UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL MEETING ON AFTERMATH OF RECENT HURRICANES - WATCH WEBCAST AT LINKS BELOW

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Special meeting on the “Aftermath of recent hurricanes: Achieving a risk-informed and resilient 2030 Agenda” - Economic and Social Council, 4th Meeting


Special meeting on the “Aftermath of recent hurricanes: Achieving a risk-informed and resilient 2030 Agenda” - Economic and Social Council, 5th Meeting
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MEETINGS COVERAGE

ECOSOC/6873

24 OCTOBER 2017

• ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

2018 SESSION, 4TH & 5TH MEETINGS (AM & PM)

Amid Greater Intensity of Natural Disasters, Access by Middle‑Income Countries to Multilateral Financing Ever More Vital, Speakers Tell Economic and Social Council

In rebounding from the devastating effects of natural disasters, middle‑income countries needed access to multilateral financing and support for a risk‑informed, resilient approach to hazards, speakers highlighted in a special meeting of the Economic and Social Council on the aftermath of recent hurricanes.

In a keynote address, Douglas Slater, Assistant Secretary‑General for Human and Social Development of the Caribbean Community, noted that most countries in the hurricane‑stricken region were middle‑income status and ineligible for concessional financing from multilateral institutions or official development assistance (ODA).

He said the international community must alter its thinking about criteria for access to concessionary funding, which must include the vulnerability of States.  The number of severe hurricanes was projected to increase by 40 per cent if global temperatures rose by 2°C, which would have a devastating effect on small island developing States, especially in the Caribbean.

Similarly, Miroslav Lajčák, President of the General Assembly, said more funding was needed to restore services like health, water and sanitation, shelter and food in countries affected by changing weather systems.  He added that affected States must redesign settlements in their rebuilding efforts, integrating clean energy, building better infrastructure and enhancing water and sanitation systems.

Also focusing on reconstruction, Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary‑General of the United Nations, said the international community must support affected countries to become more resilient, promote a risk‑informed approach to rebuilding and strengthen financial systems to cope with large‑scale shocks.  Risk‑informed sustainable development was a necessity, which required enhanced risk‑governance systems and should dictate policies and investment criteria.

She urged for greater investment in disaster‑resilient infrastructure and housing to reduce economic losses through technology, innovation and partnerships.  The international community must also ensure that funding supported longer‑term resilience in affected countries facing external shocks by reconsidering eligibility criteria for concessional financing.

Addressing hurricane devastation, Robert Glasser, Special Representative of the Secretary‑General for Disaster Risk Reduction, said the average annual loss from disasters in the Caribbean was 100 per cent of what was usually spent nationally on health, education and social protection.  Given the rising sea levels and warmer oceans, many of those countries could expect stronger storms and their surges in the future.

Climate scientists had also stated that two tipping points had already been reached, he said.  First, coral reefs were being destroyed by warming oceans, acidification and storms.  Second, the West Antarctic ice shelf was melting, with rising sea levels the result, and would continue to do so.

Alicia Ibarra, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), pointed to the small size, insularity and external indebtedness of countries in her region.  Some 70 per cent of Caribbean populations lived in coastal zones only 10 meters above sea level, adding to their extreme vulnerability.  The intensity of droughts could continue to be a significant concern, as seven Caribbean States were among the top 36 water-stressed countries.

She underscored the importance of the proposed Green Fund, which would finance projects assisting nations in adapting to climate change.  ECLAC had already identified projects and was attempting to ensure middle‑income countries received concessional financing from that fund and other stakeholders like the World Bank.

Presentations were also made by Marie Chatardová, President of the Economic and Social Council; Ursula Mueller, Assistant Secretary‐General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Jessica Faieta, Assistant Secretary‐General and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and Francis Ghesquiere, Head of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, World Bank Group.

The event was moderated by New York Times reporter Lisa Friedman.

During the ensuing discussion, speakers recounted their experiences coping with hurricanes and other natural hazards, with many emphasizing the need for reconstruction-financing and echoing pleas for revised criteria to access concessional financing and ODA.

