‑white exiles and that they stay, roughly, within the same racial group of the sender, then about 680 out of the 800 million dollars that enter the island every year would end up in white hands.”[xvi] Cuba has limited data on the quantity and distribution of remittances, but a 2000 survey in Havana found that “although income levels were fairly even across racial groups before remittances, white households outspent black households in dollar stores and in the purchase of major household appliances.”[xvii] Both in the sending and consumption of goods, remittances provide greater economic benefit to white Cuban households.





The Castro government began legalizing personal enterprises for profit during the Special Period. Since then, more and more Cubans have opened their own restaurants or repair shops. However, in 2000, the Havana Survey found that 77 percent of the self‑employed were white, and that these white entrepreneurs were more economically successful in comparison to their Afro‑Cuban counterparts.[xviii] Once again, blacks face disadvantages because they lack the capital in USD from tourism and remittances: it often takes an initial investment, such as a bicycle for deliveries, or real estate that could be used as a storefront or neighborhood restaurant to start up a new business. Afro‑Cubans are also disadvantaged when it comes to the development of paladares, or small restaurants run out of the home. The quality of housing was not addressed in the original anti‑discriminatory reforms, and Afro‑Cubans are still concentrated in overcrowded and dilapidated housing areas, limiting their opportunities for owning and opening paladares.





Re‑opening Debate





Faced with growing racial inequality from the economic difficulties of the Special Period in a speech on September 8, 2000, Fidel Castro officially reestablished the issue of race as a subject for debate and improvement:





“I am not claiming that our country is a perfect model of equality and justice. We believed at the beginning that when we established the fullest equality before the law and complete intolerance for any demonstration of sexual discrimination in the case of women, or racial discrimination in the case of ethnic minorities, these phenomena would vanish from our society. It was some time before we discovered that marginality and racial discrimination with it are not something that one gets rid of with a law or even with ten laws, and we have not managed to eliminate them completely in 40 years.”[xix]





Castro recognized that he was premature when he declared racism eliminated and admitted that, despite progress, there were gaps in the original reforms. In the documentary RAZA, Cuban citizens remark that there are equal rights before the law, but equal rights do not mean social equality: society is still racist because of widespread ignorance.[xx] While notable achievements were made in education and employment, areas such as cultural representation, police discrimination and housing lagged behind. Cuba still suffers from the legacy of centuries of discrimination followed by decades of silence.





The growing Cuban rap and hip‑hop movements have been instrumental in bringing issues of racism and discrimination back into the public eye. They are often explicit in descriptions of racism as lived experiences, challenging the official silence and the popular belief that it no longer exists in Cuba. In 1964, Afro‑Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén wrote the poem “Tengo” (I have) to celebrate the end of racial discrimination, saying: “I have, let’s see / that being Black/ no one can stop me / at the door of a dance hall or bar … I have, let’s see / that I have learned to read / to count … I have, that now I have / a place to work / and earn.”[xxi] In 2009, with economic difficulties and the reemerging issue of racism, the Cuban hip‑hop group Hermanos de Causa rewrote the poem “to denounce the persistence of racial discrimination and the growing marginalization of blacks.”[xxii] In their rap, also titled “Tengo” the lyrics now say: “I have a race dark and discriminated against / I have a workday that’s exhausting and pays nothing / I have so many things I can’t even touch / I have so many places where I can’t even go.”[xxiii] The shift in music lyrics is paradigmatic of the shifting debate on racism in Cuba.





Conclusion





For Afro‑Cubans, the next step is to continue reopening debate and discussion, including the positive representation of Afro‑Cubans in television programs and classroom curriculum. Cuba must begin with the advances achieved by the Revolution and then work to deepen the Revolution’s commitment to social equality by rectifying the errors now evidenced in growing racial inequality.[xxiv] Television programs and educational materials on the island either completely ignore Afro‑Cuban culture or represent its negative stereotypes. Educational curricula teach the history of white Cuba, while ignoring the cultural roots of Africa, Afro‑Cubans and other marginalized groups. Esteban Morales, a PhD. at the University of Havana, says: “Whitening continues to be present and nourished in our education. We educate without mentioning color … we are teaching each other to be white. … it turns out that while we do not exclude blacks and mestizos from our classrooms, we do exclude them from the content of our curriculums.”[xxv] While the government succeeded early on in passing desegregation legislation, it has failed to effect any changes in the public media and educational representation of Afro‑Cubans, thus perpetuating racial ignorance.





