Time to reboot the Commonwealth

By Senator Hugh Segal


These days, when alliances are under stress, monetary unions confront their own dysfunction, and financial indicators are angst-ridden, the Commonwealth retains its potential as an organization for global good, but only just.

Voluntary, historic, multifaith, multiracial and multicultural, this association, which spans every part of the world, this network of networks, has worked in a multitude of ways to make life better for its 2.1 billion citizens in 53 member states. The world's largest democracy, India, population 1.2 billion, co-exists with the small Pacific island state of Tuvalu, population 10,000. Scholarships, distance learning, parliamentary co-operation and education, agricultural support, development, trade advocacy, anti-poverty programs, and health and democracy promotion have characterized this network of principled co-operation. However, in recent time, it began to lose its credibility and relevance in a world that desperately needs the healing touch it had brought to conflict and disparity in the past.

When Commonwealth leaders met in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 2009, they publicly acknowledged that any organization, decades old, needs such reform from time to time. They agreed on two measures. The first was the establishment of an "Eminent Persons Group" (EPG) to look at how the Commonwealth might be updated and made more relevant, impactful and influential in the 21st century. Second, they mandated the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, established by Commonwealth heads of government in 1995 to deal with serious or persistent violations of Commonwealth fundamental values, to consider how its actions might be made more effective when core principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law are violated by member states.

Commonwealth heads of government are meeting in Perth, Australia, in three weeks time to consider these reports that were submitted to them four weeks ago after 13 months of work, in the case of the EPG.

Inexplicably, current chair-in-office, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, decided that the reports should be kept secret. The host of the meeting, Australia's prime minister, has indicated that while her national position is that the reports should be made public before the summit meeting, she is constrained to join the Trinidadian prime minister to keep the reports from being made public in the interest of "consensus." As a result, helpful suggestions around more work on HIV/AIDS, a stronger and supportive presence on human rights, democracy and rule of law, a Commonwealth Youth Corps, focused disaster-relief preparations, economic and trade support for smaller states, achieving development goals, work on climate change, addressing the needs of women, and modernizing the secretariat's communications strategies to the benefit of all member states are left in the dark.

Instead, some recommendations have been subject to distortion and misinterpretation by representatives of a few governments that mistakenly believe there is some marginal benefit to them in stifling progress on these issues.

From the outset, EPG members committed to openness and transparency in the process that would lead to their conclusions and recommendations. To this end, regular updates and news releases were issued after each of the five meetings -- more than 300 civil society groups and many governments and individuals made submissions -- and feedback was always solicited. EPG members organized input sessions and made themselves available for consultation in their own countries and, when invited, travelled widely to brief, but more importantly to listen to opinions on the reforms that the Commonwealth needs if it is to continue to be relevant to its people and its times. Keeping the report secret is harmful to informed, open and transparent debate about the organization's future.

At the end of the fourth meeting in London this past March, having read hundreds of submissions and listened to people throughout the Commonwealth, the group concluded: "The Commonwealth is in danger of becoming irrelevant and unconvincing as a values-based association" and "to safeguard against this danger, we will recommend to leaders the adoption of proposals that will strengthen the Commonwealth, both as an association of governments and of peoples."

The last Eminent Persons Group was established by the then Secretary-General, Shridath Ramphal with the strong support of prime ministers Rajiv Ghandi, Brian Mulroney and Bob Hawke of India, Canada and Australia respectively, and its 1986 report dealt with the issue of apartheid. The report was made public -- four months before the historic London Commonwealth summit. That report, the publicity it received, the support it garnered, and the pressure placed on South Africa in the years following, is credited with being a catalyst to the end of legal racism and segregation in that country. The report of the current EPG, "A Commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform," may not result in such a historic, life-altering transformation, but it does offer essential and practical ways to make better the lives of one-third of the world's population.

Leadership is about the courage to engage freely on ideas that serve the public interest. Advocates of keeping the reports secret are really advocates of weakening the Commonwealth -- one of the great and historic associations that still has the potential to embody and reflect the best of the human spirit.

