Caribbean Community leaders on Sunday began three days of talks in Jamaica’s tourism capital of Montego Bay with the host prime minister calling for a war on violent gangs while pleading for special international help for Haiti.
Andrew Holness argued that governments must redouble their efforts to root out gangs, noting that such an exercise must be treated with, as urgently as the war on terrorism.
The summit is being held in a nation which has been boasting about a vast reduction in violent crime, murders in particular in the past year, prompting the mighty US to temper its normal travel advisories dubbing the island as one American travelers should tread carefully while visiting.
As expected, the host head of government also turned his attention to the troubling situation in Haiti which has been wracked by years of gangland violence mostly in the capital and surrounding areas. Police and the UN say the violence unleashed, especially since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise has cost thousands of lives and has displaced even more.
Just last week, leaders had asked the region’s special mediating team dealing with Haiti to interface with them and bring back a report on the situation that heads can examine.
“We cannot be true to our Caricom principles if we leave our brothers and sisters in Haiti at the mercy of gangs,” he noted. “The appetite to support Haiti has slowed. We must reignite it. Caricom must redouble its efforts” to garner international help for Haiti including the formation of a multinational force that could help bring about peace.
As the plenaries get underway, Monday and Tuesday, the opening ceremony also saw the leadership of the Trinidad-based umbrella Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) changing hands with the coronation of Jamaican jurist Winston Anderson as the new president following the recent retirement of Justice Adrian Saunders of St. Vincent.
Addressing the leaders and invitees, Anderson called on bloc member states which still have the British Privy Council as their final appeals court and had not yet signed up to the appeals section of the Caribbean court to do so quickly.
“After 20 years, the court has still not attracted full support of all eligible states for the appellate jurisdiction, with five out of a possible 11 states joining that jurisdiction. I am hopeful that during my tenure, other states would fulfil their treaty obligations and become full members of the appellate jurisdiction. It is worth noting, that, in its appellate jurisdiction, the court has exerted reach and influence well beyond the five states of Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Dominica and St Lucia that have accepted that jurisdiction. CCJ appellate cases are routinely cited and accorded favorable treatment by the judiciary in, virtually, every common law state in the Caribbean.”
Ironically, Holness’s governing Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) has been steadfast in its opposition to abolishing the British court as Jamaica’s final despite support from the main opposition party and other sections of society.
Meanwhile, climate change, free travel within the 15-nation bloc, food security, crime, and security are among the key agenda items on the plate for leaders. Heads of government from associate member nations like Bermuda, The Cayman Islands and Curacao are also attending.