Finally, although Afro‑Cubans are the largest non‑white population on the island, focusing on racism only against Afro‑Cubans ignores the issues faced by Chinese, Jewish and indigenous peoples. Discussions and studies of race and racism on the island have been limited by the official silence, and much more investigation and research is needed to provide an accurate picture of the racial divisions on the island. Afro‑Cubans are economically, politically, socially, criminally, and culturally marginalized, yet many Cubans still refuse to recognize racism on the island. The anti-discrimination advances of the Revolution deserve to be lauded, but they should not leave us blind to the racism that exists and the continuing struggles of Afro-Cubans.





The references for this article can be found here.





The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and information organization. It has been described on the Senate floor as being "one of the nation's most respected bodies of scholars and policy makers." For more information, visit www.coha.org or email coha@coha.org

 






June 22, 2011




caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Political Blog

Bishop Simeon Hall: The Privy Council’s recent ruling on the death penalty in the case of Maxo Tido has unwittingly said to criminals: ‘you can get away with your next crime’... it is clear that if families of murder victims are to ever have justice, The Bahamas must abandon the Privy Council...

'Abandon the Privy Council'


CANDIA DAMES
NG News Editor
thenassauguardian
candia@nasguard.com

Nassau, Bahamas


The Privy Council’s recent ruling on the death penalty in the case of Maxo Tido has unwittingly said to criminals ‘you can get away with your next crime’, according to Bishop Simeon Hall, who chaired the government-appointed National Advisory Council on Crime.

Hall said it is clear that if families of murder victims are to ever have justice, The Bahamas must abandon the Privy Council, at least for murder appeals.

One of the recommendations the Crime Council made to the Ingraham administration is to resume capital punishment.

But various Privy Council decisions over the years have set such a strict standard for the imposition of the death penalty, the government has been unable to carry out the law in this regard.

Tido was convicted of the 2002 murder of Donnell Conover. The 16-year-old was found with her skull crushed, and her body burnt.

The Privy Council said while Conover’s murder was “dreadful” and “appalling” it did not fall into the category for the worst of the worst murders and therefore the death penalty ought not apply.

“The ruling by the Privy Council raises serious questions as to what is happening,” Hall said.

“I understand to some degree the Privy Council has the last word, but certainly my big problem I’m wrestling with is what is the justice system saying to families of victims of murder, and then to persons who do the murder?

“It seems that the whole system now is lending its way to criminality. For the law lords to conclude that this was a bad murder but it’s not counted as the worst of the worst, I think it’s time for us to cry shame on the justice system.”

Conover’s mother, Laverne, who recently met with Bishop Hall on the matter, said the ruling re-opened an old wound.

“The murderers have all the rights,” said Mrs. Conover, who added that she learnt of the ruling last week via the evening television newscast.

She told The Nassau Guardian that her daughter was so mutilated she was only able to identify her by her nose.

“What I would like to know is what is the worst of the worst because murder is murder. If this is not the worst of the worst, could somebody explain to me what is the worst of the worst?”

Conover said the murder tore her whole family apart — she and her husband subsequently divorced, one of her sons is on the run from the law, and the other children have had their own emotional challenges.

She said life has not been the same since.

“When I reached the police station and they told me, I was just not myself anymore, especially when I had to go to the morgue and saw what I saw,” Conover said.

“What I saw at the morgue, I don’t know what that was because really it was not my daughter.

“I don’t know what that was because a dog’s head wouldn’t have looked the way her head looked. She had no face, one big bone sticking up, they burnt her over her body.

”How do they expect me as a mother to deal with this and to know Maxo is in prison living?”

While the Privy Council quashed Tido’s death sentence, it upheld his murder conviction and ordered that he be re-sentenced.

In 2009, the government was preparing to read a death warrant to him.

Hall pointed out that a study by Police Sergeant Chaswell Hanna noted that in a five-year period when 349 murders were recorded in The Bahamas, there were only 10 murder convictions and two death sentences issued.

“Last year was a record number of murders and I understand that we had no more than two or three convictions,” Hall said. “This disparity between criminal behavior and the justice system, is it the police, is it the lawyers, is it the justice system?”