Antigua and Barbuda’s delegate recounted that hurricane Irma — the most powerful hurricane recorded over the Atlantic to hit land — had come ashore as a category 5 hurricane in his country, exposing it to winds higher than 195 miles per hour.  After Irma had ravaged Barbuda, the storm had left what had often been viewed as the most beautiful, untouched island in the world uninhabitable.

His Government was now faced with rebuilding the island, but had graduated to a high‑income country in June 2017, he said.  Despite its high level of vulnerability, it was categorized in the arbitrary ODA assessment criteria of gross domestic product (GDP) and largely ineligible for concessional financing and ODA due to revenue per capita exceeding the artificial criteria set.

On a similar note, Jamaica’s representative, stressing that the time had come to address the concerns of small island developing States, said the international community must provide better access to concessionary finance.  Adding that many were highly indebted middle‑income countries, he said an effective risk financing instrument was needed for emergency operations and to rebuild damaged infrastructure.

The representative of the Dominican Republic said his country had suffered enormous losses from hurricanes Irma and Maria, which had damaged thousands of kilometres of roads, bridges and agricultural lands.  Noting that more than $500 million would be needed for relief and reconstruction, he said disaster risk prevention, humanitarian action and adaptation to climate change must go hand‑in‑hand with the Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Other delegates expressed similar sentiments, with Venezuela’s representative urging for greater reconstruction measures, debt alleviation and favourable financing for small island developing States.  He proposed establishing funds with contributions from countries with greater responsibility for climate change, which would then be used to assist affected States.

The Maldives’ delegate highlighted the loss of coral reefs as natural barriers to storms and melting ice sheets contributed to sea level rise.  Her country and other small island developing States would work to enhance their resiliency, but she urged for greater assistance from the international community.  Improving response should start well before disaster strikes, particularly in capacity‑building, disaster resilience and financial support.

The representative of Trinidad and Tobago said the devastating aftermath of the recent hurricanes had clearly shown the international community the effects of climate change.  Adding that the region’s developmental possibilities were also significantly reduced, he said such events had widespread effects on economies, especially the agriculture, tourism and infrastructure sectors.

Also speaking were the representatives of Dominica, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Cuba, Bahamas, Honduras, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, France, Ecuador, Russia Federation, Colombia, Switzerland, Nepal, Japan, Chile, Algeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Barbados, Guyana, United Arab Emirates, Bolivia, Belize, Canada, Fiji, Montenegro, Philippines, El Salvador, India, Sierra Leone and South Africa.  A representative for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) also spoke.

DUTCH TO CONDITION SINT MAARTEN DISASTER RECOVERY ASSISTANCE ON REDUCTION OF 'AUTONOMOUS COUNTRY' POWERS

SINT MAARTEN REJECTS DUTCH CONDITION 

FOR EMERGENCY AID

NLTimes.nlBy Janene Pieters  October 23, 2017 

Sint Maarten prime minister William Marlin rejected the Netherlands' conditions for emergency aid to the island following hurricane Irma, Trouw reports. In a letter to Minister Ronald Plasterk of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Marlin wrote that Sint Maarten can not agree to the conditions by the deadline of October 31st, but that he is open to come to the Netherlands to discuss other conditions .

Plasterk set two conditions on the Netherlands providing financial support for the reconstruction of Sint Maarten following the devastating hurricane Irma. The first is that an 'Integrity Chamber' be set up. Under leadership of the Netherlands, this chamber will make sure that the emergency aid is spent well and prevent corruption. 

The second condition is that the Netherlands take over the island's border control, and strengthen it by sending more Koninklijke Marechaussee officers to Sint Maarten. In this way, the Netherlands wants to prevent undocumented migrants entering the island to perform reconstruction work cheaply and illegally. 

Only under these two conditions will the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, agree to provide financial aid for Sint Maarten's reconstruction. 

Marlin wrote that he agrees with Plasterk that corruption must be prevented, according to Trouw. But it is impossible to agree with setting up an integrity chamber before October 31st, he said. Exactly why this is impossible, he did not say. Marlin also said that he supports the idea of strict border controls, but no additional help from the Netherlands is necessary for that. 

Hurricane Irma damaged 91 percent of the buildings on Sint Maarten. Reconstruction is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of euros and take around two years. 

GUAM INDIGENOUS LANDS PROGRAMME OPPOSED BY U.S.

