Archive for February 17th, 2009

Taskforce recommends new law to ministry

(CNS): After almost four years of work, the Stalking and Sexual Harassment Taskforce has provided recommendations to the Ministry of Health and Human Service to help it form legislation offering victims much needed protection from this kind of abuse, which is common in the Cayman community. Joannah Bodden Small, the Chair of the taskforce, said that following considerable analysis of the research and comparative data, the taskforce was hopeful that laws would be enacted that would offer meaningful protection.

Small explained that government now had the Legislative Recommendations, the Survey Report the Research Report and the video documentary "Protect Cayman", with the goal of helping the ministry create the framework for the necessary new laws . “We have requested that our recommendations be considered by the government with a view to implementing new laws to protect victims of stalking and sexual harassment in the Cayman Islands,” she said.

Small added that aside from the original survey results and the research report, the committee had submitted information which contained a summary of Cayman’s existing legal regime and a review of 11 jurisdictions that have legislated on the issues.

“The Survey Report concluded that both stalking and sexual harassment were indeed occurring in the Cayman Islands, with 1 in every 2 respondents experiencing some form of stalking as described in the survey and 2 in every 5 respondents experiencing some form of sexual harassment as described in the survey,” Small added.

The Survey Report confirmed an overwhelming support for legislation against stalking and sexual harassment with 92.7% of those who took part stating they supported legislation being implemented against stalking and 94.6% of supporting legislation against sexual harassment.

“We hope that our arguments for the implementation of new legislation, and the manner in which such legislation should be approached, will be persuasive and actioned as soon as possible,” Small said.

The need for new and separate legislation is based on a number of issues, not least the fact that when incidents were reported to them, the Family Support Unit of The RCIPS said their power to address complaints of harassment and stalking was limited to where the complaints fell within an existing offence in Cayman’s laws.

This has often meant exercising powers under laws that were not specifically designed to deal with the issues, such as the Information and Communications Authority Law, which contains provisions for use of an ICT network or ICT service to abuse, annoy, threaten or harass another.

“The police have expressed frustration that the absence of laws on our books designed specifically for stalking or sexual harassment have rendered them powerless in certain situations where they wished to be of assistance but did not have the power to lawfully assist,” Small stated.

“An increased awareness of the negative impact of stalking and sexual harassment in the Cayman Islands is the first step towards eradicating these problems in our society. There are more and more reports of victims coming forward to confront the perpetrators and take action against them where possible.”

She noted that legislation was important but it must also be coupled by society’s understanding of the issues and a zero tolerance approach towards stalking and sexual harassment in the wider community as often people did not see that their behaviour amounted to harassment or stalking.

“The creation of the Gender Affairs unit demonstrates government’s willingness to provide the focus and perspective needed to properly review issues such as stalking and sexual harassment. The Ministry of Health and Human Services has expressed its support for our project from the project’s inception and indicated its willingness to collaborate with the Taskforce so far as possible to incorporate our recommendations into the priories government is developing for the subject area of gender affairs,” Small said.

The taskforce was looking forward to assisting the Gender Affairs unit and the Ministry in any way possible that will help victims, she added.

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“Standard tactics” to win hearts for dolphin parks

(CNS): Reacting to recent press articles that appeared to support the tourism and community benefits of the two captive dolphin parks that have recently opened on Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) has reiterated its long-held opposition to the facilities, and said the dolphin parks were using “standard tactics to convince the public that they are a humane and valuable asset to the community.”

In a statement released Monday, the association, which is made up of a cross-section of businesses and stakeholders from the tourism sector, said that its position had not changed: “CITA has been on record since 2002 as being opposed to these facilities and we have well researched and documented facts that support this position.”

On 8 January, The Caymanian Compass published an interview with Bob and Suzy Soto, both leading figures in Cayman’s tourism industry, who went on the record as supporting the dolphin facilities. The article, Dolphin facilities have tourism pioneers’ support, said the Sotos “believe that there are many advantages to having swim-with-dolphin facilities in the Cayman Islands, such as an outlet for children to interact with dolphins, a boost to Cayman’s tourism product and that it provides dolphins a secure setting compared to the harsh life of the open seas.”

On Sunday, 15 February, Cayman Net News published an article, He’s no fish, he’s my friend Nemo, about a field trip by students from Lighthouse School to Dolphin Cove, where five students and a teacher swam with one of the captive dolphins.

In response to these and other articles CITA stated, “Already both captive dolphin attractions have employed many of their standard tactics to convince the public that they are a humane and valuable asset to the community. Local tourism and marine pioneers have been used to spread their doctrine, the wonderful children of the Lighthouse School invited to play with the animals and small children and families pictured with the ‘smiling’ dolphins. And please don’t be misled about the employment opportunities for Caymanians and the economic value of new jobs; the majority of employees are foreign and that is not going to change any time soon.”