He said the law lords of the Privy Council are clearly out of touch with what is happening in The Bahamas.

“How is this family to swallow this latest ruling?” he asked.

“...It is very difficult to remain philosophical on murder now. The criminals seem to be getting the better end of the stick and families of murder victims seem to be left — as this family — totally disintegrated.”

Hall noted that the level of violent crime has worsened in the last couple years.

“It is true that part of the problem is in fact the social culture we face as a community, but at the same time I think Parliament and the lawmakers must take draconian measures to face this nightmare we are presently confronted with,” he said.

“It is true that the current minister of national security has adopted half of the things we suggested, but it seems to be getting worse. And you feel embarrassed that you served on this thing and [crime] seems to be getting worse.”

Jun 20, 2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Political Blog

The Bahamas embracing the concept of hospitality for all?

By Jean H Charles




My empirical observation has indicated that some of the most successful Haitian women in the Diaspora have either a Bahamian or a Turks and Caicos connection. Is it their excellent command of the English language, the high level of the education system in The Bahamas or the leadership skills and the assertiveness traits acquired through resilience that make possible the self assurance conducive to material success?
I am still pondering the question!

The nation of Haiti, in spite of its history as a freedom fighter trailblazer, has trailed in the culture of giving voice to the voiceless such as full rights and possibilities to its women. It does have a minister for women’s affairs, with the same minister (Marie Laurence Jocelyne Lassegue) in charge of that ministry for almost the last twenty years. Yet the outcome and the impact of her tenure are as deceiving and negative as in the other aspects of the life of the nation.

The voiceless who could not make a life in their own land have taken the chance on a leaky boat to The Bahamas or to the Turk and Caicos. They have encountered all types of discrimination and difficulty. They have endured and their children have attended school under the strict discipline accustomed to in the motherland. Yet the children have prevailed, they occupy today the high echelon in business, arts and the media, to wit our esteemed Jacqueline Charles, hailing from the Miami Herald, the recognised black journalist of the year!

The prime minister of The Bahamas has just taken the position that the Haitian people in The Bahamas will be regularized not as second class citizens but as potential belongers who will provide value added human resources to the country.

According to Emil Vlajki, who I have often cited in this column (required reading: Les Misérables de la Modernité), the most important resources of a nation are first its population, second an educated population and third an educated, creative and resilient population.

The Haitian people, in spite of their resilience and their exceptional creativity, are lagging badly in wealth creation in their homeland because the governance has been so repugnant to its people that it has failed to make education a priority. (Michel Martelly, the new president of the country, may change course -- he is building a $300 million National Education Fund (NIF) to reach most of the children of age to attend school.)

The failure to receive hospitality at home has caused many Haitian people to seek a friendlier sky abroad. There are some one million in the Dominican Republic. The Bahamas and the Turk and Caicos have a population with 45 percent Haitian heritage. Dominica has 4,000 Haitian residents. Florida has a least half a million Haitian people.

The welcome mat differs from one country to the other. Dominica sees the Haitian people as a potential asset and, as such, the prime minister has instructed the different ministries to be tolerant towards the new migrants. The result has been positive for the economy of the country. The LIAT leg to Dominica is profitable because of the constant travels of the Haitian residents to and from their motherland.

From ancient Greece until modern New York City, the most enduring city-states have been those that practiced a policy of open arms to foreigners. The synergy and the osmosis of different culture is a fertile ground for growth and development.

My campaign in this column has been constant and focused: promoting under the Caribbean sky an environment where hospitality is queen. Hospitality first for the very citizens of the country and hospitality for all those who want to belong.

This atmosphere of hospitality is possible only if each country takes the responsibility of cleaning its own house by providing the means for enjoying the motherland without the need and the obligation to become a nomad at home or abroad. Haiti with Martelly in power will soon have a responsible government dedicated to stop the human trafficking -- the fermenting ingredient for discrimination.

The Bahamas, by using the conch shell so proper to the land, can send a vibrant echo that the CARICOM region is one, the fortune or the misfortune of one part is linked to the others. The lambi (conch) sound and message will reach the entire Caribbean basin as far as Guyana: discrimination against Haitian people in particular, and citizens of the Caribbean in general, is a nightmare of the past!

