In what is being viewed as an urgent push to get St. Maarten to pass the Penal Procedure Code, reports have begun to  circulate of undue pressure being levied on parliamentarians to urgently pass the ordinance. 

  The idea that St. Maarten faces the possibility of being blacklisted allegedly has some members of Parliament advocating skipping the debate and proceeding to approve the concept ordinance Penal Procedure Code.

  They just want to vote it into law, because it is said that this will save Sint Maarten from being blacklisted.

  Will the passing of the Penal Procedure Code make St. Maarten compliant with the Vienna, Palermo and 1999 UN international conventions for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism”?

  St. Maarten lags behind in the process of being compliant with recommendations 23 and 35 of the CFATF [Caribbean Financial Action Task Force – Ed.], though Parliamentarians were recently informed that only recommendation 35 remains to be complied with. 

  Compliance with recommendations 23 and 35 will prevent St. Maarten from being blacklisted by the CFATF and the island will have the opportunity to allow the third round and go over to the fourth round of recommendations during the parliament meeting.

  In its quest to become compliant and getting out of the third round, the Parliament of St. Maarten must now pass the new concept Penal Procedure Code ordinance.

  From the interim, it has been drilled home that the passing of this ordinance will bring St. Maarten closer to being CFATF-compliant. Now it is feared by some that this same pressure may be guiding the actions of parliamentarians as the vote edges nearer.

  The Vienna Convention was ratified by the Netherlands in April 1985, the Palermo Convention was ratified in December 2000 and the 1999 United Nation Convention on Financing of Terrorism has been ratified in October 2018 by 188 states.

  Ratification and acceptance of treaties by the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1954 and 2010 was also for the Netherlands Antilles. St. Maarten would have to renounce these treaties for them not to be in place for St. Maarten

  After reviewing the above, it can be concluded that Sint Maarten already complies with recommendation 35 of the CFATF. 

  Recommendations 23 and 35 can be read below:

  Recommendation 23: “Countries should ensure that financial institutions are subjected to adequate regulation and supervision and are effectively implementing the FATF Recommendations. Competent authorities should take the necessary legal or regulatory measures to prevent criminals or their associates from holding or being the beneficial owner of a significant or controlling interest or holding a management function in a financial institution.

  “For financial institutions subject to the Core Principles, the regulatory and supervisory measures that apply for prudential purpose and which are relevant to money laundering, should apply in a similar manner for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing purpose.

  “Other financial institutions should be licensed or registered and appropriately regulated, and subject to supervision or oversight for anti-money laundering purpose, having regard to the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing in that sector. At a minimum, businesses providing a service of money or value transfer, or of money or currency changing should be licensed or registered, and subject to effective systems for monitoring and ensuring compliance with national requirements to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.”

  Recommendation 35: “Countries should take immediate steps to become party to and implement fully the Vienna Convention, the Palermo Convention, and the 1999 United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Countries are encouraged to ratify and implement other relevant international conventions, such as the 1990 Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and the 2002 Inter-American Convention against Terrorism.”

Rodolphe E. Samuel

Dear Editor,

  I am writing in response to: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20200322/coronavirus-and-food-security-caribbean

  Dr. Lystra Fletcher-Paul is yet another in a long line of regional agricultural experts who are pushing for more attention by governments to act on food security across the Caribbean, and while we applaud this focus and she has successfully summarized most of the consistent issues and challenges, her proffered solutions are limited to increasing local production through traditional farming practices. 

  Increasing food production by local farming has been a consistent theme and is certainly relevant. By providing our local farmers with technical advice, supplies, land, and expertise on climate smart farming methods, we may be able to increase local production to produce higher yields. But the fact remains that you can only grow certain indigenous crops in the limited arable land available in the region, and in the sub-tropical climate conditions we experience here.

  Fresh produce imports, on the other hand, are heavily weighted to cold weather crops that are difficult or sometimes impossible to grow in the region, and even then, certainly not on a year-round basis. What limited greenhouse production exists has not been able to withstand the severe weather threats of the region and has been completely destroyed in island nations like Puerto Rico, BVI, Anguilla, Dominica, and others that have been hit hard recently.

  The local population and the tourism industry require massive amounts of food every day – not just when the seasons allow for minimum local production, which is why our region is so heavily dependent on imported fresh food. For the moment importation is the only reliable and consistent food supply chain to meet current demand.

  If we are going to build food security for the Caribbean region for the long term, we need to also employ new technologies in protected agriculture (CEA). These are systems that do not require arable land, that use very little water, and that can increase yields tenfold over traditional soil-based farming. This food can be grown organically since no harmful pesticides are required to protect the crops in the sterile growing environment, thereby eliminating health risks to consumers. These systems are also now 100 per cent Cat5-hurricane-resistant, which eliminates any risk of crop devastation either by storms, flooding, or drought.