Justice Department's lawsuit raises questions

• By Oliver Weston Bordallo

The recent lawsuit brought by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against the Government of Guam seeking to invalidate the Chamorro Land Trust Act raises a hornet’s nest of questions. The irony of this ill-advised litigation is so thick you could cut it with a machete. Reeking of hypocrisy, this civil action is premised on lofty moral and constitutional standards the proponents themselves have never conformed with — especially not on this island.

Where was the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division when the people of Guam were forced to surrender their lands to the U.S. military after World War II without any due process? Where was the DOJ when Guam’s landowners were later cheated in unfair condemnation proceedings, as both Congress and the federal courts later affirmed when, 30 years later, additional compensation was awarded in the Guam Land Claims Cases? Oh yeah, they were co-conspirators in that sad land grabbing episode of Guam’s sorry colonial history.

Where was DOJ’s Civil Rights Division when the people of Guam were literally poisoned by the military’s persistent use of toxic chemicals, including defoliants like Agent Orange and DDT, and illegal dumping of hazardous waste at numerous undisclosed sites on Guam? Where was the DOJ when Guam’s residents were showered with radioactive fallout after Operation Crossroads, Operation Castle Bravo and other hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific Proving Grounds?

Where was the DOJ when wave after wave of foreign workers and migrants poured into Guam and remained here long after their visas and permits expired, in clear violation of federal immigration laws? Were they conveniently looking the other way, silently supporting a “manifest destiny” that leaves the indigenous population with a minority vote?

And where was the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division when the military decided to abandon Guam’s schoolchildren and set up their own segregated, but well-funded, education system? Seems only right since their kids live on base in segregated (i.e., inside the fence) housing areas, far removed from the local community, as if they were stationed in a hostile foreign country. This isn’t housing discrimination?

Where was the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division when other federal bureaucrats decided to apply, or not apply, countless facially neutral programs and policies on Guam despite their obviously disproportionate, patently discriminatory impacts on the native inhabitants of Guam? Oh yeah, I forgot, the overlords in Washington, D.C. can still exercise absolute, plenary, insular, dictatorial powers and authority thanks to our unincorporated political status. I guess it's "organic."

Perhaps President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III should re-examine the wisdom, and long-term consequences, of this so-called civil rights action. Perhaps they should ask the geniuses at DOJ how this movie ends. Seriously, after all the appeals are decided and the District Court of Guam has issued a writ of enforcement, do they really expect Guam’s political leadership to just give up, roll over and surrender the land? A more likely scenario has the entire CHamoru population rising up and declaring: You can take our sacred lands from us one last time, when you can pry the soil from our cold dead hands! When that day comes, mañe’lu, I’ll be down!

Oliver Weston Bordallo is an attorney on Guam.

UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL MEETING ON HURRICANE AFTERMATH

ECOSOC Special Meeting - Aftermath of recent hurricanes: Achieving a risk-informed and resilient 2030 Agenda

24 October 2017

An aerial shot of hurricane-battered Dominica. Photo: WFP/Norha Restrepo

The Economic and Social Council is organizing a Special Meeting on “Aftermath of recent hurricanes: Achieving a risk-informed and resilient 2030 Agenda” from 10:00 – 13:00 on 24 October 2017. 

As the United Nations and the international community step up efforts to assist the affected countries, the ECOSOC Special Meeting aims to highlight the economic, social and ecological dimensions of the recent hurricanes and earthquakes, and to enhance coordination in response, recovery, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development efforts in the aftermath.

Objectives of the special meeting of ECOSOC

This meeting will draw on recent experience of countries along with experts on the topic to:

Discuss the current situation and the economic, social and environmental impacts of the natural disasters on the affected countries and how these will impact development gains and the countries’ capacities to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the SDGs; 

Share measures and practices by countries to manage and respond to the natural disasters, and draw lessons from the previous ones;

Examine how the United Nations system, regional and international organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector and the scientific community can work better together at all levels to help countries effectively reduce disaster risk and strengthen resilience, prepare for and respond to future disaster events, with the support of risk financing instruments;

Discuss the importance and mechanisms for accessing finance on concessional terms for climate vulnerable states, including SIDS;

Discuss the importance of revisiting the criteria for country classification and the need to include vulnerability to economic shocks and natural disasters as a key consideration.