June 20, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamian Politics Blog

REDjet, Protection, The CSME and the region's scepticism about the usefulness of CARICOM

REDjet, Protection And The CSME

jamaica-gleaner editorial


In the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, at Article 134, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments made it clear that "efficient, reliable (and) affordable transport services" would be essential if the region was not only to theoretically transform the Community from a free trade and functional cooperative group to a single market and economy, but to consolidate the process.

At Article 135 (1)(f) of the same treaty, Caribbean governments pledged "the removal of obstacles to the provision of transport services by nationals of the member states ... ."

'Nationals', in this context, refers not only to individuals, but corporate persons registered and resident in member states of the Community.

We draw attention to these facts, given the ongoing dispute regarding the operation of REDjet, a Barbados-registered and domiciled low-cost airline, whose Irish principals, and the Barbados government, believe - unless they have very recently changed their minds - are being discriminated against by Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

We must confess that in the absence of clarity on the part of Kingston and Port-of-Spain, it all smells rather fishy to us, and in that context ... we would call into question our Government's declared commitment to the free market and competition, as well as the operation of CARICOM as a genuine single market.

CARICOM has, of course, struggled with a coherent and consistent aviation policy for the nearly 40 years that the Community has been in existence. Indeed, Caribbean nationals often complain of the logistical difficulties and high cost of travelling within the region and the limits these have placed on the conduct and growth of business, including tourism.

protecting carriers

The rigidities that regional governments maintained of air services were largely to protect state-owned carriers, such as Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines (CAL), the Trinidad and Tobago carrier that used to be called BWIA.

But these carriers lost huge amounts of money, which the taxpayers of most of the countries can no longer afford. For example, in the decade until it was finally unloaded just over a year ago, Air Jamaica cost Jamaican taxpayers more than US$1 billion, or nearly J$90 billion.

This brings us back to the REDjet issue. When Air Jamaica was finally divested, it was acquired by CAL. Under the arrangement, the Jamaican Government received 16 per cent of CAL, but is insulated from capital calls. There is, on the face of it, reason for Kingston and Port-of-Spain to protect CAL.

REDjet, which operates two MD82 aircraft, first wanted to set up in Jamaica, but was stonewalled. It moved to Barbados, which has no state-owned carrier.

Several months ago, REDjet announced it would inaugurate its cut-rate flights to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana, but has had regulatory difficulties in Kingston and Port-of-Spain.

Now, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago say they have safety concerns over REDjet, which the airline has to address before receiving the green light. These concerns are new to the company and the Barbadian authorities.

If these countries have genuine safety concerns, it is in the interest of the region that they be resolved. But the process has to be transparent, which this has not been.

Indeed, it is behaviour like Kingston and Port-of-Spain's that has helped to drive the region's scepticism about the usefulness of CARICOM.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.

June 19, 2011

jamaica-gleaner editorial

Bahamas Political Blog

The Bahamas supports the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that affirms equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette

Bahamas backs gay rights


BY JUAN McCARTNEY
NG Senior Reporter
thenassauguardian
juan@nasguard.com

Nassau, Bahamas




The Bahamas supports the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution passed yesterday that affirms equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette.

The resolution, which narrowly passed in the council in Geneva, Switzerland, expressed “grave concern” about discrimination against gays throughout the world and affirmed that freedom to choose sexuality is a human right.

The Bahamas does not have a seat on the council, but is in favor of the resolution in principle, Symonette said.

He noted that he had not seen the resolution, but said the government supports the expansion of rights for “people of any persuasion.”

“Our record is clear, we continue to support freedom of expression and the right for people to express their opinions,” Symonette said.

“We actually voted in expansion of the rights [of GLBT people in a UN General Assembly vote earlier this year].”

The resolution passed in the human rights council also asked the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a study by the end of the year that would point out “discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity in all regions of the world.”

Twenty-three countries on the human rights council supported the resolution, 19 voted against it and three countries abstained.

The resolution was the first of its kind passed by the council. It was fiercely opposed by Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, among other countries.

The United States supported the resolution, which also asked that the study be conducted before the end of the year to look at how international laws can “be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The resolution also said that the council will form a panel once the study is completed to discuss “constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

One month ago, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay equated homophobia and transphobia to misogyny and racism. She also claimed that hate crimes against GLBT people were on the rise.

“States have an obligation to decriminalize homosexuality and to protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation,” she said.

Jun 18, 2011

thenassauguardian