October 10, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Election politics in Jamaica and Guyana

By Rickey Singh





TODAY, while Jamaicans contemplate a forthcoming battle between incumbent leader of the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) Portia Simpson Miller, and the rising star of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Andrew Holness, to lead this nation following the next general election, Guyanese would be anxiously awaiting the official announcement of the date for new presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Guyana election date will come from its outgoing president, Bharrat Jagdeo, who became the youngest head of state in the Western Hemisphere at 35 and who will leave office at the comparatively young age of 47 after being executive president for a dozen years.

Constitutionally debarred from more than two successive five-year terms, Jagdeo is expected to announce Monday, November 28 as the date when the ruling People's Progressive Party (PPP) will seek an unprecedented consecutive fifth term in government, this time under the leadership of its current 60-year-old general secretary, Donald Ramotar, an economist.

Ramotar's primary opponent will be the 65-year-old ex-Brigadier of the Guyana Defence Force David Granger. He is the presidential candidate of a newly established opposition front, Partnership for National Unity which is dominated by the People's National Congress (PNC) that has been defeated by the PPP at all national elections since October 1992.

Here in Jamaica, now that Education Minister Holness has already obtained significant support from his JLP parliamentary colleagues, and appears to be popular within the party's traditional base, it is most likely that the endorsement for him to succeed Golding would be deferred for the party's November 19-20 annual convention.

By then, Guyana will be in the final week of election campaigning to choose a new 65-member Parliament and executive president. If in the case of Guyanese politics the incumbent PPP's central message will be, as already signalled, "continuity" for social and economic advancement, in Jamaica it would be quite different to market the new JLP leader with a similar message.

For, objectively, the social and political problems that finally forced Golding to quit as both party leader and prime minister (read the Christopher 'Dudus' Coke controversy as a major factor), would be very much part of the election campaign of the PNP's Simpson Miller. She can be expected to link Holness to the JLP's political culture — as difficult as such a strategy could prove.

The age factor has, surprisingly, been thrown into Jamaica's political mix of reasons for the sudden resignation announcement by Golding, who has chosen to emphasise a preference for a new generation of young leaders to be in control — in the best interest of the JLP and Jamaica.

Golding's plus & minus

The reality is that Golding, who will be 64 years old this coming December and is in good health, knows that age is not the substantive factor for his decision to walk away from the highest political office. He was certainly not going to face a leadership challenge at next month's convention, nor is he being magnanimous in suddenly making way for a suitable "young" successor.

Rather, having seriously compromised his political integrity in his controversial handling of the sensational issues that surrounded last year's extradition to the USA of the accused trafficker in drugs and guns, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke -- an influential JLP supporter -- Golding came to realise the serious damage he had wrought on confidence in his leadership judgement.

Further, and quite related, his decision was informed by how the Opposition PNP has been strategically manoeuvring to exploit the current national mood ahead of a new general election.
The suggestion that it's time to make room for a new generation of youthful leaders could also be self-serving as a parting shot by Golding against those elements within the JLP's decision-making councils and some senior Cabinet ministers who may have disappointed him at critical periods of his four years as leader of party and Government.

However, it is relevant to note here that even the more strident critics or opponents of Bruce Golding would have difficulty in ignoring an evident factor in his favour as a politician. He has, over the years, demonstrated a firm commitment to democratic governance (in party and government) — even when it came to opposing the leadership-style politics of his former mentor, Edward Seaga.

Some feel that Golding's plus factor would also point to the cultivation of a reputation for opposing corruption; And now, by his decision to quit as prime minister and JLP leader, he hopes to be remembered as a politician who did not wish to perpetuate himself in the structure of party leadership.

Holness vs Simpson Miller

Golding is departing as the first prime minister of Jamaica to voluntarily leave office without completing a first term. He is also the second to give up the prime ministership while still in good health, the first being P J Patterson.

So far as the PNP is concerned, having put to rest — expediently or not — some of the very bruising areas of internal division and discontent, it now appears as a party under Simpson Miller's continuing leadership, to be in readiness to resume control of the reins of state power when the election bell rings, either early or late next year -- depending on how the political wind is blowing with Holness as prime minister.

What both Holness and Simpson Miller would have in common is a desire to be prime minister for at least a full five-year term. The PNP leader had originally served in that office for less than a year when she succeeded Patterson before calling the September 3, 2007 general election that was lost to the JLP in a very tough battle and close outcome in terms of popular votes cast.

The PNP cannot, however, be unaware that the timing and manner of Golding's decision to quit as prime minister and leave the political landscape well ahead of a new general election would necessitate a critical reassessment of the party's electoral strategy for 2012.