ANGUILLA REQUESTS SUPPORT FOR RECOVERY FROM UNITED KINGDOM AS THE ADMINISTERING POWER OF THE DEPENDENCY

DAILY HERALD

CHIEF MINISTER BANKS OUTLINES REQUESTS 

TO UK GOVERNMENT

Chief Minister Victor Banks

ANGUILLA–In a radio interview Chief Minister Victor Banks has outlined the various requests to the British Government for assistance needed following Hurricane Irma. He said that he and Governor Tim Foy wrote a joint letter to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of International Development outlining what Anguilla expects. Banks noted that the Governor has been fully supportive. A team from the UK was in Anguilla recently surveying the damage and the needs and meeting with various departments and agencies.

The overall damage and losses will require help from the UK in order to prevent a full-scale economic crisis, Banks said. At the same time he thanked the British Government for its early response and assistance.

He said the tourist season will be lost for many properties, which will affect the economy and create a shortfall in revenue. He explained that they are not asking for a grant but current budgetary support as the need arises and in the meantime, the Government in Anguilla will work hard to meet its expenses.

The Anguilla Electricity Company Anglec share sale has been suspended and that was to assist with revenue. He said the damage to Anglec is severe and it may take up to six months to complete the renovation, although they are trying to lessen this. He said it is critical that electricity is put underground and he is asking the UK Government for funds to do this.

Damage was considerable to Government offices and the Chief Minister reported that plans are in place for Government to take over the former National Bank of Anguilla building. He said this had already been planned to start in December, but after the hurricane damage he hopes it will be sooner as many departments are sharing space. He said it would be an advantage to have departments in one facility close together. Banks said other requests had been made in the letter in regard to schools and the hospital which needs to be replaced with a modern facility.

Some funds have been received by the Anguilla Government including insurance money from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility of EC $18 million, EC $1 million from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, US $200,000 from the Caribbean Development Bank and EC $400,000 from St. Kitts. He said it is important that the Government assists individuals in renovation and construction grant funds and it is looking for an injection of funds for the Anguilla Development Board to allow grants to be made.

The Chief Minister made an appeal to public servants to respect everyone. He said that they seldom lose their jobs and will continue to be paid, but they must work with the private sector – especially those who have lost jobs – and remember that in the end it is the private sector that pays their salaries.

(The United Nations) Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is carrying out a comprehensive assessment of Anguilla to determine the loss of business and income.

EU support discussed for post-hurricane British Virgin Islands as spectre of British departure from European Union looms large

UK territories concerned that BREXIT would phase out their access to European Union (EU) overseas countries and territories (OCT) assistance programmes.  

Department of Information and Public Relations (GIS)

Press Release

18 October 2017 

L-R: European Commission Director-General for International Cooperation and Development, Stefano Manservisi and Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) and European Union (EU) have discussed the EU’s support for the Territory in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in the margins of the Annual World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington, DC.

Following the passage of the two category 5 hurricanes through the Caribbean, the EU released €2 million in emergency assistance to support the affected Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) in the region associated with the EU, including the BVI.

“The EU has already provided emergency assistance to the Territory via the Red Cross for which we are extremely grateful,” Premier Smith said.

The Premier briefly exchanged with European Commission Director-General for International Cooperation and Development, Stefano Manservisi as members of their delegations discussed what further support the EU could provide to the BVI.

“We have agreed to discuss in greater detail what additional resources for OCTs can be channelled to the BVI to support its recovery”, said the Territory’s Minister of Finance.

He went on to say, “The EU is our main development partner whose assistance to us is critical during this time.”

The Premier was joined by Minister for Health and Social Development, Honourable Ronnie Skelton and Director of the BVI London Office, Benito Wheatley.

Saba and Sint Eustatius to have sea transport link to Saint Kitts

Draft Constitution for an autonomous Sint Eustatius supports transport and trade links with neighboring Caribbean countries.  

caribbeangenweb.org

The Bottom, Saba– Saba and St. Eustatius will get a scheduled ferry service with neigboring St. Kitts and, in the case of Saba, also with Sint Maarten. The service to St. Kitts will be provided 3 times per week, while there will be a direct connection between Saba and Sint Maarten 2 times per week by means of the Edge.

