CARICOM pushes back against international banking system (April 22, 2022)

CARICOM has banded together to inform the international banking system that its policies on banking in the region are unacceptable and there should be greater dialogue, reports Newsday. This week Barbados the hosted Caribbean Financial Access Roundtable, attended by CARICOM leaders. 

The full-day roundtable focused on concrete proposals to tackle the challenges that small island states face due to the continued reduction of the availability of trade and financial services for their economies and people. Chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, Maxine Waters joined Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley to co-host. (U.S. Embassy)

Caribbean countries are “unflinching” in their support for international efforts to stop crime and terrorism, as well as the financing of them, Mottley stressed at the opening of the Caribbean Financial Access Roundtable. (St. Lucia Times)

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowly said the region faces undue sanctions based on suggestions that the regional system was vulnerable to terrorists and money launderers, an issue of grave concern for Caribbean countries. He said decisions about Caricom banks were being made by people who were not listening and Caricom had deemed the problem to be significant, reports the Trinidad Express.

The loss of correspondent banking, increase of the unbanked and disruption of the flow of remittance will pose serious threats to the economic and social stability of the Caribbean, said Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips. (Department of Public Information)

Chair of the CARICOM Commission on the Economy Professor Avinash Persaud called for urgent reform on the way countries are blacklisted. Speaking during the opening session of the Caribbean Financial Access Roundtable, Persaud said small countries in the Caribbean were being unfairly blacklisted and that the current structure was actually encouraging money laundering as opposed to fighting it. (Barbados Today)

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African Union-CARICOM direct contact

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda paid official visits to Jamaica and Barbados last week. He was in Jamaica from April 13-15 and in Barbados from April 15-17. In both countries, Kagame spoke of the need to strengthen the direct contact between the Caribbean and Africa.

Kagame has called for solidarity among African and Caribbean countries saying they must work together to advance their common positions and interests globally. He spoke at a joint sitting of Jamaica’s Houses of Parliament and said Africa and the Caribbean must open direct lines of communication. (Caribbean National Weekly)

Closer contact between the Caribbean and Africa has also been the expressed goal of CARICOM leaders in recent years. But achieving a deeper, direct relationship between CARICOM and its member states and the African Union (AU) and its member states "will take planning and work to get it right. It will not be an overnight thing," writes Elizabeth Morgan in the Jamaica Gleaner.

Diplomacy

• A planned visit by the British Earl and Countess of Wessex to Grenada has been postponed just one day before the couple embark on their six-day platinum jubilee tour of the Caribbean. The unusual move comes weeks after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s controversial visit to the region, reports the Guardian. (See March 24's JCU)
  
• Prince Edward and his wife are thought to have had Grenada removed from their itinerary -- whicgh also includes Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda -- over fears that it would be defined by topics such as republicanism and slavery reparations, as was Prince William and Kate Middleton's recent trip, reports The Times. (See March 24's JCU)
  
• CARICOM states led the way in the Organization of American States on Thursday in a historic vote to suspend the status of the Russian Federation as a Permanent Observer to the Organization. "There is an important lesson to be learned from the votes of the 12 small CARICOM states and five of their counterparts from Central America," writes Sir Ronald Sanders. "They showed that small states, too, have a legitimate and strong voice in the hemisphere, and the world, to speak out for right and for justice."
  
  
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador I. Rhonda King reflects on her country’s membership of the Security Council (2020-21), covering the role of small states in the Council, the genesis of the A3 plus 1, the role of regional organisations and the changing nature of security. (Interactive Dialogues) 
  
  
• The U.S. and Cuba held direct migration talks this week for the first time in four years. The U.S. Biden administration seeks to stop an overwhelming surge of migrants at the southern border, in which Cubans have become the second-largest group of those seeking unauthorized entry through Mexico, reports the Washington Post.

Democratic Governance

• Haitian President Jovenel Moïse’s violent, early-morning murder "embodied and exacerbated the two challenges that most stubbornly torment Haiti: a broken political system and the deep connections between politicians and criminals," writes Renata Segura in Foreign Affairs.
  
  
• "In addition to highlighting the country’s political dysfunction, the assassination reflected the murky dealings and webs of impunity that unite Haiti’s visible world of politics and business with its underworld of heavily armed gangs, crooked police officers, and criminal syndicates."