CITA’s statement continued, “There are no adequate facilities for captive dolphins. There are more elaborate and sophisticated ones, but no dolphin parks are suitable as wild dolphins swim hundreds of miles a day and have the whole ocean in which to live in. They have been recorded to dive to depths of hundreds of feet. They live in a social family pod and nurse, nurture, teach and protect their young. Statistics show that the average life of a dolphin in captivity is 7 years versus 50 years in the wild. Saying that the facilities in Cayman are world class or provide the best in care is very misleading. It is based on the underlying principal that some captive dolphin facilities are acceptable and it is the CITA’s position that they are not. These are highly intelligent mammals they do not deserve to be captured, taken from their families, stressed and forced to live the rest of their life in a swimming pool that is perhaps only 20 feet deep.”

Turning to the educational aspects promoted by the dolphin parks, CITA said they understood that both adults and children learn about dolphin behavior and biology when they swim with them. “People would probably love to ride a camel or see a wild cat too, however that does not make it right to capture and incarcerate them here in Cayman.”

The statement continued, “Of course dolphins are entertaining, but this is something that they are forced to do in order to obtain their food. Dolphins are clever, which is why they are a highly valued commodity; they will exercise their skills in order to survive. If doing tricks is what it takes then they will do them. They are a sentient creature, which means that they have self awareness similar to humans, surely we should not capture them for our own entertainment?”

CITA noted that the organisation opposed the captive dolphin facilities from long before any permits were granted, development started or animals imported, “but we were not listened to.”

In August 2008 the organisation asked the government to place a ban on any future imports of dolphins with a well documented paper on the impacts on capture to the wild dolphin populations, but said, “We have had no response to this request. The practice of herding, terrifying, wounding and killing is typical of all dolphin captures. The Cayman park owners could argue that they purchased their dolphins from other parks, however the other parks will now have to restock their own facilities from the wild, so there can truly be no distinction. If the developers are correct in their claim that these creatures breed successfully in captivity, there will be no need to import any more. We will stop being a party to the capture of wild dolphins and this is something that we can be proud of. There is nothing Caymanian, sustainable or indigenous to having captive dolphin facilities in Cayman. We should not be a copycat destination but instead embrace ‘all things Caymanian’.”

CITA stated its strong support for tourism, including new development and diversification of our existing product. “We encourage the growth of new properties, dive sites, restaurants and attractions but the CITA will not support either of the captive dolphin parks. Will people visit these places? Perhaps, but is it right for the dolphins and our future vision of tourism in the Cayman Islands? That is for you to decide.”

The statement concluded, “Once again, we beseech the government to seriously consider the implementation of a ban on the future importation of cetaceans, as many other nations have already done. We need to protect these marine mammals, the environment, the reputation of our tourism product and the culture and heritage of the Cayman Islands. Let your voice on this matter be heard. You can request email copies of our position papers by emailing info@cita.ky.”

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Minister says choice would unravel constitutional deal

(CNS): The Human Rights Committee’s suggestion of offering voters a choice between full rights and half rights is unlikely to make it to the referendum as the government says it will not only lose the support of the church but the entire deal could unravel. During a press conference featuring all of the stakeholders in the talks, Minister Alden McLaughlin said the idea of asking the people to choose between Section 16 as a free standing right and the way it is written in the new draft constitution agreed in the UK could see the whole process derailed.

Since the compromise to restrict the non-discrimination section of the proposed Bill of Rights – Section 16 – to apply only within the bill itself, the HRC has said it cannot support the Bill of Rights. HRC chair Sara Collins has suggested that government allow the electorate to choose between Section 16 as it is now (half rights) or Section 16 as it was at the end of the first round of negotiations (full rights), giving the people a choice.

However, the government stated at Monday’s conference that it is not possible to begin inserting questions of choice into the referendum at this stage.

“We have a political agreement,” Minister McLaughlin told CNS.  “We cannot change what has now been agreed. The Human Rights Committee has been involved in every step of the talks and we are not prepared to re-open the negotiations now when we have a deal. If we do that we are changing the fundamentals and we could lose the concurrence we have already achieved with the other stakeholders.”

The minster said the electorate would not understand the difference in any event and that the issue is very complicated, adding that the time for discussion has passed. “It is one thing to argue the point during the negotiation process but the process is at an end. It is now time for the country to choose. After eight years we have a compromise that the church and the UK have agreed to — everyone except the HRC is in agreement,” McLaughlin said.

However, Collins disagreed with the position that the issue was complicated and that the people would not see the difference. She said it was important that the electorate saw the difference and understood exactly what has happened to their rights. She explained that after the first round of talks with the UK, Section 16 ensured that the government could not discriminate against anyone in all areas of everyday life. Now with the compromised section government can discriminate in a number of areas of everyday life not mentioned in the Bill of Rights — from health care, housing and employment to allowing seeing dogs on buses.

“What we are asking for is simple,” she said. “Let the people choose. You say we are not ready but perhaps we can show you that we are.”