Commissioner of Tourism in Saba, Bruce Zagers said to be happy with news that an agreement has been reached with Aquamania Adventures to start with the ferry services operated out of Saba. According to the Commissioner, the assistance and cooperation received from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands was instrumental. 

Starting on Thursday, October 5th, 2017, the Edge will be running a 3 times weekly ferry service between Saba, Statia and St. Kitts, on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The Edge will depart Saba at 7:30 am and arrive in St. Kitts at 10:45 am at the Zante Port, with a stop in Statia, at 8:45 am on the way. 

The ferry will then depart from St. Kitts at 3:30 pm for the return trip to Saba, also stopping in Statia. The stops in Statia according to the Commissioner will be based on necessity when there are passengers to disembark or reservations for persons to be picked up. 

In addition to this, there will be a twice-weekly service between Saba and St. Maarten. The Edge will depart Saba on Mondays at 8:15 am and will return on Wednesdays, departing St. Maarten at 3 pm from the Simpson Bay dock of Aquamania Adventures. It will also make a day trip on Fridays departing Saba at 8:15 am and St. Maarten at 3:30 pm for the return trip. 

“Connectivity is important for Saba, as isolation can be a detriment to a small island’s economy”, said Zagers. “This ferry service provides the opportunity for visitors and locals alike to travel between the islands, creating the possibility for our tourism industry to survive during a difficult period”, according to the Commissioner. 

According to Zagers, already there are visitors hoping to visit during Saba’s annual event of Sea & Learn. Zagers said that he was confident that the service would open the gateway for more visitors to come.

Irma-Maria: A Reparations Requiem for Caribbean Poverty

The University of the West Indies

Statement from the Vice-Chancellor

Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles issues the following statement on the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria:
“Hurricane Irma’s fury preceded Maria’s by a deadly Caribbean second. Together they constitute the familiar sound of death and destruction reminiscent of a colonial past that clings to the present and is determined to possess and own the Caribbean future.

The chain linked imperial legacy that still imprisons the islands, keeping them politically fragmented and economically divided, was exposed as both cause and effect of a fragile region still feeling the presence of an imperial ethos that assigns to them a reality of structural dependency. Irma-Maria blew away the roof of the long and ongoing imperial cover up, and critically, was revelatory of the horrific history that dwells in the ruins of the present.

The destruction is an instruction for the survivors of slavery who are the majority in these islands. As descendants they were left for over half a century, when some of them stood up and demanded constitutional independence in the quest to be members of the free democratic world. They have annually battled ill-winds without any reparations support from former and contemporary imperial owners and overlords.

The persistent loss of black life and the dereliction of poor peoples’ materialism in a backward built environment that was designed for the sole purpose of servicing imperial sugar plantations, reside squarely at the core of their respective metropolitan capitols.

Barbuda tells the story in a stark fashion. An island once grabbed by Christopher Codrington, imperial warlord of England, and genocidal leader who received a mandate from his King to wipe the native Kalinago people off the face of the earth, was wiped out by Irma. Codrington, the island’s only town, is no more. Yet, the rich-descendant Codrington family of England sent no email, posted no blog, and cares nothing for the Caribbean place that bears their name. Shame and guilt, maybe, by not looking back to the source of their wealth.

The death and destruction accounted for is measured in the way the IMF has well taught the islands. Methodologies that highlight mythologies like GDP per capital loss, and resultant national debt rather than community death ratios, occupy international relief rationalisation. Barbuda, home of England’s first native genocide in the Caribbean, is once again devoid of people, emptied by Irma.

But beyond the measurement of materialism there is the haunting spectre of the metaphysical that speaks to the persistent imperialism that grips the Caribbean by the throat. Images of roofs warped and ripped, and domestic walls flattened into useless bridges of debris now populate the internet. Meanwhile, injured introspective inhabitants cannot but ponder how these ill-winds so precisely trace the journeys of the deadly European slave ships that crossed the middle passage.