Having already invested so much political capital in hammering away at the leadership blunders of Golding over the "Dudus fiasco" and more, the PNP would understand the need for its own post-Golding adjustments, which could also be a serious challenge for the JLP under the leadership of Holness.

October 09, 2011

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica: What we do not learn from history?

What we do not learn from history

jamaica-gleaner


JAMAICA HAS a track record of prime ministers and opposition leaders who have, for one reason or another, denied themselves the luxury of seeing out the maximum potential of their leadership careers. The exceptions, of course, being those two fathers of the nation, Norman Manley and Sir Alexander Bustamante, who both bowed to old age and infirmities.

A relatively younger Michael Manley was forced by illness to retire early in his third term when it seemed that he still had more to offer.

Edward Seaga, Percival Patterson, Hugh Shearer, and now Bruce Golding, all announced their resignations as prime minister or opposition leader while still in the saddle and, on all accounts, brimful of vim and vigour.

There are interesting parallels in each instance of resignation or transition. There are also some interesting lessons to learn from the different party election campaigns, if we care to learn from history, bearing in mind Georg Hegel's famous adage that what we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.

Norman Manley announced his retirement at a People's National Party (PNP) testimonial held in honour of his 75th birthday at the Sheraton Kingston Hotel on July 5, 1968. He retired officially on February 9, 1969, at a party conference held at the National Arena. He sent members a message of commendable restraint coming from a party leader: "I am not with you today because I have promised not to influence the decision of the party in any way. That fact makes it important for me to keep away." Lesson number one.

Lesson number two

There were several would-be contenders who eventually dropped out, allowing a clear, sometimes bruising race between Michael Manley and Vivian Blake. On the eve of the election, both men issued a statement vowing "to accept the will of the people and to give unqualified support to whoever is the leader of their choice." Lesson number two.

It would be Michael Manley's turn, some 23 years later and at 68 years old, to announce his retirement as prime minister at a special delegates' conference on March 15, 1992. Health considerations were the main reasons, but he made a telling point on youth succession similar to the one laboured by Bruce Golding last Sunday night.

"I have always believed that political leaders must know when to step aside and make room for others", said Manley. "And because of my strongly held conviction about making room for young people, I had long decided I would not lead the PNP into the 1994 election." Lesson number three.

Waiting in the wings were P.J. Patterson, 57 years, and his main rival, Portia Simpson, a girlish 47 years.

It was P.J.'s turn the next time around. On January 22, 2006, he announced his intention to retire as prime minister, the dust settling on February 26 to see Simpson Miller emerge as party leader after an intense and sometimes bitter race.

Dirty laundry in public

Do we learn from history that we do not learn from history? Hark to the PNP that has always managed to display a semblance of unity in spite of their differences. The JLP, now in the middle of a succession process, tends to let it all hang out, to their disadvantage. Bob Lightbourne refused at first to be sworn in by Donald Sangster in 1967, because he was not named deputy prime minister. Hugh Shearer resigned as JLP opposition leader when the party knives were drawn at a Montego Bay meeting in 1974.

Edward Seaga was pilloried by the famous gangs of the JLP while he was leader, but gave as good as he got in a battle that was played out in the public arena.

Golding himself enjoyed a seamless transition following Seaga's resignation. Dr Ken Baugh was appointed acting leader of the Opposition, but made it clear he was only holding the position "until Bruce wins, his seat in Western Kingston when I will resign and make way for him to become opposition leader". By that time, Pearnel Charles had dropped out of the race to make it a one-horse contest. The JLP went on to win the 2007 elections.

Do we learn anything here from history?

Comments to columns@gleanerjm.com or lanceneita@hotmail.com

October 6, 2011

jamaica-gleaner

Bahamas Blog International

Protecting suicidal homosexual teens

By Dr Oswald R. Thomas


September 4-10 was earmarked as National Suicide Prevention Week. It was recognised that youngsters identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) are two out of three times more likely to commit suicide when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Tragically, one out of three lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender teens will attempt suicide.

As the LGBT community in Antigua and Barbuda, and the wider Caribbean, continues to grow and more young people openly declare their sexual orientation, many have and will become targets for aggressive behaviour.

