CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Barbados
The Barbados government plans
to recognize same-sex relationship,
according to Governor General Dame
Sandra Mason.
However, she said her government
is not going to allow any form of samesex
marriage, which will be put to a
referendum and guided by the vote of
the people.
The governor general was at the
time addressing the
opening of a new term
of the Barbados Parliament
on Tuesday,
Sept. 22.
Dame Mason in
outlining the priority areas for the Mia
Mottley administration over the next
12 months said the island has always
been in the vanguard of pioneering
social justice, the protection of civil
rights and the battle to ensure dignity
to the poor, marginalized, vulnerable
and dispossessed.
She said the legal system of modern
societies recognize many different
forms of human relationships and that
Barbados is now increasingly finding
itself on international lists, including
within the multilateral system, which
identify the island as having a poor
human rights record.
“If we wish to be considered amongst
the progressive nations of the world,
Barbados cannot afford to lose it international
leadership place and reputation.
Nor can a society as tolerant as
ours allow itself to be ‘blacklisted’
for human and civil rights abuses or
discrimination on the matter of how
we treat to human sexuality and relations,”
she said.
The governor general said the Mottley
administration will do the right
thing, understanding that this too will
attract controversy.
Caribbean
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
leaders have taken a major step
towards reviving the (COVID-19) —
challenged travel and
tourism sectors, with
agreement to institute
a travel bubble among
member and associated
states, according to a statement
issued by the Guyana-based CARICOM
Secretariat last week.
It said that the regional leaders
took the decision during a special
emergency session recently, “at which
they acknowledged that the past six
months have been a very challenging
period globally and regionally, as
countries have struggled to cope with
the effects of the novel coronavirus.”
The leaders agreed that the bubble
could come into effect from this week
(October), once the countries involved
Caribbean L 4 ife, Oct. 2-8, 2020
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
From left, St. Lucia’s Prime Minister, Allen Chastanet, The Bahamas’ Prime Minister , Hubert Minis, Grenada’s Prime Minister, Keith
Mitchell, and Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley at the 31st Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM, Feb, 18-19, at the Lloyd Erskine
Sandiford Centre in St. Michael, Barbados. Caribbean Community
meet the agreed criteria.
According to the secretariat statement,
the regional leaders have noted
that for CARICOM, it has been particularly
difficult in most of the economies
on the travel and tourism sectors.
The statement said the recommendations
included that countries would
be categorized ranging from those
with no covid cases to those which
had low, medium, high and very high
risk with respect to the rate of positive
cases over a 14-day period
Guyana
The Barbados-based Regional Security
System (RSS) will be assisting
Guyana to help in the
probe of the recent
murders and unrest
in sections of the
country.
Vice President
Bharat Jagdeo made this announcement
during a live forum.
He said the team will be dispatched
to Guyana shortly to ensure that a
transparent investigation into the killings
of two cousins — Joel Henry,
26 and Isiah Henry, 19, along with
the murders of two others — Haresh
Singh, 17 and Chatterpaul Harripaul,
34.
The RSS — is an international
agreement for the defense and security
of the eastern Caribbean region. It was
created in 1982 counter threats to the
stability of the region in the late 1970
and early 1980s.
Jagdeo said the RSS has already
been contacted and will be sending a
team of people, the regional security
group to assist the police with their
investigation because “we want everybody
to know there is going to be no
cover-up.”
While the RSS will be working in
conjunction with the Guyana Police
Force, Jagdeo said the government has
taken a proactive step of contacting
the United Nations to identity those
who are responsible for fueling hate
and ethic division among the people.
Grenada
Grenada has announced that it will
adopt new protocols for the hospitality
and entertainment
industry as part of
the measures to boost
economic activities,
given that the island
has not recorded any
positive case of the COVID-19 virus for
the past two months.
Minister of Health, Nicholas Steele
said the time has come that livelihoods
be protected as best as possible,
noting that the government has
recognized like other governments
around the world that focus too much
on lives can result in livelihood being
lost.
He said over the past few weeks the
authorities have evaluated other best
practices from the region and other
jurisdictions in dealing with the virus
that has affected 24 people in Grenada
since the first case was detected in
March.
The new protocols, which will be
regulations under the Public Health
Act, will allow for new measures in
place so as to grant permission for
mass gatherings based on the size of
the venue.
Steele said the tourism sector has
been significantly affected because of
the measures, including travel, undertaken
by countries to prevent the
spread of the virus.
Permission for social activities will
ran k from simple sit-down dining to
dancing/feting events.
Jamaica
The Jamaica government has
announced an extenuation of the
Continued on Page 14
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
CARICOM leaders face covid challenges
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