Irma-Maria’s blowing apart of the Caribbean adds to the daily tearing apart of Islands by the legacy of lingering pain and poverty caused by EUROPE’s colonialism and its attendant crimes. There is the stillness of an imposing immorality within this hurricane moment. Under dark, deadly clouds, Irma -Maria’s all-seeing eye, brought the illumination necessary for a people who were recently told by David Cameron, speaking in Jamaica’s parliament as Britain’s Prime Minister, that his nation’s enslavement of their five million ancestors across these islands was unfortunate, and that folks should stop moaning and “get over it”.

Packing winds between them of near 200 kph Irma-Maria unearthed the sordid details of as many years of the Caribbean’s colonial past and present. They tore the scales off twenty million Caribbean eyes. They exposed the excretions of inconvenient truths that constitute the rotten colonial carcass long brushed under a carpet of criminality that increasingly resembled a mountain, the monumental Caribbean colonial mess that has gone without reparations.

Europeans in their rush for competitive economic development committed their unrepaired crimes against humanity in these islands. No paradise has every seen as much blood spilt in the name of white supremacy, economic accumulation, and competitive nationalism. Twenty million natives put to the sword; ten millions Africans put to slavery in chains; and descendants trapped in the hell of 20th century racial apartheid. Then, as if on a stage of glory, Europe walked away into the sunset leaving survivors to endure the task of Sisyphus. Undeterred descendants set about job of cleaning up the colonial carnage. They build micro-nations as celebrations of democracy. But alas, without reparatory justice, managing the colonial mess has overwhelmed them.

Painful it is to see the British imperial Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson, arriving to inspect Irma’s damage to his colony while ignoring the images of England’s slavery legacy everywhere to be seen. Shameful it was to see the Mother Country dangling piddly amounts of pounds in the face of the destruction! Prime Minister May offered 32 million, then as Irma was upgraded from category two to four, she revised the sum and offered 52 million. Disgraceful, many said, as the Union Jack fluttered above the Caribbean carnage left behind by 300 years of black enslavement and 100 years of the racial segregation installed in the aftermath of a shambolic emancipation. England’s slave ownership had received 20 million pounds in compensation for freed Africans in 1834, a sum worth 15 billion in today’s money.

Then, in the shadow of Haiti, came the French in the person of President Macron, with a promise to rebuild rather than liberate their colonies, a pledge made before and for the paparazzi but with no parliamentary power. The French and the British vied for political advantage and the moral high ground over who will give the more to address the colonial mess magnified by Irma. Another Anglo-French war on Caribbean soil ensued. The Dutch, meanwhile, seeking to hide deceptive hands in mudslides of their St Maarten, quietly came as if in shame, and offered to help the hopeless.

The colonised Caribbean has taken centre stage. To the north, Canada and the USA boast of their national freedom. To the south, Latin America celebrates its freedom. Only in the centre, in the Caribbean, do colonies remain. Only here are imperial powers raising flags to a colonial reality. Only here is history halted. Irma-Maria has revealed these truths. Islands entitled to reparations for the crimes against humanity committed upon their inhabitants are offered plasters to cover their wounds that will not heal.

Sir Richard Branson, English mogul, who owns privately an island in the Virgin group, called upon his British government to formulate a Marshall Plan for the region. Such a call was made in 1838, 1898, 1948, 1963, 1992, and countless other times to the closed eyes and ears of his nation. Similar calls were made by every colonised island in the Caribbean seeking justice and development rather than aid and relief that has never been sufficient to meet basic needs and moral expectations.

These ravished islands have done their best to clean up the colonial mess. They have spent beyond their means in the process of seeking to convert colonials into citizens. Left largely illiterate and riddled with ill health by colonialism they have built schools and hospitals that must be maintained. Social expenditure in the interest of building democracy exceeds financial income. This is the price they paid for participation in modernity. Now their public debt strangles their quest for economic growth. It a debt that should be written off as an investment in democracy. Britain, France and the USA should prevail upon the IMF to lead in this effort.

Once the jewel in the British Crown these islands are now treated like a pain to their Parliament. The region calls for reparations as a development plan. The British press have said, “Oh, it’s a hand out you mean!” The demand intensifies. Heads of governments, constituted as CARICOM, have written to those European states enriched by Caribbean slavery, calling for an international summit to discuss reparations as a Marshall Plan. Responses have been muted.