Collins added that in a true democracy, on an issue like this, the voice of the people should and can be heard. She said the choice question would not derail the constitution but ensure that the constitution vote was a true reflection of what the people wanted.

Collins noted that so far the government has merely assumed, based on the input from the church, that everyone that will vote is not ready for gay and lesbians to have rights, so they are willing to sacrifice the full rights of every person just in case. If the question was put to them in the referendum  it would be a win win situation, she said.  “That is democracy in action. We will have a constitution in the end, but we will be sure that the wishes of the people … went into it.”

The Cayman Ministers Association said that, given the fact that the deal is done, they did not think a choice question was possible. Pastor Al Ebanks told CNS that all the positions had been put forward during the negotiations and now the UK has accepted the draft document.

“My concern would be going back to the UK after the negotiation process is closed and they have already accepted this document,” the Pastor said. He added that he had not discussed the possibility of a choice question with CMA members, but he was inclined to think that the association could not support it as it would been seen as changing the deal that was brokered after the fact.

During the morning’s conference, each of the stakeholders gave their opinion on the document and not one believed it was an ideal agreement but they all said it was the best given the circumstances. Collins was the only dissenting voice when she asked, why should the Caymanian people accept something that everyone agrees is not ideal?

“I am not sure that I can think of any other constitutional process where the people drafting the document stepped away from it at some point and said, ‘Well, there it is. It’s not ideal but it’s the best we can do for now so let’s just leave it half finished and come back to it later.’ I believe the Caymanian people want us to aim for perfection, to achieve the ideal,” Collins stated.

Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said the issue was a matter of compromise and practicality. After eight years the crucial thing was to get the constitution modernized. He said the people of Cayman needed to consider if this document was better than the current constitution.

“The question we must all ask is whether the draft constitution will improve the key areas of the administration of government and the protection of human rights for the Cayman Islands.  The answer to that question, I say, is an unequivocal yes,” the LoGB said.

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Local activists support HRC

(CNS): A new grass roots activist organisation has been formed to support the Human Rights Committee’s stand on the need for a choice in the forthcoming referendum on the constitution regarding the controversial Section 16 – the non-discrimination right. Equality Cayman has been established by a group of Caymanians and its goal is to petition the government to include two alternative versions of Section 16 in the 20 May referendum, allowing the Caymanian people to choose for themselves.

The campaigners say they are encouraging the public to educate themselves on the details of the constitution and the rights that it currently denies them, and understand the difference between the original free standing right first proposed and the new compromised position that will be put before the people for a vote.

“HRC members, particularly Sara Collins and Melanie McLaughlin, have made tremendous personal sacrifices over the past 18 months in an effort to protect the rights of every resident of these Islands,” said Carlene Alexander, a spokesperson for Equality Cayman. “Ironically, they have had to fight objections from some members of the public who would themselves be protected by these rights.”

Alexander stated that the drive behind the campaign came because organisers believe it is time that the public became less complacent and took responsibility for their own destiny. “The HRC has fought the good fight. If we want our children and our children’s children to have the right to not be discriminated against then we need to do our part to make that happen,” she added.

Local response to the campaign has been positive and dramatic, the group says, with Equality Cayman’s Facebook page attracting more than 323 members in less than a week after its launch. Campaign organizers said that most people were simply unaware or confused about the details of the amendments to Section 16.

“Most of us paid little attention to this process because we figured that when it came to human rights, our government would do the right thing,” Alexander added. “We thought that even if our government did try to deny us what are now, by world standards, the most basic of human rights then surely the UK government would put things right, but that has not been the case.”

However, the campaign is faced with direct opposition from the church, which states that it is not possible for government to insert an extra choice as this would be asking people to vote for a constitution that does not exist. Reverend Nicholas Sykes, a representative of the Cayman Ministers Association, a key stakeholder in the talks, said that the deal is done with the UK and cannot be undone.

“This issue does not depend on what the church wants or does not want; we have an agreement with the UK,” he told CNS.” If there was any change to this part of the constitution the whole deal would be altered, and this could not happen in time for a May referendum.” He added that it was cloud cuckoo land for the HRC or its supporters to think a third choice could be offered.

Rev. Sykes also insisted that the points being argued by the HRC and others over Section 16 were misleading and stated that the section proposed in the new constitution is the same sort of restriction as that found in the European Convention on Human Rights Article 14.

He explained that while the UK had acknowledged that in principle it believes non-discrimination rights should be free standing, the point that both the HRC and now Equality Cayman are campaigning for has still not been adopted by the UK itself.

He said there were dangers ahead for Cayman if it were to go down the road of accepting Section 16 as a free standing right.  “We can be sure that a free-standing provision here would result in a flood of new cases testing the extent of the new provision," Rev Sykes added.

For more details on the new campaign and grass roots group, contact Carlene Alexander at: 916 4382 or equalitycayman@gmail.com or log on to www.equalitycayman.ky or go to Facebook page “Equality Cayman”.

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