  The Caribbean region needs to rethink putting so much emphasis on increasing food production through traditional methods, and start doing what the rest of the world is doing by adopting new food production technologies. As Einstein stated: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.”

  Our company and its world-leading engineering partners have developed the strongest greenhouse system in the world, engineer-certified and insurable up to 175mph sustained wind loads. They can be built very quickly and used to host high-yield sub-tropical hydroponic systems specifically designed to use lower amounts of energy and water. They are designed to integrate our most powerful energy source – the sun – to provide both natural solar energy, and to produce additional energy through integrated solarPV systems. A 100,000 sf greenhouse would produce over 1.2 million pounds per year of assorted lettuces, leafy greens, and fresh herbs harvested on a regular weekly basis. High yields in all vine crops including tomatoes, peppers, and berry fruits – also heavily imported – will also be grown. At this rate of production we could theoretically start to eliminate the regional dependency on food imports altogether, and ensure that we are harvesting high nutrient food every day of the year – even during a hurricane event.

  This would eventually drive down the cost of many fresh produce categories and make this healthier food more accessible to all local consumers.  This food could be grown not only to sell directly through supermarkets and wholesalers, but customized crop production could be grown at a scale to supply local agri-processing companies, who often need to import ingredients for their locally branded food products. This would also allow smaller “craft industry” food producers to expand to become regional and even international export companies. It would create high-skilled, well-paying jobs for young women and men to attract them back to agriculture as a career.

  Our company is currently partnered with several private finance companies, institutional lenders, and major food retailers based in the region, who share a similar vision with us and want to change how we grow and supply food in every island of the Caribbean using state-of-the-art climate-smart protected agriculture. Our farms will go operational in several islands over the next few months and will then expand very quickly in other islands over the next few years.

  We believe by changing the approach and investing in high-yield production technologies that are completely climate resistant, we can start to eliminate all threats to local food production in the region and achieve Caribbean food security forever.

Ralph Birkhoff

Co-founder of Alquimi Renewables, LLC based in the USA and Caribbean which operates regionally under Island Growers and Island AgTech. 

On Monday, March 9 last, my daughter had an appointment with SZV to renew her medical ID card. When she was called in for her appointment, she was asked about her working hours, to which she replied that sometimes she leaves the office early and works from home when necessary. Because of this, she was told that she will not get a card and that SZV will send someone within 10 working days to the office, to assess.

  As it turned out, my wife and I also had an appointment that day to renew our cards. When my turn came to be attended to, I identified myself as the director of the company my daughter works for and informed them that although my daughter is not required to work all day or even every day for that matter, she is on the company payroll and pays all relevant taxes and contributions, which can easily be confirmed by SZV just by going into their system to confirm if they receive contribution payments from my daughter’s salary.

  This had no influence on the service provider, who maintained that a decision was taken, and I have to deal with it and wait until they call us. And now we are smack in the middle of a pandemic and my daughter is without her medical ID card.

  Now I would be remiss if I did not state that my daughter was off island for an extended period and therefore could not renew her card. This is none of SZV’s business. What needs to be established by SZV is that the company is registered, that the company has its employees registered and that all taxes and contributions are deducted and paid to government and SZV. Now all this was clear and in order, because my wife and I got our cards.

  What are we to do if my daughter requires medical attention? Will it then be as generally practiced by this institution, that an emergency card will be issued, and the patient has to come and go a couple of times prior to receiving what they are entitled to?

  After a week of waiting, my daughter called SZV to enquire about her card and was told that she has to wait and that they would contact her, while SZV is very aware of the pandemic and the need for medical attention when and if required.

  This is not professional, but rather borders on bullying. I therefore request the attention of the Minister of Health to intervene in order for my daughter to receive her entitled medical ID card.

Louis Engel

FUNINCO N.V.

Dear Editor,

  The World Health Organization has estimated that the prevalence of sexual violence affects one-third of all women worldwide; that’s an astonishing 1.3 billion women, or more than three times the entire population of the United States of America. This is a startling revelation, which may not necessarily be reflected by, or adequately represent the true reality of this public health problem.

  Broadly defined, “Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, acts to traffic a person or acts directed against a person’s sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.” And yes, relationship status, marriage or otherwise, does not exempt one from being held accountable for unlawful sexual acts committed against the wishes of the victim; rather it’s an unconditional consent that exonerates one.

  More women are becoming empowered to speak out and seek justice for the sexual wrongs that were committed against their person. Their courage has been bolstered in recent times by the advent of movements such as #metoo which has gained momentum over the years and whose virality has helped tremendously in the public awareness and sensitisation campaign on sexual violence against women.

