Civil society activist Carol Narcisse has sent a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith and State Minister Alando Terrelonge, requesting that Jamaica considers signing the Samoa Agreement. The document is signed by fifteen Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and 21 individual civil society actors, and was released to the public on November 14, as a contribution to the ongoing discourse on the issue. It has also been shared with the European Union (EU) Delegation in Jamaica for their information.
As I noted in a previous post, other civil society organisations have requested further discussion with Minister Johnson Smith on the matter, resulting in Jamaica’s decision not to sign the Agreement. The signing ceremony will take place in Samoa on November 15 – that is, tomorrow.
I truly hope that the Minister will lend a listening ear to all – a range of opinions from civil society actors. This would certainly help to clear the air.
You can find the negotiated text of the Samoa Agreement, initialled by the EU and Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACPS) chief negotiators on 15th April 2021, at this link. If you take a read, I am sure you will find that the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), a Christian group that is making the objections listed below, has misinterpreted the sections of the Agreement that it has picked out specifically to make its point. At times, it seems to have gone quite off the rails! Stick to the facts of the Agreement, and you will see.
Here is the text of the document sent to the Foreign Affairs Ministry today by civil society:
OUR CALL:
- We affirm the human rights of all Jamaicans to live safe and healthy lives, including access to sexual and reproductive health and safety.
- We affirm that all members of our society have the right to enjoy the full range of human rights provided under the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other Rights, treaties, Conventions, Agreements, Protocols, etc. to which Jamaica is signatory.
- We affirm the necessity for principles of equality and equity and inclusion of all citizens in the development process; principles of non-discrimination, participatory democracy, good governance; economic, social, and cultural rights; sound environmental stewardship, peace, justice, and the rule of Law as being integral to development.
- We call on the Government of Jamaica to commit to international policies that are evidence-based, and consistent with the above principles.
BACKGROUND:
The 1957 Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community which later became the European Union. The Treaty also established the European Development Fund. Since 1959 the Fund has financed economic and technical assistance agreements between the colonial States, colonies and, later, post-colonial, independent States of Africa the Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP).
At first these were mainly trade and aid agreements. Over time the changing economic, political, and geo-political contexts as well as post-colonial countries’ assertions of sovereignty, agency and reparative justice have fostered changing terms of engagement.
By 1975 the Lomé Convention, agreed between the EU and ACP countries, preserved duty-free trade and preferential access to European markets for some products of ACP countries and included Aid and investment funding. It ended in 1999 after four successive Rounds which were eventually curtailed by World Trade Organization rules against preferential arrangements.
By 2000, the EU-ACP Agreements reflected changes in global governance and development principles, values and norms on human rights, gender equality, environment and development, climate change, social and human development, indigenous and other cultural rights, rule of Law, citizen security, peace, inclusion and plurality of citizen voice and participation in decision-making and so much more.
The EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement (2000 – 2020) not only created new relations in trade cooperation from preferential to reciprocal trade at the end of a transition period of several years; it went beyond trade and economic aid to include commitments to uphold internationally agreed human rights and democratic governance principles and practices. It also included recognition of civil society, private sector, trade unions and decentralized, local authorities, as complementary actors and participants in development cooperation among other things.
Further, the Agreement explicitly recognized the sovereignty of State parties stating:
“The ACP States shall determine the development strategies for their economies and societies in all sovereignty and with due regard for the essential and fundamental elements described in Article 9; the partnership shall encourage ownership of the development strategies by the countries and populations concerned; EU development partners shall align their programmes with these strategies” (Article 2, Fundamental Principles) and:
“The ACP States shall determine the development principles, strategies and models of their economies and societies in all sovereignty” ( Article 4, General Approach)
Cotonou Agreement (2000 – 2020)
The 79 member States of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific (OACP) countries is a strong negotiating block. After forty-eight years of negotiated rounds of agreements with the EU since the Lome Convention and the Cotonou Agreement – there is no indication that the OACP countries, Jamaica included, have been coerced into doing anything that their own, stated development priorities, geo-political interests and national decision-making processes have not mandated.
