St. Lucia presents new Domestic Violence Bill (March 11, 2022)

St. Lucia's government commemorated International Women's Day on March 8 by presenting a novel domestic violence bill in Parliament. The bill would replace the 27-year-old Summary Proceedings Act.

The proposal, which is gender neutral, broadens the definition of domestic violence to include psychological abuse, coercion, molestation, and arbitrary deprivation of liberty or forced confinement. In addition, the proposed legislation speaks to economic abuse, intimidation, harassment, stalking, and cyber-stalking and asserts that there can be sexual abuse in a marital relationship.

The bill also broadens the scope for police action in response to domestic violence, reducing the onus on victims to press charges.

(St. Lucia Times, Barbados Loop News, The Voice)

Women's Rights

• A recently released report, World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2022, indicates that Caribbean and Latin American women have less than three quarters of the legal rights of men. (Our Today)

Climate Justice and Energy

• Guyana only has limited liability insurance with ExxonMobil in the event of an oil spill, a situation has not prevented the oil company from expanding production in new developments, reports Kaieteur News.
  
  
• The former Head of Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams is calling for an independent investigation into tExxonMobil's operations, accusing the company of violating the Liza Two Permit regarding full coverage liability. (Kaieteur News)
  
  
• The owners and operators of Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company/Alpart bauxite are proposing to mine nearly 700 acres of land encompassing 11 communities near Jamaica's Essex Valley region. (Jamaica Observer)
  
  
• Cuba is systematizing use and protection of its soils, with new legislation on sustainable soil conservation, improvement and management and use of fertilizers. (Cuba Debate)
  
  
• Mongabay Newscast discusses mangrove restoration and other nature based solutions to climate change.
  
  
• Experts say there’s still time to save coral reefs, but it’ll require swiftly addressing the three largest impacts to reefs: land-based pollution, overfishing and, most importantly, climate change. (Mongabay)
  
  
• The Guyanese government's decision to create a sovereign wealth fund with the revenue earned from the offshore extraction of oil has not proven to be a straightforward exercise. See the recording of the panel discussion including experts Professor Tarron Khemraj, Christopher Ram and Mike McCormack, moderated by Professor Alissa Trotz. (Moray House Trust)

Migration

• Over 100 migrants suspected to have travelled from Cariaco in Venezuela arrived in Guyana last week. The migrants, said to be from the Warao tribe, reportedly paddled their way to the village and have since been relocated to a migrant camp in Region One. (Newsroom)
  
  
• An estimated 24,500 refugees and migrants from Venezuela are living in Guyana, including some 2,500 indigenous Warao, the United Nations reported last year. According to UNHCR, these communities have limited access to services and the delivery of aid is impeded by remoteness, lack of transport infrastructure and distances.

Democratic Governance

• The Internet profoundly changed political dissidence in Cuba, writes William LeoGrande in World Politics Review. In recent years, Cubans with specific issues have found each other on social media, and followed up in person. "These new groups are distinct from more traditional dissident groups that contest the central ideology and legitimacy of Cuba’s political regime."

Covid-19

• A study on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on persons living with disabilities revealed that their quality of life declined significantly with some 47.5% of them having no healthcare and another 75% of them having limited access. The study was conducted by the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities. (Kaieteur News)
  
  
• A judge in St. Vincent and the Grenadines determined that public sector workers dismissed for being unvaccinated against Covid-19 could challenge the government's decision to fire them. (iWitness News)

Economics and Finance

• Dominican Republic authorities dismantled a transnational cybercrime network believed to have defrauded hundreds of US citizens to the tune of more than $200 million, in just the latest example of the growing threat posed by financial crime operations in the Caribbean, reports InSight Crime.
  
  
• The President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon, proposed to use a forward-looking approach –CDB’s Recovery Duration Adjuster – to make more concessional funding available for Caribbean countries.

LGBTQ Rights

• In 2018, the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that an 1893 Guyana law that prohibited cross-dressing was unconstitutional. Last year, lawmakers formally removed that section from the law books. But for many transgender women this has not been enough to transform the way they navigate social spaces. (Alturi)

Children's Rights

• A decision by Jamaica's government to divest the manufacturing and distribution aspects of the country's longstanding school nutrition program signal raise questions of how it will protect the health of the country's children, say youth advocates. (Petchary's Blog)
  
  
• Jamaica opened the country's first child-friendly facility, that will assist child victims of human trafficking and other serious crimes, through a $6.7-million partnership between Jamaica and the U.S. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Culture

• Filmmaker José María Cabral's new movie tells the story of the 1937 Parsley Massacre on Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The ethnic cleansing by Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina has long been shrouded in silence despite being a catalyst for the anti-Haitian and anti-Black sentiment that permeates Dominican society today, reports the Miami Herald.
  
  
• Haitian Rodney Saint-Éloi’s publishing house Mémoire d’encrier aims to disrupt what he sees as pervasive apathy in Quebec’s publishing scene. A profile in the Walrus explains how "taking risks has helped [this] Quebec publisher stand out against the pervasive whiteness of the industry." (Repeating Islands)

Tourism

• Grenada launched a new Voluntourism Program, with a slate of opportunities available year round in sectors like agriculture, education, health and the environment. (Repeating Islands)

Critter Corner

• Thanks to species conservation work, St. Lucia's national bird has been flourishing since the country's first independence day in 1979. -- Guardian

Events

• 17 March -- Migration Conference "Histories of Migration and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean" -- Brown University -- More Info.
  
  
• 29 March -- Climate Justice Virtual Journalism Series -- This 4-day workshop for regional journalists reporting on issues of Climate Justice. Register here. 
  
  
• 30 March -- State of Justice’ in Jamaica -- Jamaicans for Justice. Register here.

Opportunities

• Toolkit for assessing women’s leadership in disaster and climate resilience -- UN Women and the Humanitarian Advisory Group.
  
  
• GLISPA Bright Spots fellowship application -- Bright Spots are island-based initiatives that showcase environmental resilience and sustainability.

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