On October 12th The University of the West Indies will launch in Jamaica the Caribbean Centre for Reparations Research in order to professionally prepare the evidentiary basis of the claim. The University already has a Centre for Hurricane and Disaster Management Research. There will be a conference informed by the question: Can the Caribbean achieve economic development without Reparatory Justice? The economics of reparations will take centre stage in a requiem mass to Irma-Maria.”

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, an Economic Historian, was installed as the 8th Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) on May 30, 2015. Before assuming the office of Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Sir Hilary was Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University’s Cave Hill Campus in Barbados for thirteen years (2002-2015). Sir Hilary is a distinguished university administrator, and transformational leader in higher education.

Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. September 26, 2017 

US SENATOR OPPOSES END OF JONES ACT WAIVER

PRESS RELEASE

STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON EXPIRATION OF JONES ACT WAIVER 

FOR PUERTO RICO

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement after the Trump administration announced it would not extend the temporary Jones Act waiver for Puerto Rico, which expired yesterday:

“Now that the temporary Jones Act waiver for Puerto Rico has expired, it is more important than ever for Congress to pass my bill to permanently exempt Puerto Rico from this archaic and burdensome law. Until we provide Puerto Rico with long-term relief, the Jones Act will continue to hinder much-needed efforts to help the people of Puerto Rico recover and rebuild from Hurricane Maria.”

On September 28, 2017, Senators McCain and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation to permanently exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act.

A strong supporter of free trade, Senator McCain has been working for years to reform and repeal the archaic and burdensome Jones Act. In 1998, Senator McCain sponsored legislation that was signed into law to provide an administrative process for obtaining a Jones Act waiver for certain foreign vessels to trade between U.S. ports, eliminating the previous requirement for Congress to pass legislation for every waiver. 

In 2010, Senator McCain introduced legislation to fully repeal the Jones Act. He reintroduced the same piece of legislation in 2015 and again this July.

In Pacific, rising tensions evoke troubling nuclear legacy

Licorne test, 1971, French Polynesia. Photo: The Official CTBTO Photostream

Nick Perry

Associated Press 

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — As a young boy growing up on Bikini Atoll, Alson Kelen spent idyllic days playing on the beach and fishing.

His grandfather built canoes and his father tended the land. With fewer than 150 people on the remote Pacific island it was a close community, he says, with few signs of the former U.S. nuclear testing program other than the concrete bunkers he was told to avoid and the sunken ships in the lagoon.

But in 1978, when Kelen was 10, officials evacuated everybody. It turned out they'd been premature in declaring the Marshall Islands atoll safe again for humans. Radiation levels were still dangerously high.

More than 70 years after the first tests, the atoll remains contaminated today. It's part of a troubling nuclear legacy that continues to affect islands and people across the Pacific long after the U.S., Britain and France stopped their testing programs there.

As nuclear tensions rise in the Asia-Pacific region, Kelen and others are reflecting on that legacy anew.

North Korea has discussed testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific after earlier firing a missile over Japan and threatening Guam. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to "totally destroy North Korea" if provoked and called leader Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man." The dictator has responded by calling Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."

Kelen says that if the threats do escalate to a nuclear test or even an attack, "it would be a huge, huge disaster."

The 49-year-old says he has no idea if his exposure to radiation during the four years he lived on Bikini as a boy has affected his health. He says scientists used to test him and his family regularly, but stopped within a couple of years of them leaving the atoll.

Scientists have calculated that about 1.6 percent of all cancers developed by Marshallese people exposed to radiation can be attributed to the nuclear tests. For some islanders who were close to the blasts, the rate rises to 55 percent.

The nuclear tests exacted an enormous social toll on Bikini residents and their children, who are now scattered across the Marshall Islands and beyond and have been left without a homeland. Kelen says they've lost the ancestral land that's central to their identity.

"Ninety percent of Bikinians have never seen Bikini. It's a legend; it's a fairy tale," he said. "They know more about Hawaii and the U.S. mainland than Bikini."

The U.S. government first asked Bikini residents to leave temporarily in 1946. It then conducted a series of tests over a dozen years, including detonating a massive hydrogen bomb hundreds of times more powerful than the nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan during World War II.

The inhabitants were moved to other islands that proved inhospitable. Kelen's family eventually ended up in Majuro, the capital. He says his parents always planned to return to Bikini but got to spend just four years there before being told to leave again. Kelen's father died two years ago and his mother, now 93, is too old to travel.

