CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Bahamas
Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis
says he is awaiting the release of the
report by The Bahamas National Commission
on Marijuana as he continued
to express support for the decriminalization
of small amount of the drug for
medicinal purpose.
He said in a statement:
“Our laws
regarding the possession
of small amounts
of marijuana have
unfortunately led to the arrest, prosecution,
conviction and punishment
of many Bahamians. Some of these
people have been burdened with criminal
records, making travel and finding
work more difficult.”
He said reforming the marijuana
laws and changing how the country
treats people with small possession convictions
is a matter of social justice.
Dr. Minnis said the government will
use the report’s findings to help reform
the marijuana laws.
He said that this reform should be
expunging the records of Bahamians
convicted of small amounts of marijuana,
adding that he has witnessed how
“our current laws especially harm young
people from modest background”.
Caribbean
A senior United Nations for Population
Activities (UNFPA) official said
there is a growing problem of genderbased
violence in Trinidad and Tobago,
Guyana and Jamaica.
UNFPA Caribbean
director, Alison Drayton,
who recently
attended the Nairobi
Summit on the International
Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD), said that there is
need for different strategies to counter
this practice in the Caribbean region.
Drayton said gender-based violence
has harmful and lasting consequences
for victims, families, communities and
nations.
“The realization of this increase is
starting to change perceptions of the
need to look at the region in a different
way,” she said, adding “that it is an
uphill task.”
Gender-based violence is one of five
themes of the Nairobi Summit, which
has been convened to mobilize the
political will and financial commitments
urgently needed to finally and
fully implement the ICPD Program of
Action.
Gender-based violence includes physical,
sexual, verbal, emotional and psychological
threats and economic or
educational deprivation.
This year marks the 25th anniversary
of the ground-breaking International
Conference on Population and
Caribbean L 4 ife, DECEMBER 6-12, 2019
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Students listen to school Director Jean Marc Charles at the Lycée School, which reopened about a week earlier than other schools in
Petion-Ville, Haiti, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. Some Haitian children have begun to return to school after classes halted during months
of violent unrest. See story on Page 26. Associated Press / Dieu Nalio Chery
Development (ICPD), which took place
in Cairo in l994.
At that conference, 179 governments
adopted a program of action, recognizing
that productive health, women’s
empowerment and gender equality are
the pathway to sustainable development.
Guyana
Director General in the Ministry of
the President, Joe Harmon recently
announced that he is no longer the
holder of United States citizenship.
Harmon was among
four government ministers
who were forced
to resign from Parliament
and their ministerial
portfolio after the court reaffirmed
it is illegal for the holder of
dual citizenship to serve in the Guyana
Parliament.
The constitution has always been
clear on the issue, but it was ignored
by all of the political parties in Parliament,
as both MPs on both sides had
dual citizenship.
During a recent news conference,
Harmon disclosed that he applied to
relinquish his US citizenship and was
informed in early October that the
application had been approved.
With Harmon relinquishing this US
citizenship, the way is now clear for him
to be a candidate on the coalition’s list
for the March 2020 general election.
He served as minister of state before
he was forced to resign from the position
after the court’s ruling.
He is the second former minister of
government to relinquish foreign citizenship.
Jamaica
The Bureau of Standards Jamaica
(BSJ) is carrying out an assessment
to determine the food labeling model
that will work best for the country, as
the government moves closer to making
front package labels mandatory in
Jamaica.
Senior Standards
and Certification Officer
at the BSJ, Phillipa
O’Connor, said at least
six models are being
examined by the entity.
She said that the committee established
to review the standard governing
food package labeling in Jamaica has
generated a draft standard on front of
package labeling, which is to be finalized,
following the conclusion of stakeholder
discussions now underway.
She said the draft is very far reaching
and all key stakeholders, including
manufacturers, exporters and the
Scientific Research Council, are heavily
involved in the process.
O’Conner noted that front package
labeling was first presented to local
stakeholders in August and the draft
standard was made available for public
comment between October 2018 and
February 2019.
She noted that the long-term goal
of the BSJ, through front of package
labeling, “is that we want to reduce the
incidence of non-communicable diseases
and obesity.
Grenada
Grenadians will have to dig deeper
into their pockets next year to pay for
water.
The National Water
and Sewerage Authority
will be applying for
new rates in 2020 for
both residential and
commercial consumers.
The announcement was made by
Public Utilities Minister, Gregory Bowen
in his contribution in the 2020 budget
debate recently.
Bowen said over the years the statutory
body has embarked on several initiatives
and projects that have increased
its expenditure and as a result, there is
a need to increase its revenue base to
maintain and sustain its operations.
Among the initiatives is the regularizing
of some workers in 2018: constructing
a new administrative headquarters
and increasing storage facilities
in many communities.
The last increase was in 2010.
Bowen said that despite the increase,
Grenada remains among the lowest in
Continued on Page 24
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Schools reopen in Haiti
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