CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
By Azad Ali
ANTIGUA
Antigua and Barbuda’s human rights
record came under review by the United
Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group
for the third time recently.
The Caribbean island is one of the
States that was reviewed by the UPR
Working Group during its virtual session.
Antigua and Barbuda’s
first and second
UPR reviews took place
in October 2011and May
2016 respectively.
The delegation of
Antigua and Barbuda was led by Vanessa
Moe, Crown Solicitor at the Ministry of
Legal Affairs and three country representatives
serving as rapporteurs for the
review of Antigua and Barbuda were Bahrain,
Togo, and Uruguay.
The UN said the documents on which
the reviews were based including a national
report provided by the by the State
under review as information contained
in the reports of independent human
rights experts and groups, known as the
Special Procedures, human rights and
treaty bodies.
The UPR also discussed information
provided by other stakeholders, including
national human rights institutions,
regional organizations and civil society
groups.
The UPR is a unique process which
involves a periodic review of the human
rights records of all 193 UN Member
States.
BARBADOS
Prime Minister Mia Mottley has
announced the creation of of the Barbados
Heritage District-
an area that will include
a memorial, a major
global research institute
and a museum located
in Newtown Plantation, on the outskirts
of the capital Bridgetown.
In making the announcement, Mottley
said this is dedicated to accurately
recounting the historic and contemporary
impact of slavery on Barbados and on the
lives of individuals, cultures and nations of
the western hemisphere.
The Prime Minister added that the
District’s research institute will document
Barbados’ pivot as the harrowing portal
through which millions of enslaved Africans
were forced to the Americas.
“In the wake of Barbados’ transition
to a parliamentary republic, the Barbados
Heritage District will also serve as a
cornerstone and catalyst for the ongoing
development of Barbados’ independent
identity and place on the world stage,”
she said.
CARIBBEAN
The Caribbean Community (Caricom)
Caribbean Life, D 4 ecember 24-30, 2021
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, hailed the City Council’s passage of Intro 1867,
expanding the right to vote in municipal elections to roughly 900,000 non-citizen New Yorkers, including Caribbean nationals, with
legal permanent residence status or other valid work authorization. Offi ce of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams
Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett has
expressed her “profound sorrow” at the
loss of life in Haiti, after a tanker truck
loaded with fuel exploded recently, killing
more than 60 people.
She said in a statement, “I want to
express on behalf of the Community my
profound sorrow at the loss of life as a
result of the explosion of a gas tanker in
Haiti’s second city, Cap-Haitien.”
Most of those killed were local residents
who rushed to retrieve fuel from the overturned
truck. The fire spread, setting fire
to vehicles, motorcycles and at least 30
houses nearby.
Haiti for months
have been scrambling to
find gasoline and shortages
have forced gas stations
to close, sending
fuel prices spiraling on
the black market and forcing other businesses
to close.
DOMINICA
Dominica and Montserrat have become
the latest countries to recently launch the
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
backed DCash pilot program as a payment
system in the sub-region.
Digital Economy Minister Cassani
Lavile said as payment systems continue
to develop and expand, Dominica will do
all it can to “foster the use of online payments
that safeguard the consumers from
online predators.”
The ECCB in March rolled out the
digital version of the EC dollar in four of
the eight- member Eastern Caribbean
Currency Union (ECCU) member states,
namely Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada,
St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and in August
did so in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
With the launch in Dominica and
Montserrat, the ECCB said that the
remaining member country where
DCcash will be launched is Anguilla.
DCash, which can be used or without a
bank account, is aimed
at achieving three policy
goals payments system
efficiency, financial
inclusion of the unanked
and under-bank populations and
increased resilience and competitiveness
in the ECCU.
GUYANA
Vice President of Ghana Dr. Muhamadu
Bawimia recently paid a three-day
official visit to Guyana.
The visit was aimed to further strengthen,
broaden and intensify bilateral relations
between both countries.
The Ghanaian vice president took part
in high level bilateral discussions with
officials of the government, as well as
members of the local
private sector.
He also met with
members of the Ghanaian
diaspora and the
University of Guyana.
During the 76th United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA) in September, Guyana’s
President Dr. Irfaan Ali and President
of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo spoke
about several matters of mutual interests
– including oil and gas, climate change
and the environment, capacity-building,
training and investment.
In October Guyanese Vice President Dr.
Bharrath Jagdeo paid an official visit to
Guyana where he discussed wide-ranging
issues and opportunities that the countries
can tackle together.
Guyana officially established diplomatic
relations with Ghana on May 14, 1979.
ST. LUCIA
A St. Lucian medical practitioner has
been suspended for six months after she
prescribed the drug Ivermectin to treat
patients who had contracted Covid-19.
Dr. Gilbertha St. Rose was suspended
by the Medical and Dental Council of St.
Lucia
The online publication said that the
Council delivered its decision against St.
Rose for prescribing Ivermectin to treat
patients without authorization from the
Ministry of Health or the Chief Medical
Officer and publicly encouraging its use
to treat the virus.
The Medical Council also fined the
doctor EC$10,000 to the Council within
30 days because Dr. St. Rose conducted
an unapproved and unmonitored clinical
trial.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic
drug most
commonly used to treat
livestock. It is a United
States FDA-approved for human when
treating lice, rosacea and specific parasitic
diseases, but not for Covid-19.
Continued on Page 4
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