"They told us we were relocated from Bikini for the good of mankind, to bring peace to the world. But I think nuclear is the same as climate change," Kelen said. "It benefits the big countries and ruins the small countries."

Bikini residents have received some compensation from the United States. But many people, including Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, say it's not enough.

Heine said in a speech this year that the removal of the Bikini residents produced "inconsolable grief, terror and righteous anger" that hadn't diminished in the seven decades since, and had been exacerbated by the U.S. being dishonest about the extent of the radiation and its effects.

Five thousand kilometers (3,000 miles) away in Tahiti, French Polynesia, Roland Oldham is also grappling with nuclear testing's legacy.

He is president of Moruroa e tatou, an organization that represents victims of French tests at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls. The nuclear tests lasted 30 years, ending in 1996, the year the United Nations adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Studies have shown that people in the region during the tests had an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer. But information on radiation exposure remains classified, making it hard to estimate the risks.

Oldham says those who worked directly on the testing program suffered high rates of cancer and other health problems. He says it's difficult to get good statistics on the health effects on the broader community because of the continuing secrecy.

Much of the later testing was carried out underground, but some radiation has leaked. Oldham fears the problem could get much worse because parts of the atolls are in danger of subsiding.

Oldham, 66, says he sailed around Moruroa while completing his military service with the French Navy in 1970. He says he never saw or felt anything, and doesn't know if he was exposed to radiation or the extent of that exposure.

Oldham says the heated rhetoric between the leaders of North Korea and the United States has made much of the Pacific vulnerable at the moment because of U.S. military bases in places like Guam, Japan and South Korea.

"The day the two guys throw a punch at each other," he said, "the whole area will be suffering."

He says he worries that mankind is headed toward its own destruction by nuclear weapons.

"At some stage I want to be sick, when I observe the things happening in front of my eyes," he said. "What a world. What a crazy mess."

IN MEMORIAM - Victor Uherbelau joined the ancestors

Solomon Islands (Fisheries Forum Agency )-- The Forum Fisheries Agency mourns the sad passing of its former FFA Director, Talobak Victorio Uherbelau on Sunday, August 27, 2017. He was 78. 

At the forefront of Palau’s emergence into nationhood, Uherbelau, who held the chiefly title Talobak, served as his country’s first Attorney General and went on to become the first of his country to lead a regional agency. The post title was changed to Director-General in 2005.

“Vic Uherbelau was a standout strategist and a determined and principled negotiator in Palau and the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands who brought his skills and his strong commitment to ‘Pacific nationalism’ to his two terms as Director of the FFA from November 1994 to November 2000,” says FFA Director General James Movick.

A self-described “Palauan nationalist”, Talobak Victorio had an impressive career of service to his nation spanning more than five decades and featuring many roles where his work ethic, gifted prose and law degree would help shape Palau’s journey onto the regional and global stage.  

“Talobak Victorio’s life journey reflects the determination of a generation of young Pacific Islanders from Micronesia to take control of their own national destiny even in the days before elected leadership. The late Tony DeBrum on Marshall Islands was another. Talobak Victorio was literally at the centre of it all when the nationhood of Palau was being determined and established. He worked tirelessly to ensure a destiny and a voice for his people at the UN table, and he brought those same traits to his regional leadership of the FFA,” says DG James Movick.

“We mourn the loss of another Pacific leader and statesman, and remember him well as a tough and seasoned negotiator, leading Palau through its Compact negotiations as well as playing a large role in the US Fisheries Treaty throughout its life and up to the most recent negotiation.” 

“The secretariat staff of the FFA and our Pacific fisheries family across the across the region join me in extending condolences to Talobak Victorio’s family, colleagues, and community at this time of bereavement. His contribution to Palau and Pacific development, and to Oceanic Fisheries at the regional and global tables, is immeasurable and we thank them for letting him give so much of his time and his commitment to regional fisheries.”  

Talobak Victorio is survived by his wife Rachel Ngiruos-Uherbelau; daughters, Elsie, Angela, Rebecca and Vaidil, sons Numa and Gaafar; and many grand and great grandchildren.