Debt, Finance and Economics

• Russia's invasion of Ukraine is making Cuba’s three-year-old foreign exchange crisis worse as import costs jump. The situation is undermining the island's incipient economic recovery and threatening more hardship for residents, reports Reuters.
• Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne recently chaired a meeting of a United Nations multi-nation group to begin discussions to establish the Multi-Dimensional Vulnerability Index. This new device is intended to replace the GNP per capita device now utilized to determine eligibility of states for concessional financing. (Antigua News Room)
  

Human Rights

• Angry protesters set up blazing barricades in Kingston's Denham Town after a man was killed in an alleged confrontation with Jamaican soldiers, reports the Jamaica Gleaner. Controversial shootings are not an unfamiliar narrative in Denham Town, which has a storied history of gang warfare and confrontation with the security forces. The Jamaican military said it had commenced an internal investigation into the death and committed to cooperate with INDECOM.
  
  
• Human rights advocates are urging Jamaica's government to revisit its policy ban on the employment of ex-convicts in the public sector if it is serious about rehabilitation and reintegration, reports the Jamaica Gleaner. The call is being made against the backdrop of the recent dismissal of an ex-inmate who secured employment as a judge’s orderly at the Supreme Court but was quickly relieved of his duties after it was uncovered that he had been previously convicted of robbery with aggravation.

Climate Justice and Energy

• Southern Caribbean energy producers are on the frontline of a global geopolitical realignment. "In the decade ahead, the Southern Caribbean is likely to play a much more prominent role on the global energy map, something local leaders will have to weigh carefully," write Georges A. Fauriol and Scott B. MacDonald in Global Americans.
  
  
• The University of the West Indies published "10 urgent takeaways for the Caribbean from the UN IPCC’s latest report on climate change."
  
  
• Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “systematically and knowingly” violated the law, according to  environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly, who said the environmental permit issued for ExxonMobil’s Yellowtail Development Project is “illegal and invalid” as a result. (Stabroek News)
  

Drug Policy

• The Grenada government said it would hold its final public consultation on the decriminalisation of marijuana on Friday as it moves ahead with plans to amend the existing Drug Act as part of the initiative. (Nation News)
  

Racial Justice and Diaspora

• The New York-based National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) said it would hold a special dialogue on Friday with members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparations Commission (CRC). (Caribbean National Weekly)
  
  
• "BlackTalk," by Barbados native Andy Knight, offers an “ethnic, modern, inclusive and informative” take on the Black experience for listeners of all backgrounds. (University of Alberta)
  

Events

• 25 April -- The Fight Against Illicit Trafficking of Firearms in Latin America and the Caribbean -- ABA and Caribbean Policy Consortium. Register here.

Opportunities

• Support campaign to help the United Maroon Peoples (UMP) represent their communities/peoples/nations to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).
  

We welcome comments and critiques on the Just Caribbean Updates. You can see the Updates on our website, as well as receive it directly through the mailing list. Thank you for reading.

Orgs call for deep seabed mining moratorium (April 17, 2022)

A group of environmental organizations, including Greenpeace International and the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, are calling for a moratorium on deep-seabed mining -- as the International Seabed Authority moves towards the goal of putting in place a mining code to allow deep-seabed mining to start in June 2023. (Global Voices) As opposition to deep-sea mining grows, the ISA is facing resistance over its rush to develop a roadmap to be adopted before 9 July 2023, reports the Guardian. The latest round of meetings ended earlier this month in Jamaica, where the U.N. affiliated organization is based.

Deep-sea mining may start as early as 2023 after Nauru triggered a two-year rule embedded in the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that could essentially allow its sponsored company to start mining with whatever regulations are currently in place. (See Just Caribbean Updates for Dec. 15, 2021) Since then, the ISA, which is responsible for protecting the ocean while encouraging deep-sea mining development, has been scrambling to come up with regulations that would determine how mining can proceed in the deep sea. 

Many states are eager to finalize a set of regulations over the next 15 months that would determine how mining can proceed in the deep sea, reports Mongabay. The International Energy Agency is projecting that demand for minerals like those underneath the seafloor will rise exponentially by 2040, driven by products like electric vehicles and battery storage for renewable energy, reports Politico.

Other countries have taken more precautionary approaches. Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Chile, among other states, highlighted the gulf in scientific knowledge of the deep sea and lack of information regarding the potential effects of mining on the marine environment.

During the latest round of meetings, ISA was accused of failings of transparency after not including an independent body responsible for reporting on negotiations. Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB), a division of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), which has covered previous ISA negotiations, had not had its contract renewed. Its absence raised concerns that the ISA is developing its mining standards and guidelines behind closed doors, reports the Guardian. 

Germany and environmentalists also expressed concern over a lack of transparency by the ISA’s legal and technical commission (LTC), a body charged with developing standards and guidelines for the mining code, which meets behind closed doors. The LTC comprises 30 members. A fifth of them work for contractors for deep-sea mining companies.

