Five years ago hurricane Irma, a category five storm, blew through Barbuda destroying buildings, schools, and many homes. September 6 was the five year anniversary. This forced many Barbudans to leave their homes and take refuge in Antigua. While the occupants of the small island were trying to rebuild their lives, international developers started building a multi-million-dollar luxury tourism resort and golf course on the Codrington Lagoon National Park, a protected wetland and international Ramsar Site. GLAN and SaveBarbuda discuss the issue. This video by SaveBarbuda shows the 5 ways Barbuda’s ecology has been destroyed over the last 5 years. Newsy gives an in depth analysis of the issue.
Climate and Environment Justice
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s Climate Finance Adviser, Avinash Persaud, proposes a climate finance and debt response framework that emphasises removing greenhouse gases outside stressed developing country balance sheets, financing resilience for climate vulnerable countries, and raising the world economy’s shock absorbing capacity. He outlines policies to align grants, concessionary loans, and private sector incentives to where they are most effective and with the necessary scale. Read more in the Centre for Economic Policy Research.
In the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Persaud also discusses how: “A confluence of climate disasters, COVID, conflict - and a strong US dollar - have pushed yields to unsustainable levels for many debt-laden poorer countries, but there are ways to ease the pain.”
The Heads of Government of Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu and Palau convening The Commission of Small Islands States on Climate Change and International Law that was announced at COP26 in 2021, met virtually in August to discuss ways international law could be utilised to secure compensation for damage caused to small island states by Climate Change. The Antigua Observer reports.
Trinidad and Tobago’s lead climate negotiator Kishan Kumarsingh said the country is making “notable efforts” to improve its energy emissions and future plans for the development of the energy sector and adaptation to climate change. He said laws are being drafted to develop a proper legislative framework for an energy transition. T&T’s National Climate Change Policy is also under review to further align it to international standards. Loop TT reports.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change Prof. Ian Fry delivered his first report to the UN General Assembly. Fry called out the inaction of countries that are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases to uphold their legal obligations. The report focuses on mitigation, loss and damage, and participation with a specific focus on young people. Fry denounced the atmospheric colonialism by historic polluters. Read the report here.
In April 2022, at the historic first Conference of the Parties of the Escazú Agreement (COP 1), 240 people from 68 countries participated in the official side event "Synergies between the Escazú Agreement, Human Rights Law and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)." Those in attendance included human rights practitioners, environmental and human rights defenders, government decision-makers and experts. The summary report is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
The Caribbean in the World
Taiwan has 14 diplomatic allies in the hemisphere including six from the Caribbean. Ryan C. Berg and Wazim Mowla discuss the history and future of the relationship in The Diplomat.
Migrant Rights
The Jamaican activist group the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) accused the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme (SAWP), which exchanges workers from the Caribbean to Canada to work on farms, of inhumane treatment of the Jamaicans there. In August an Aljazeera article detailed the MAWC’s complaints. In September the Jamaican government said they will look into the treatment of the Jamaicans in Canada. In a press release, the Advocate Network Jamaica called out the investigation by the Jamaican Labour Minister as dismissive, stating that the farm workers feel betrayed.
In Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuelan children still cannot attend government school. Three years ago the government gave legal protection to Venezuelan migrants by allowing them to register and be able to legally work. Venezuelan activist Yermaris Almeida called for a non-politicised response to the issue. The Trinidad and Tobago Newsday reports.
Decolonisation
Trinidad and Tobago’s 60th anniversary of independence is a time for deep reflection for the Catholic Church, social activist Amilcar Sanatan says. He highlights the need for the Church not to aim to be morally superior but rather commit to the social, material and spiritual well-being of society.
For four days in August, activists, artists and scholars from Africa, the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Central and South America gathered to discuss a “global agenda” for reparations from western countries that engaged in the transatlantic slave trade. Read more from The National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) here.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Economic Rights (OSRESCER) call for the implementation of “effective measures” that will encourage people and institutions to respect African-derived religions and religions of African descent.
The Maroons of Jamaica are fighting to self-identify as indigenous people, as they are spiritually connected to the land where they fought for their freedom. Trinidadian activist Attillah Springer reflects on the history and tragedy of the maroon and enslaved African people in the Caribbean and her experience at the UN General Assembly in Caribbean Beat.
Events
Equality Bahamas is hosting a series of online discussions on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of CEDAW’s ratification by The Bahamas. In the sixth session, Article 6 on "trafficking and exploitation of prostitution" will be spotlighted by CEDAW Committee member Corinne Dettmeijer. The event is on Sep 24, 2022 at 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada). Click here for more information. Register here.
Cornell University will be hosting a discussion on reparations called “The University Sector and Reparatory Justice for Slavery and Colonialism” on September 16, 2022, 4:30pm EDT. The speaker, Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, and an activist for social justice, will discuss, “How the post-colonial view of western Enlightenment is tied to the violence of colonialism, chattel slavery, Indigenous genocide, and racism; how the global reparations justice movement creates the possibility for an authentic 21st-century Enlightenment, and how universities researching their own role, function, and legacy in the Atlantic slave complex can guide us into the future and counter its past.” To attend, register here.
No comments:
Post a Comment