Dominican Republic moves to loosen abortion ban (April 30, 2021)

 Dominican Republic lawmakers took the first step in permitting abortion under certain, limited circumstances. In the Dominican Republic abortion is currently forbidden in all circumstances. The Chamber of Deputies voted on a penal code reform on Wednesday that would allow abortion when the woman's life is in danger. Lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected feminist demands that rape, incest and fetal inviability also be circumstances in which abortion would be permitted. (EFE)

The bill will now proceed to a second vote in the Chamber of Deputies and must then pass the Senate, which means it could still be modified along the way.

Abortion activists have been demonstrating for over a month, since lawmakers on the justice commission rejected the proposed modifications to the penal code. (NBC) 

The Dominican Republic is one of six countries in the world that maintains a total abortion ban, along with Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Malta and the Vatican. President Luis Abinader said he supports the modifications, but cannot impose them on lawmakers, reports El País.

In February of last year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights admitted for review the case of “Esperancita”, a 16-year-old girl who died in 2012 after being denied life-saving treatment for leukaemia because she was pregnant, noted Amnesty International in its annual report.

Corruption

• A series of raids by the Dominican Republic prosecutors revealed a wide-ranging corruption network that operated in the country's security forces. Authorities arrested the former head of security of then-president Danilo Medina, Gen. Adam Cáceres, the preacher Rossy Guzmán, her son and two other people for alleged corruption, money laundering and other crimes. The attorney general’s office affirmed they seized millions in assets in what has been dubbed "Operación Corál." The scandal involves the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), Presidential Security (Cusep), Tourist Security (Cestur), and the National Police. (Dominican Today, Dominican Today, Dominican Today, Diario Libre, Dominican Today)

Climate Justice

• The 44 members of the Alliance of Small Island States, are the least contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, but the most affected by climate change, said Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne at the U.S. hosted Leaders Summit on Climate last week. "The harmful effects of Climate Change are growing, and the cost of mitigation and recovery is being counted in human lives and livelihoods."

• The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) endorsed the use of locally led adaption principles in supporting the most vulnerable communities to address climate change impacts, including in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), along with 50 other organisations globally.

• To date, 12 Caribbean countries including Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Eustatius, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Trinidad and Tobago, have all placed a ban on the use and import of single-use plastics and Styrofoam. (Times Caribbean)
  
  
• Many islands in the Caribbean are transitioning from electricity systems that are traditionally centralized in nature and powered by fossil fuels to a new paradigm incorporating distributed energy resources. Stimulus efforts to recover from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic should aim to accelerate progress in implementing DER solutions and provide other significant benefits, according to a report by RMI.

• A coalition of conservation organisations bought 950 sq km of the Belize Maya Forest in order to save one of the world’s last pristine rainforests from deforestation. Combined with the adjacent Rio Bravo Reserve, Belize Maya Forest creates a protected area that covers 9% of Belize’s landmass, a critical “puzzle piece” in the Selva Maya forest region, helping secure a vital wildlife corridor across northern Guatemala, southern Mexico and Belize, reports the Guardian.

• Guyanese finches, a songbird, have become a valuable commodity in parts of the U.S., where the caged birds are pitted in competition against one another, often in parks. The fashion has promoted a boom in bird smuggling from Guyana, with finches concealed in hair curlers, reports the New York Times.

Governance

• “The U.S.'s insistence on elections at all costs in Haiti” later this year risks exacerbating the country’s cycle of political instability and violence, warned 69 U.S. House Democrats in a letter to the Secretary of State, calling for “a significant review of U.S. policy in Haiti” by the Biden administration. The U.S. lawmakers said the administration of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who has been ruling without a parliament for over 15 months, not only “lacks the credibility and legitimacy” to administer elections that are free and fair but also a constitutional referendum scheduled for June 27. (Miami Herald)

• The United States will not provide financial support for a constitutional referendum in Haiti, the U.S. State Department told reporters yesterday. (Reuters)