Climate Justice and Energy

• The Barbados-based Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum says there are concerns over long term drought in the islands of the Eastern Caribbean particularly from St Lucia north to Antigua. While the month of February brought "some relief from the dry conditions experienced in recent months across many parts of the Caribbean, there are concerns now about the prolonged drought situation in the region," said the organization in its latest Caribbean Drought Bulletin. (Caribbean Loop News)
  
  
• "The pace and tenor of the discussion on global warming in the Caribbean cannot be influenced by the gradualism that the phrase ‘climate change’ implies. Our dialogue has to shift to one that recognises the gravity of the climate crisis that we are experiencing and the existential threat that it poses to all SIDS," argues James Fletcher, of the Caribbean Climate Justice Project, in the Jamaica Gleaner.
  
  
• Guyanese fisher folk are calling on the government to speed up ongoing research activity that will help to determine the cause of low catches offshore Guyana. They say that low fish numbers are now forcing them to risk their lives and venture into foreign waters, reports Kaieteur News. The Guyana National Fisher Folk Organisation said it continues to await important fish studies promised by the Ministry of Agriculture to determine the decline in fish numbers, reports Kaieteur separately.
  
  
• With ExxonMobil ramping up activities offshore Guyana and the government granting more permits to advance the process, a group of environmental activists have written to Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Belizean Prime Minister Johnny Briceño outlining possible risks of the operations. (Stabroek News)
  
  
• The Caribbean Climate Justice Alliance was launched to amplify the voices of the vulnerable and support a unified and coherent approach by civil society and non-state actors to enhance the effectiveness and impact of calls for climate justice at a virtual regional workshop convened by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and Panos Caribbean last month.

Food Security

• The IMF and World Bank have identified the adverse effects of the war in Ukraine on Caribbean economies, including higher prices for oil and food; significantly increased costs for transportation by sea, air and road; a negative impact on tourism; and importation of inflation from trading partners where costs have rapidly risen, writes Sir Ronald Sanders in a call for accountability for damaging the legal international order.
  

Regional Relations

• Harsh sentences against anti-government protesters in Cuba have deterred efforts for engagement from the U.S., Ric Herrero, the executive director of the Cuba Study Group, told NBC.
• Jamaican foreign minister Kamina Johnson-Smith will challenge incumbent Patricia Scotland in the upcoming Commonwealth secretary general elections. The decision has sparked controversy within the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which had previously met to back Scotland’s bid for a second term, reports the Guardian. In a bid to heal the rift, it has now been agreed that a Caricom sub-group will interview the two candidates in a bid to reach a consensus, according to St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves.

Governance

• A Haitian-led solution to the country's political crisis might consist in an agreement between the Montana Accord coalition -- a broad group of organizations of civil society -- and interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry's forces. "Forging such an agreement should be high on the Biden administration’s agenda. But there is little sign Washington is paying attention to events in the impoverished country," argues the Washington Post editorial board.

Public Security

• Going to court in Haiti has become so dangerous for lawyers that they avoid it altogether: at one lower-level tribunal no hearings or trials have been held for months, reports AFP. Lawyers are demanding, among other measures, that the government move the Palace of Justice, which is right next to a slum dominated by Haiti's most powerful gangs.

Migration

• An influx of migrants by boat in the U.S. Florida Keys represents a shift in migration patterns: The U.S. Coast Guard has been intercepting about four Haitian migrant vessels per month at sea, each with an average of about 150 occupants on board. Coast Guard crews have interdicted 2,953 Haitian migrants at sea since the start of the federal fiscal year on Oct. 1, nearly 1,500 more Haitians than were picked up at sea last year, reports the Washington Post.

Public Health

• World Health Organization officials expressed concerns that some countries in the Americas were prematurely scaling back policies to control the coronavirus. Pan American Health Organization director Dr. Carissa Etienne said that while coronavirus cases had fallen in the Americas, they were increasing in some places, including the Caribbean. (New York Times)

Debt, Economics and Finance

• Caribbean countries should facilitate the creative and orange economies as a response to the region's pandemic-related economic woes, argue Bruce Zagaris and Alexander Mostaghimi in Global Americans.
• Sovereign debt management during times of economic distress can be particularly painful for small states. In some cases, capacity constraints have prevented these countries from institutionalising debt management grounded in sound macroeconomic and monetary policies, writes Nadia Spencer-Henry for the Commonwealth Secretariat. 
  