  The #metoo movement is in part a community of mostly women united in opposition to coercive, unwanted and inappropriate sexual acts or advances committed against largely vulnerable women. Of late this movement has been infiltrating the corridors of power and privilege, a milieu where most women felt not so long ago was immune from punishment for unlawful sexual acts perpetrated by males. Seemingly the scale of justice has tipped in favour of these women resulting in figures such as Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein being tried by a court of law and convicted for sexual crimes committed against marginalised women. These were once powerful and influential men from the upper echelons of society.

  Men who were once perceived, wrongly so, as “untouchables” in a society guided by such principles as justice and liberty for all are increasingly made to account for their illicit acts carried out against mostly impuissant women. This exploitative form of behaviour by some of the “movers and shakers” of civilized society against women who are no more than “struggling dreamers” is no longer perpetuated in silence.

  Women are challenging their traditional Victorian expectation of “gentle quietude”, they are vocalising and resisting attempts to have their rights, womanhood and bodies violated.

  Power, privilege, low levels of education amongst males, cultural norms, attitudes accepting of violence and a sense of entitlement over women are some of the underlying factors contributing to sexual violence against women. However, the misuse of power and privilege often times overshadows the other factors largely because of who the perpetrators are and the attention usually given to them. But many women are the silent victims of sexual violence perpetrated by men afflicted with the other factors listed, in particular men’s sense of entitlement over women especially in intimate sexual relationships, which according to the World Health Organization accounts for over 40 percent of the total cases of sexual violence against women.

  It’s important to note too that women’s refusal to engage in undesirable sexual acts is not always met with the use of physical force. They are also subjected to sexual remarks which can be best described as disgusting and disrespectful . In many instances too they are issued with threats, most notably in the workplace. And failure to comply with inappropriate requests can result in demotions, termination of employment and reversal of career advancement.

  Women who were once discouraged from openly relating their unwelcome sexual experiences with men notably high up on the socio-economic ladder are now encouraged to speak up through solidarity movements like #metoo. Interestingly enough, though, one should take cognizance of the fact that all of this exposure, unveiling, allegations and convictions are occurring in a functioning democratic society (US) with strong institutions of accountability and legal recourse. Women are more likely regardless of their social or economic status to be more forthcoming with reports and complaints of unlawful sexual acts if they are confident and place a high degree of trust in the justice system within their locale.

  Acts of courage and fortitude by women who dared to publicly condemn and point fingers at powerful male elites of society are a standing reproach against sexual violence and example par excellence to women from all walks of life wherever they are on the socio-economic pyramid.

  Given then the gains alluded to above, do you think a #metoo movement in these parts, specifically the Caribbean archipelago, can have the same or similar impact as their US counterpart?. Can such a movement be a game-changer in a region with institutions for recourse that are perceived to be weak and corrupt? How difficult will it be for such a movement to positively influence unhealthy behaviours in a society where men were conditioned to view women as mere possessions or objects to be owned and gratified? Will such a movement become frustrated by the fact that violence was once institutionalised in these parts where its employment was permissible in schools to obtain compliant behaviour?. How will a #metoo movement deal with cultural norms that expose young boys to violence against women at an early age where they witness first-hand mothers being repeatedly whipped by fathers?

  While It’s not the task of a metoo movement to undo or reverse the above, however, what the aforementioned highlights is the role violence or physical force has played as an effective means to achieve desired ends, sexual compliance included. Colonial overtones and explanations aside, the fact of the matter is that quite a number of males from the Caribbean region are not mentality equipped to resist the use of physical force or coercion against women when given the irreversible and legitimate “no” for solicited sexual acts. This “no’’ instead brings out the beast in some of these men – the primal appeal we all have where the brute and savage in us wants to go back to the woods. Us wanting to escape the cognitive mode of experience where the id overpowers the ego, Dionysus displaces Apollo and passions rule.

  A human mind that is not adequately educated to respectfully respond to and value the rights and autonomy of others, specifically women, will almost always manifest behaviour that it is only conscious of and was conditioned for. The mind is unable to display conduct outside the periphery of its awareness and which it wasn’t trained to exhibit. While power and privilege undeniably play a role in sexual violence against women in these parts it is nevertheless likely to persist covertly because of the perception shared by “powerless” women. Vulnerable and disempowered women are more likely to condone inappropriate sexual acts and remarks from the powerful and privileged class of males. This is so primarily because they are of the view that those acts if reported will go unpunished with the likelihood of repercussions for them.

  Women in more advanced societies with stronger institutions that guarantee the protection of individual rights are more likely to be judicially compensated for unlawful sexual acts or advances, which in turn can have the effect of serving as a deterrent to potential male offenders. Nonetheless, movements such as #metoo have demonstrated despite ongoing challenges that solidarity and activism can be empowering for those who have been wronged but needed just an organised and courageous voice to speak out .

Orlando Patterson