• An epidemic of abductions is compounding Haiti's political and economic crises. Kidnappings last year tripled to 234 cases compared to 2019 -- but real figures are likely much higher because many Haitians don't report abductions, fearing retribution from criminal gangs, reports Reuters.
• The former U.S. Trump administration went "purposely" out of its way not to help Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. According to a report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General, the Trump administration created bureaucratic hurdles that delayed approximately $20 billion in hurricane disaster recovery and mitigation funds to Puerto Rico. "What is clear is that Puerto Rico was treated quite differently from other places — such as Florida or Texas — that had suffered hurricane damage and needed assistance," criticizes the Washington Post editorial board.

Regional Relations

• David Jessop hopes the new U.S. administration heralds a new era of cooperation with the Caribbean, and notes that "inclusion" was emphasized in a recent two-hour meeting last week between U.S.  Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and his Caricom counterparts. (Jamaica Gleaner)

• News Americas analyzing the same meeting criticized that Blinken "brought words and a 'commitment to working with all countries,' but little else."

Covid-19 impact

• The U.S. announced it will share millions of doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine -- Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who is also Caricom chairman, said he is in conversations with the Biden administration regarding the need for equitable distribution of vaccine supplies. (Caribbean Media Corporation)

• Asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants living in Belize can receive the COVID-19 vaccine. (Breaking Belize News)
  

Human Rights

• The 2021 Freedom Report downgraded both the United States and El Salvador by three points while Venezuela lost two. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and St. Lucia all slipped a point. Only six countries in the Americas registered improvements in 2021: Suriname, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Jamaica and Belize. Fourteen others held steady (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay). (Americas Quarterly)

• Jamaica has been described as “almost flawless” in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. Jamaica is seventh out of 180 countries ranked, second only to Costa Rica in the Americas. According to the report, Jamaica generally enjoys widespread respect for freedom of information and continues to rank among the safest countries in the world for journalists. (Jamaica Observer)

Gender

• Activists are calling for Jamaican Member of Parliament George Wright to resign, after an incident of domestic violence in which he is believed to have physically assaulted his common-law wife. The video of the alleged event went viral, and has spurred criticism in a country where gender-based violence is increasingly under the spotlight. (Loop, Global Voices, Petchary's Blog, see April 16's Just Caribbean Updates)

Food Security

• Volcanic eruptions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines left the country in a state of emergency that is affecting the availability and affordability of food, reports IICA.
  

Migration

• A boat carrying 24 Venezuelans capsized en route to Trinidad and Tobago, last week. At least two people died, and 15 are still unaccounted for. The tragedy is the latest of several incidents involving the capsizing of boats carrying Venezuelan refugees and migrants towards Caribbean islands. (United Nations)

• A report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) using the Displacement Tracking Matrix on Venezuelan migrants living in Guyana's Mahdia region.

• Title 42 allows US authorities to rapidly expel most migrants who arrive at the US border on the pretext of public health. But the policy exposes migrants and asylum seekers to serious danger, according to a new report by Al Otro Lado, Human Rights First and the Haitian Bridge Alliance. (Al Jazeera)
  

Economics and Finance

• Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said many middle income countries “will be pauperised” if they do not have access to concessional funding. She spoke at a virtual interactive Fireside Chat on the challenges faced by small island developing states (SIDS), hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She expressed the view that there must be a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) for all countries. (Nation News)

• Jamaican Finance Minister Nigel Clarke is calling for more public-private partnerships to help Jamaica navigate away from what he calls the black hole of a looming regional debt crisis. (Jamaica Gleaner)
  

Culture

• Judas and the Black Messiah won two Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards from an all-black producing team whose director, producer and co-writer’s roots run straight to the Caribbean and Panama -- News Americas.

• Five Caribbean writers are among the 25 shortlisted in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition. (The Grenadian Voice)

Events

5 May

• Inaugural Lecture and Conference -- Ameena Gafoor Institute for the Study of Indentureship and its Legacies

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