Racial Justice and Decolonization

• Well known historian and Director of the Centre for Reparations Research, Professor Verene Shepherd, has been appointed the new Chair of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CERD. The first Jamaican and the first person from the Caribbean region to hold the post. (Nationwide 90FM)
  

Gender and Sexual Justice

• EQUALITY Bahamas has announced the launch of its Strike5ive campaign to criminalise marital rape in the strongest, most explicit way. (Tribune 242)
  
  
• Guyanese President Irfaan Ali's response to allegations of sexual abuse made against one of his cabinet ministers shows is an example of how victims' lack of reporting is weaponized as an indication that their accounts are not to be believed, writes Akola Thompson in Guyanese Online.

Culture

• "The recent comparison by academics of Rosalía’s rise to fame with the “evolution of reggaetón from its Afro-Caribbean roots to a genre with global cachet” speaks to the silencing of the music’s rich socio-cultural history," writes Ellen Rebecca Bishell in The Conversation.

Events

• 16 April -- Community Dialogue about the Escazu Agreement with Carol Excell, World Resources Institute Director -- UEF -- More Information
  
  
• 21-24 April -- Inaugural Caribbean Women for Climate Justice conference -- Register

Opportunities

• Call for Submissions: Climate Justice story ideas -- Media Institute of the Caribbean -- Small Grants. E-mail 

We welcome comments and critiques on the Just Caribbean Updates. You can see the Updates on our website, as well as receive it directly through the mailing list. Thank you for reading.

Failures in reconstruction of San Andrés and Providencia (April 5, 2022)

Transparencia por Colombia presented an investigation regarding the transparency and risks of corruption in the process of the reconstruction of the Caribbean islands of San Andrés and Providencia following hurricane devastation in 2020. (El Isleño)

Professor Ana Isabel Márquez, from the National University of Colombia (UNAL) Caribbean Campus explained that the Colombian government failed to take into account local dynamics when planning reconstruction, which remains very delayed. The government's efforts have focused on infrastructure, neglecting other facets of what reconstruction means, economic reactivation, protection of cultural identity. 

"Although some believe that these are not important, they are fundamental because they are the ones that guarantee the survival of the Raizal people in their territory and 'seaitory' (as an image of the 'territory' but from and in the sea)" she said.

Professor Santiago Moreno, also from the UNAL Caribbean Headquarters, pointed out that the government's initial proposal for reconstructing affected homes was based on the lack of knowledge of the environmental and cultural conditions of the islands, which are located 700 km from Cartagena. (Infobae)

Climate Justice and Energy

• The newly released IPCC working group 3 report emphasizes that past and present greenhouse gas emissions are extremely unevenly distributed between global regions and countries. The cumulative emissions of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) between 1850 and 2019 account for less than 0.4% and 0.5% respectively of total global emissions across this period. (Latitude)
  
  
• For both Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, per capita emissions associated with land use and land use change were of approximately the same magnitude as emissions from fossil fuels and industry in 2019. By contrast, in both Europe and North America, where per capita emissions from fossil fuels and industry are much higher, land use and land use change represent a relatively small but important net sink. (Latitude)
  
  
• "The rising price of oil comes at an important moment for Guyana. The government could get its hands on the oil money for the first time in the coming weeks: it can withdraw a total of $600m from the sovereign-wealth fund this year. But it is unclear how the bonanza will affect the country. Will a sudden injection of petrodollars boost much-needed infrastructure and pull thousands out of poverty? Or will it be squandered or stolen?" asks The Economist.
  
  
• Five years after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico much of the damage remains part of daily life. The storm ripped up 28,000 roofs, 80 percent of which have not been durably repaired yet, reports the Providence Journal.
  
  
• Greenpeace expressed major concerns over deep seabed mining before the International Seabed Authority, headquartered in Jamaica. (Petchary's Blog)
  
  
• The Belize blue bond scooped two Environmental Finance awards this year, in the categories of sustainability bond structure and sovereign sustainability bond. The $364 million bond could serve as a blueprint to finance other emerging market countries' climate objectives without adding to their indebtedness, according to Swiss bank Credit Suisse, its underwriter. (See JCU for Sept. 21, 2021.)
  
  
• Experts and activists from Belize, Guyana, Suriname, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Colombia presented and discussed the situation across the region with regard to hydrocarbons and the energy transition on 31 March. See the recording.
  
  
• The CARICOM Secretariat and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) join with the Government of Barbados, the CARICOM negotiators and the broader Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) grouping in expressing its shock and sadness at the sudden passing of Dr. Hugh Sealy. Dr. Sealy was a champion of CARICOM and SIDS issues.
  