This is unacceptable. Assaults often result in serious injury or death. In other cases, suicide is the answer. Regardless of how we feel about diverse sexual orientations, we have to find saner, more holistic ways to embrace each others' humanity. Yes, we may still acknowledge deep ethical differences, and at the same time, relate to one another from the context of the Golden Rule.

The school, of all places, should show exemplary leadership, social graces, and rational behaviour. Some who are put in charge of our schools ignore anti-LGBT bullying. As these so-called responsible adults remain neutral in the face of obvious and subtle heckling, unfortunately, their behaviour reinforces dark stereotypes about LGBT. They also send the wrong message to the teens that their sexual orientations do not matter. Beyond the school, I expect church leaders, without damaging their good Christian identity, to uphold ideals of human solidarity.

I don’t expect the church to abandon its ethical obligation of telling the truth to its communities. But the church cannot turn a blind eye to the social evil of harassing and inflicting serious injuries to LGBTs. This leads to teenagers taking their own lives. No way on earth could this negligence be right in the sight of God.

LGBT teens struggle with mixed feelings over their sexual identity -- be it feelings of being attracted to someone of the same sex when he or she was raised to get married and have children. These feelings of same-sex attraction are compounded by feelings of rejection. When linked to intolerance from a school system, society at large, and resistance from within one’s own family, suicide sets in.

It is particularly painful for LGBTs to be rejected by their own families. The home should be a place of love and comfort, but in many instances, it is riddled with conflict and stress. It becomes an increasing hostile environment for LGBT teens.

Unless we cultivate a passion for nurturing social commitments, even with those who are different from us, our societies will not grow and expand. LGBT teens need to feel a sense of belonging and love. They need to be integrated as full members of the family. They need to be protection by law. And they need to know that they can grow up to make their contribution to nation building, like any other teen. If we protect their individual rights, they can make a difference that inspires us all.

On September 12, the Guyana Stabroek News featured a young man who told his story of how, as a homosexual teen, three men grabbed him off the street in Georgetown. They took him to a dark alley where they raped him, then left him bleeding and broken. He felt so ashamed that he never told anyone the real story about what had happened to him. The men claimed that they wanted to teach the boy a hard lesson. The young man contracted HIV.

Fortunately, the youth has come to terms with what happened to him. He turned a tragedy into a triumph, and now travels all over the world speaking about his ordeal. This is a great ending. But for many other LGBT teens, the story ends with suicide.

It is well known that people who go through life not feeling loved, respected, and accepted from peers are likely not to love themselves. Many fall back on suicide.

When we put an emphasis on community and compassion, and on values-based politics, we promote the common good. Time to save our LGBT teens.

October 5, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: The political back and forth on Urban Renewal... Whence cometh Rev. C.B. Moss' authority to speak about urban renewal, the idea and not simply the specific program?

Getting real on urban renewal

By Simon

thenassauguardian

Nassau, The Bahamas

The political back and forth on Urban Renewal is counterproductive.  The launch of the program by the PLP administration of Perry Christie was a progressive and important step in the right direction to address a host of social ills.

FNMs and others should recognize and applaud the intent and various aspects of urban renewal with consideration of expanding its reach.

Meanwhile, PLPs should stop pretending that the program has been dismantled or of its efficacy in fighting crime in the manner in which the party often boasts.

Both parties should pay more attention to Rev. C.B. Moss, founding pastor of the Mount Olive Baptist Church and executive director of Bahamas Against Crime (BAC).  Whence cometh his authority to speak about urban renewal, the idea and not simply the specific program?

His understanding of the many dimensions - roots and branches - of urban renewal and the limitations of urban renewal is more expansive than much of the current thinking by many.  While many think in terms of programs, Rev. Moss is on a mission of transformation.

He is armed and fortified for this mission with the wisdom and vantage point of paradox. Rev. Moss is tough-headed and tender-hearted, street smart and book-learned with fluency in the language and the vocabulary of both, and a man of progressive ideas and traditional values. He is also not without some showmanship and clever at grabbing media attention to press his causes.

 

JOURNEYS

To understand where Rev. Moss has come to and what is required of people of faith in The Bahamas to help heal the land, is to appreciate the journeys of other men of the cloth; men like Reinhold Niebuhr whose theology is built on paradox, irony and Christian realism, and Walter Rauschenbusch and his theology of the social gospel.