WE SUPPORT FACTS AND EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY DECISION-MAKING
Against the foregoing background, we take note that the Government of Jamaica, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, has announced an intention to delay signing the next EU-OACP Agreement based on concerns of a segment of the Christian community.
We take note of a publication of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society Ltd., dated November 9, 2023, entitled: BACKGROUNDER and SPEAKING POINTS, Selling off Jamaica’s sovereignty? SAMOA Agreement – the new ACP-EU Partnership Agreement.
We take note of discrepancies between the claims made in the publication of the Coalition and the facts related to past EU-ACP Agreements and the actual, negotiated text of the proposed Samoa Agreement as we detail below.
Jamaica Coalition for A Health Society Claims:
Historically, the Agreements focused on trade and economic development relations. This new Agreement, however, is unprecedented in its extensive coverage from trade and development, to public administration, statistical systems, data protection, nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, war crimes, terrorism and violent extremism, illicit trade in drugs, cybersecurity and cybercrime, law enforcement, education, health, food security, water, social inclusiveness, youth, culture, investment and financial systems, environmental protection, climate change, marine resources, tax, human rights, democracy, gender equality, peace and security, migration, remittances, human trafficking, among other subject-areas.
Facts of past EU-ACP Agreements and/or Actual Negotiated Text of the EU-OACP Samoa Agreement:
The proposed new Agreement is NOT unprecedented in its scope as the same subject areas were covered in Articles of the Cotonou Agreement of 2000-2020 and which was extended to 2021.
JCHS claims:
The Agreement references undefined “human rights” over 100 times in various clauses which are expected to be implemented, but without defining what constitutes ‘human rights.’
Facts of past EU-ACP Agreements and/or Actual Negotiated Text of the EU-OACP Samoa Agreement:
Throughout the text, reference is made to relevant Human Rights instruments. For example, the preamble of the negotiated text of the Samoa Agreement speaks to:
CONFIRMING their commitment to democratic principles and human rights as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments
RECALLING their commitment to respect labour rights, taking into account the principles laid down in conventions of the International Labour Organization.
At Article 8 the negotiated text states:
The Parties reaffirm their determination to protect, promote and fulfil human rights, fundamental freedoms and democratic principles, and to strengthen the rule of law and good governance, in compliance with the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law, in particular international human rights law and, where relevant, international humanitarian law.
And at Article 9:
commit to the recognition and advancement of the rights of indigenous peoples, as set out in the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
JCHS claims:
The Agreement allows for trade sanctions to be exercised, without consultation, if a party deems that its ‘human rights’, though undefined have been breached.
Facts of past EU-ACP Agreements and/or Actual Negotiated Text of the EU-OACP Samoa Agreement:
(Art.101(7), General Pact) Article 101 (7), General Pact states:
If either Party considers that a violation of any of the essential elements constitutes a case of special urgency, it may take appropriate measures with immediate effect, without prior consultations. Cases of special urgency shall refer to exceptional cases of particularly serious and flagrant violation of one of the essential elements referred to in Articles 9 and 18**.
Article 101 (8): ‘Appropriate measures’ referred to in paragraphs 6 and 7 shall be taken in full respect of international law and shall be proportionate to the failure to implement obligations under this Agreement. Priority shall be given to those which least disturb the functioning of this Agreement. Appropriate measures may include the suspension, in part or in full, of this Agreement.
** NB: Article 9 itemizes established human rights provisions, electoral and democratic standards and rule of Law as elements of the Agreement to be upheld by the Parties. Article 18 addresses non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
JCHS claims:
The Agreement seeks to bind Jamaica to unknown future outcomes of the implementation of certain international instruments that have been controversially interpreted to promote abortion. (Art.36(2), General Pact) Article 36 (2) states : The Parties commit to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the outcomes of their review conferences and commit to sexual and reproductive health and rights, in this context.
NB: The referenced Declaration and Platform for Action as well as Programme of Action are the agreed outcomes of the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women and 1994 United Nations Conference on Population and Development. Jamaica is a signatory to these agreements negotiated by the member States of the UN, none of which mention abortion.