Gender and LGBTQ rights

• Cuba’s government is seeking to rally support for a new family code that would open the door to gay marriage and boost women’s rights. But support among the population is tepid, and an upcoming referendum vote may not favor the government's reform plans, reports Reuters.
• Cuba was a regional precursor for reproductive rights: abortion was decriminalized in 1961 and the proceedure became part of the national health system in 1965, recognized as a human right and a tool to diminish maternal mortality. But in recent years voluntary interruption of pregnancy has become harder to access in rural parts of the country, where anti-rights activists have sought to limit abortions, reports Periodismo de Barrio.

• Data from five Caribbean countries shows 46% of women have experienced at least one form of violence from their intimate partner. "The design of urban services and infrastructure impact on the time, cost, safety, comfort and psychological burdens of the users ... With urban planning processes taking better into account the needs and experiences of women and girls, this can change. When given the opportunity, women and girls have proven to design spaces and systems that work better for everyone," write Tonni Ann Brodber and Elkin Velázquez of the UN in a Loop News op-ed.
  
  
• Thirty-six women were killed in femicides in Cuba last year, according to the Observatorio de Género de Alas Tensas.
  
  
• The National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda called on the government to address "period poverty" by providing feminine sanitary products to school students for free and starting an educational campaign within schools. (Caribbean News Roundup)
  
  
• Barbados' government removed VAT on essential and critical care items, including sanitary napkins, tampons, baby and adult diapers and vitamins. (Loop News, Barbados Today)

Decolonization and Racial Justice

• The recent visit by UK royals to Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas throws into sharp relief Caribbean demands for slavary reparations. (See JCU for March 24.) "Though republican camps in the Caribbean have long cited the impact of colonialism and slavery on the contemporary fortunes of their countries, a new reckoning is afoot, against the backdrop of the global Black Lives Matter movement and renewed conversations about the legacy of empire," reports the Guardian.
  
  
• The UK and other European governments are likely to have to respond to a Caribbean request to establish a formal mechanism to discuss restorative justice for slavery, writes David Jessop in the Jamaica Gleaner. Speaking about this recently in her role as chair of CARICOM’s prime ministerial subcommittee on reparations, Mia Mottley, Barbados’ prime minister, said that following a consultation with the African Union, a draft letter is now before Caribbean Heads. This will be sent soon, she said, to European nations responsible for colonisation and enslavement.

Governance and Transparency

• The World Bank has requested details on how its funding for food assistance during the pandemic was used to help Bahamians. Bahamas officials said the government has not been able to provide the information because it does not have it. (Caribbean Chronicle)
  

Regional

• ECLAC executive secretary Alicia Bárcena says the hallmark of equality and its key impact on the development process of countries in the region and on human progress distinguish the legacy of over the last decade. (CMC)
  
  
• St Lucia signalled its intention to become the fifth Caricom country to have full membership of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region's final court. (CMC)
  

Public Security

• Haiti registered 225 kidnappings during the first quarter of 2022, representing a 58% jump from the same period a year ago, reports Bloomberg.
  
  
• Thousands of Haitians took to the streets last week to denounce crime, inflation, and political paralysis in the largest episode of unrest since President Jovenel Moïse's assasination last year. Demonstrators protested against rising insecurity and called for an end to kidnappings. The Port-au-Prince demonstration was largely peaceful, but one person died after being shot by police in Les Cayes, reports EFE.

Culture

• Two members of the Mighty Diamonds, a Jamaican trio that helped lead the wave of roots reggae arising from the streets of Kingston to international acclaim in the 1970s, have died within days of each other. Tabby Diamond, whose birth name was Donald Shaw, was shot and killed outside his home in Kingston on Tuesday. He was 66. Bunny Diamond, born Fitzroy Simpson, died on Friday at a hospital in the same city. He was 70. (New York Times)

Opportunities

• Fellowship for the Human Rights in the Caribbean --  young professional lawyers from the States of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago with an interest in human rights invited to apply -- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
  
  
• Internship in Environment Affairs and Climate Change at UNEP. More information here.
  
  
• Mini Survey for Strengthening EVAWG Movement Building in the Caribbean -- UN Women Caribbean
  
  
• BCAF Readiness Support Call for Proposals, aiming to increasing the global supply of investment-ready blue carbon restoration projects -- The Blue Carbon Accelerator Fund

Events

• 6 and 13 April --  Training on Building Climate Campaigns -- 350.org-Caribbean -- Register here
  
  
• 22 April -- "Good Hair" Entanglements of Race, Gender and Law in a Post-Colonial Caribbean -- University of the West Indies.

We welcome comments and critiques on the Just Caribbean Updates. You can see the Updates on our website, as well as receive it directly through the mailing list. Thank you for reading.