Through a life’s journey and with a deep sense of the history of The Bahamas, Rev. Moss knows the depths of the valleys and the heights of the mountaintops.

He understands the addictions of which we are all heir, of power, drugs, money, possessions, fundamentalist certainty and many more.  He also appreciates too the power of service and altruism.

They are saving graces which can liberate us from the tyranny of the mess we often make of our lives and the self-righteous judgment we inflict on others projecting our personal demons onto our favorite scapegoats be they individuals or entire groups.

So when he faces the issue of crime and the death penalty, he is clear about criminals being held responsible for their crimes as well as society being held responsible for the role it plays in fostering and sustaining a criminal culture by commission or omission.

Unlike many of his fundamentalist colleagues, Rev. Moss is deeply uncomfortable with capital punishment, recognizing its limits as a deterrent. He sees through the scapegoating, the all too easy panaceas, and the “vengeance is mine” mentality.

His theological reflections are seasoned with sociological realities unlike so many pastors stuck in a rigid Old Testament mind set, untouched or liberated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ whose sermon on the mount and parables have barely penetrated the spirits of those more comfortable with fire and brimstone.

 

THE CROSS

From his vantage point sitting outside Mount Olive Baptist Church in Bain Town, at the crossroads of Meadow and Augusta Streets, and of much that ails our society, Rev. Moss understands why on an issue like capital punishment, Christians must hold firm to both arms of the cross with the message of Christ at the center.

Those arms include care and compassion for the families of murder victims.  It demands seeking the redemption of those who murder.  It requires also compassion and care for the families of murderers.  In this, Rev. Moss is a spiritual companion of Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, whose ministry of forgiveness and transformation on the most capital of punishments was chronicled in the film Dead Man Walking.

He knows too that this same spirit is required for genuine renewal of our urban communities and inner city.  A call to renewal which will require not just house repairs, clean-ups and better community policing, but more fundamentally conversion of hearts and minds.

A resident of an over the hill community noted that urban renewal will not become real solely by people coming into his community and doing things for him and other residents.  He was clear that urban renewal will only become more genuine when the people of his community are truly engaged in rebuilding their lives and community.

In essence, he offers the essential mission and ambition for more effective urban renewal of which the major parties might take note.  In so doing there are many models for such a mission.  One of them is Afro Reggae.

The Afro Reggae cultural group arose from a slum, the Vigário Geral favela in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in response to violence spawned by drugs and related criminal activity.  The group opened its first Culture Community Center in 1993 initially offering workshops in dance, percussion, garbage recycling, soccer and capoeira, which became foundations for various social projects.

The center had as its mission: “To offer a cultural and artistic education for adolescents living in slums by affording local youth more chances of strengthening their citizenship” and providing them “a viable path away from entanglement in the prevalent drug trade”.  Over the years Afro Reggae has expanded the number of its centers and programs.

“In conjunction with workshops in music, capoeira, theater, hip hop and dance”, Afro Reggae helps “preschool kids through programs aimed at socializing and literacy”.  Participant children’s parents also take part in weekly meetings where subjects such as domestic violence and personal hygiene are discussed; they also receive basic-food baskets.

 

TRANSFORMED

But it is through the power of the arts, entertainment and film and documentary production that Afro Reggae has transformed the lives of thousands and helped to sustain itself.  It has transformed minds and hearts by providing career paths, and new horizons and friendships for teens tempted to drugs, early sexual encounters, bullying, crime and anti-social behavior.

Through well-honed experiential learning and edutainment models, Afro Reggae has broken the cycle of poverty for many and restored community while giving voice to cultural expression.  The program is targeted for young people but engages their parents and others in its program of transformation.

Afro Reggae’s offerings have expanded to include circus arts, a theatrical group, community service to the elderly, choirs, a newspaper, radio programs, and an internet site dedicated to Afro-Brazilian culture.

Its health program is conducted by a theatrical group comprised of adolescents that utilize the performance arts to educate and inform their peers on a range of adolescent development issues.

Afro Reggae has plowed through the viciousness and violence and rampant criminality of a number of the favelas in Brazil.  Through its inspiring hard work and success, it has saved lives that may have been lost to communities in despair.

The problems in Brazil’s cities and favelas with millions of people are much broader and complex than those of our urban centers.