JCHS claims:
The Agreement recommends the reintroduction of the objectionable curriculum, Comprehensive Sexuality Education ((CSE), (Art.48(7) Caribbean Protocol) which was the subject of public outrage and revision by the Ministry of Education in 2012 when modules advancing CSE were discovered in the Grades 7-9 of the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curriculum
Facts of past EU-ACP Agreements and/or Actual Negotiated Text of the EU-OACP Samoa Agreement:
Article 48 of the Caribbean Protocol addresses Gender equality and empowerment of girls and women;
Paragraph (7):
The Parties shall commit to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the outcomes of their review conferences. They shall further stress the need for universal access to quality and affordable comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and education, taking into consideration the UNESCO international technical guidance on sexuality education, as well as the need for the delivery of sexual and reproductive health-care services. They shall pursue the effective implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, as appropriate.
JCHS claims:
The Agreement anticipates a restriction on Jamaica’s participation and decision making in international fora as the Agreement is expected to take pre-eminence over all other agreements between any EU member and any ACP state. (e.g. Art. 97 of the General Pact).
Facts of past EU-ACP Agreements and/or Actual Negotiated Text of the EU-OACP Samoa Agreement:
Article 97 addresses Other agreements or arrangements, and states that:
No treaty, convention, agreement or arrangement of any kind between one or more Member States of the European Union and one or more OACPS Members shall impede the implementation of this Agreement.
We take note that the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society Ltd. made the following call to the Government of Jamaica, advocating that:
“For the above stated reasons, we urge the Government of Jamaica not to sign to the Agreement as currently worded. At a minimum, we recommend entering a reservation to the Agreement to protect the people of Jamaica from what appears to be neocolonialism”.
We the undersigned having read the actual negotiated text, see no departure in the text from existing United Nations and other International Declarations, Programmes of Action, Platforms for Action, Agreements and Conventions to which Jamaica is a signatory.
Further, we see no departure from the spirit and intent of the immediate past EU-ACP Agreement (Cotonou) which served as the framework for development cooperation and trade between the Parties for 21 years up to 2021 without injury to the sovereignty of Jamaica.
We therefore call on the Government of Jamaica to sign the Agreement without entering any reservations, without further delay.
SIGNATORIES
Organisations
- Institute for Gender and Development Studies, UWI, Mona
- Jamaica Environment Trust
- Jamaicans for Justice
- Jamaica AIDS Support for Life
- Jamaica community of Positive Women (JCW+)
- Jamaican Network of Seropositives (JN+)
- Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition
- Eve for Life
- GROOTS Jamaica
- We-Change JA & The Community Centre
- Stand up for Jamaica
- Equality for All Jamaica Foundation Limited
- Sistren Theatre Collective
- Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre
- WMW Jamaica
Individuals - Carol Narcisse; Civil Society Advocate
- Diana Fox, University Director, Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Regional Coordinating Office
- Fr. Sean Major-Campbell, J.P., Anglican Priest & Civil Society Advocate
- Emma Lewis, Writer/Blogger
- Georgia Love, Community Development Advocate
- Judith Wedderburn, Gender and Development Advocate
- Stephanie Martin, Artist
- Joy Crawford, Gender and Child Rights Advocate
- Deborah Duperly-Pinks, Gender and Governance Advocate
- Diana McCaulay, Founder, Jamaica Environment Trust
- Horace Levy, Civil Society Advocate
- Lana Finikin, Convenor, GROOTS Jamaica
- Hilary Nicholson, Gender advocate
- Patricia Donald Phillips, Development Consultant
- Renae Green, Executive Director, TransWave
- Olive Edwards, Convenor, JCW+
- Shelly-Ann Weeks, Jamaican Author and Activist
- Sonita Abrahams-Burrowes, OD, MHS; Chairman, RISE Life Management Services
- Samere Tansley, Artist
- Jennifer Jones, Social Researcher
- Linnette Vassell, Gender Justice Advocate
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