Surely, by employing the creativity and will of models such as Afro Reggae we can stem much of our social decay through a sociology hope.  This is the message of Rev. C. B. Moss whose voice on these matters we ignore at our own peril.

 

Oct 04, 2011

frontporchguardian@gmail.com

www.bahamapundit.com

Bahamas Blog International

Haiti needs its own national army

By Jean H Charles



President Joseph Michel Martelly of Haiti has revealed in camera to several foreign embassies accredited in the country the blueprint of the new national army that he plans to restore to the territory. The reaction has been viscerally negative abroad yet applauded with both hands in the country.

Haiti needs its own national army.

Akin to the United States that was founded through the battlefield by its own army under the commandment of its first president, General George Washington, Haiti was also founded by its own indigenous army under the command of Jean Jacques Dessalines.

Its army is an organic structure of the country; its absence is felt negatively by all its composites. In case of disaster (they are coming often now!), the population is vulnerable without immediate help unless it comes from the Dominican Republic or the United States. (Which one is preferable?)

The porous borders of the country are open invitations for drug dealers, bandits of all quarters to come in, and open business to the detriment of the social fabric of society.

The arguments against the reinstallation of the army are spurious at best, disingenuous at worst.

Haiti needs no army because 35 other countries in the world are conducting their business without one. A cursory look at those countries will reveal immediately that they are in large part principalities with no fewer than 100,000 people: the Vatican, Vanuatu, Monaco, etc., yet Haiti has 10 million people.

Haiti has no money -- it should spend its asset on other priorities. Security is foremost the backbone for the accumulation and the preservation of wealth for any nation or for that matter any person.

Haiti has a history of a repressive military force that does not respect its limits and boundaries; it has often been involved in the politics of the nation. It is true the army was a tool of repression used by the dictatorship of the Duvaliers, yet the same army was seen as a liberator when it sided with the people to force the departure of Jean Claude Duvalier on February 7, 1986.

Haiti has MINUSTHA a multi nation force invited by and extended into the entire country by the Haitian government. I may have sent the first salvo denouncing the presence of the international force as the biggest international fraud against the nation in my column. Now the chickens are coming home to roost! It is decried by the entire population for being ineffective, an elephant in your bedroom, and a carrier of epidemics such as cholera and involved in sordid practices such as multiple violations of young men and women.

It was Ernest Renan, the father of the concept of nation building, who instructed the founding fathers past and present that no country can have the pretention of becoming a nation if:

1) it does not have the full control of its borders and its territory,
2) while protecting its citizens in their locality and
3) rooting them with sane institutions and adequate infrastructure in
4) insuring that no one is left behind.

Haiti as the first free black country in the world does have the pretention of becoming one day a nation hospitable to all its citizens in full control of its borders equal to and in collegiality with its neighbors.

President Joseph Michel Martelly, elected on a wide plebiscite for change, will have to dice out the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the Times and other foreign papers that have all decried the concept of Haiti building its own army. The blueprint for the new one is a modest force of 3,500 soldiers, with a budget of only $94 million, with some of the funds going to pay back disbanded officers sent home two decade ago without compensation and to institute a universal civic duty force made for and targeted to the youths of Haiti.

This force is a nickel and dime expenditure in comparison to MINUSTHA, with a purse of $700 million per year, with dubious result in security and in stabilization.

The country will seek to inherit the full military base installation of MINUSTHA, not as a war trophy but as a compensation for harm done: 5,000 people perished in the cholera epidemic; the country will have to deal for a long time in the future with the consequences of that scourge.

President Martelly or his Minister of Foreign Affairs will have bread on the ground in dealing with each one of the foreign contingent of the MINUSTHA family to negotiate the passing to the new Haitian army the the trucks, the armaments, the cars, and all other war and civilian materiel brought into the country.

The new Haitian army shall be an army for the people and with the people. In addition to its security duties, it shall be a force for the renewal of the environment, an incubator for the transfer of technology, ferment for civic bonding and nation building and a model citizen army, with some of its men and women sent abroad through the United Nations to help other nations in difficulty.

The Haiti that claimed its independence against all foreign odds two centuries ago needs its own national army to defend its territory, its resources (the Japanese fishing fleet is plying the territorial waters of Haiti with impunity) and its people against all foreign might now!

October 3, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

The Virtual Magistrate: An old idea for a new Caribbean cyberspace (part 1)

By Abiola Inniss LLB, LLM, ACIArb



As the Caribbean region struggles to find its own space in the world of virtual business transactions, the issues of transparency, efficiency and dispute resolution have become major difficulties in the development of international business relations and the growth of the region as a whole.

The example of South East Asia where significant effort has been dedicated to the development of technological and other resources and where, in the aftermath of war and disaster, astounding progress has been observed, ought to provide a catalyst to the notion that the region can yet accomplish significant development if the necessary attention is given to the critical areas with the intention of resolving these problems.

The use of alternative dispute resolution techniques such as online arbitration and online mediation have been tried and proven and many models are in use around the world by individual companies and groups that provide a fee based service. It is here proposed that the Caribbean region needs a single comprehensive online ADR institution, which must be grounded in the principles of private international law, cyberspace law and the law of international trade in order to withstand the rigours of both international trade and scrutiny, and to meet the standards of judicial competence required of a regional institution. The idea of the Virtual Magistrate is revisited here.

On May 22, 1996, the National Center for Automated Information Research (NCAIR) of the USA held a conference on online dispute resolution in Washington, D.C. The conference brought together experts from the Cyber Law Institute (CLI), Georgetown University, American Arbitration Association (AAA), Villanova Center for Information Law and Practice and MCI.

These experts discussed and designed regulations for the first active online ADR system on the Internet and gave birth to the Virtual Magistrate (VM), the first online dispute resolution facility. It was jointly managed by the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy, the Cyberspace Law Institute and the American Arbitration Association.

The idea behind this project was to develop a response to what was perceived as the immediate global need for dispute resolution mechanisms in cyberspace, in what was then a fledgling but rapidly developing and exciting sector. VM was an experimental project that was intended to measure the use of online arbitration mechanisms for online disputes and to gauge the effectiveness of such a system and whether online users would utilize it.

VM was also intended to provide Internet service providers (ISP) with informed and neutral judgments on appropriate responses when making decisions which involved allegations of copyright infringement or defamation. The Virtual Magistrate project offered arbitration to individuals who use online services, systems operators and people who claim to be harmed by wrongful messages, postings and files.

The administrators had systems operators in mind when developing this project. Administrators projected that ISPs would use VM decisions as a basis for their contracts and that they would place an arbitration clause in their contracts. VM also considered cases which were directly related to online activities or commerce dealing with compensation or financial obligations.

The Magistrates were selected by the AAA and the Cyber Law Institute Subcommittee and were paid volunteers randomly selected when a case was accepted. Magistrates needed to be familiar with relevant legal principles as well as technical issues that they could encounter.

When a party wanted to apply for service they had to fill out a complaint form located on the VM’s webpage. The complaint asked for a description of the action, objection to the activity and information about the other person. The complaint was then reviewed by the AAA who, if necessary, would request additional information about the complaint, then secure a participation agreement from both parties. After the necessary documents were secured the AAA would assign Magistrates to the case. The VM tried to resolve all disputes within 72 hours of both parties agreeing to participate.

Communication between the Magistrate and the parties would take place on a designated listserv/newsgroup (“grist”). All participants received a password for access to the grist, where the decision would be posted. In some cases, it may have been necessary for the Magistrate to communicate privately with a party; in these cases communication would take place via the Magistrate’s private e-mail.

VM also decided whether reasonable action should be taken by the systems operator; such as deleting, masking or restricting access to a message, file or posting. If necessary the Magistrate could decide whether access should be denied to certain parties.

The Virtual Magistrate project expected system operators to support and enforce all decisions just as they would in private arbitration. All decisions were made public unless otherwise deemed by the Magistrate. The first decision of the Virtual Magistrate is available here: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/199605/msg00054.html.

This initial project though it contained many of the basic ideas necessary for the resolution of disputes at the time of its actualization in 1996 and was based on a concept of universality, could not fulfill a global need because of the difficulties involving any attempt to ground it to any particular legal system or systems. It therefore dissolved having created the groundwork for a number of individual mechanisms that are now used worldwide in the resolution of online disputes.

The Caribbean region is in the unique position to create a model for online dispute resolution which goes much further than the Virtual Magistrate project of 1996 and which can encompass the concept of an online international tribunal.

October 1, 2011

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