Black Immigrant Daily News

A New Era of Island Leadership: The influential negotiating bloc of small island developing States is now helmed by a Pacific country, after official handover by Antigua and Barbuda.

At a special Plenary meeting on Monday 30th January, 2023 featuring the official handover ceremony, the reigns of leadership of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) were handed over by the Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda, to the Pacific Island of Samoa.

This culminates four years of AOSIS Chairmanship within the Caribbean region, with Belize serving prior to Antigua. The regional rotation of Chairmanship ensures fully inclusive representation among all Caribbean, Pacific, African, Indian Ocean and South China Seas members.

AOSIS plays an integral role in international climate and sustainable development negotiations, and has been central to the advancement of small island developing States’ priorities. Significantly, AOSIS has been a key figure in the milestone achievement of a loss and damage fund establishment at the recent COP27 in November, 2023.

As new Chair, Samoa Prime Minister the Honourable Fiam? Naomi Mata?afa vowed to continue the excellent work of the previous Chairs, particularly by amplifying marginalized voices and advocating for the Alliance’s interests on the global stage and to secure global commitments and agreement.

She outlined the Chair’s new vision, which will focus on Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and the Ocean, including issues such as food security, energy, ocean’s health, and more ambition on finance to support the achievement of agreed targets under the SDGs, the Paris Agreement and the SAMOA Pathway.

“For 2023, we will continue the work to advance our collective interests in climate change especially with respect to climate financing and the achievement of the 50/50 split between mitigation and adaptation,” Prime Minister Fiam? said. “We will continue to keep the Loss and Damage flame burning and inject urgency into our efforts aimed at concluding BBNJ negotiations.”

“Sustainable development is a key strategic priority. Economic recovery is an enormous challenge and responsibility. To this end, the importance and effective implementation of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) cannot be over-emphasized. The MVI is a tool to assist SIDS in addressing the economic recovery challenge, especially in relation to access to concessional financing, debt regime sustainability and ODA eligibility and effectiveness. AOSIS has been at the forefront of this strategic process, and we must now over the coming 12 months complete what remains to be done.”

“Ocean is the lifeblood for most of our countries. But whilst its sustainable use provides a core pathway towards our future development and livelihoods, like the climate emergency, we must also urgently address the associated risks.” Prime Minister Fiam? highlighted the ocean-climate nexus, plastic pollution negotiations, the Blue Economy, and the Global Biodiversity Framework as key issues.

In his congratulatory address, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda noted he was placing the Chairmanship in most capable hands, and that his country looked forward to working with the new AOSIS Chair in preparation for the 4th UN International Conference for SIDS in 2024.

Representing the Prime Minister, Ambassador Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr. Pa’olelei Luteru emphasized that the AOSIS Chair would accelerate advocacy for concrete outcomes to ensure not just the survival, but the prosperity of small island developing States.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Haitians in the United States are facing enormous pressure to help family and friends under a U.S. migration program announced this month that may help some people escape Haiti’s escalating violence but is also putting strain on the nation’s diaspora.

Giubert St Fort, a South Florida resident from Haiti said he was inundated with calls almost immediately after the Biden administration said on Jan. 5 it was opening a new legal pathway for migrants from four countries, including Haiti who had U.S. sponsors.

“Things are very tense because everyone is expecting a call from someone,” said St Fort, 59, a social worker who is already sponsoring members of his family.

“Many people unfortunately are not in a position to sponsor family members or friends back home, but they are receiving calls nonstop.”

Haitians living in the United States, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, say they are being sought out by everyone from immediate family members to distant acquaintances or neighbors they haven’t spoken with in years, community advocates and immigration lawyers said.

Desperation to leave has grown in Haiti amid a political crisis and a spike in violence that most recently has included a wave of killings of policemen, triggering protests by angry officers who attacked the residence of interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has struggled with a record number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border including the arrival of more than 10,000 Haitians to southern Texas in September 2021. Many of asylum-seekers deported back to Haiti or rapidly expelled, despite objections from human rights groups and a U.S. career diplomat who said doing so was “inhumane.”

In response, Biden expanded pandemic-era restrictions put in place by his Republican predecessor former President Donald Trump to rapidly expel migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to Mexico. At the same his administration opened up the possibility for up to 30,000 migrants from those same countries to enter via air per month by applying for humanitarian “parole.”

‘UNDUE STRESS’

The parole program is aimed at encouraging migrants to safely travel to the United States instead of braving boats or grueling land journeys through Central America to the border. U.S. officials say illegal crossings by the four nationalities have already dropped dramatically.

A senior administration official said last week that about 1,700 people from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua have arrived in the United States through the program in recent weeks, with thousands more approved for travel.

But finding willing sponsors is proving difficult for many Haitians as many immigrants already in the United States are concerned they won’t be able to provide for others with the rising cost of living and soaring rents, advocates and attorneys said.

Tammy Rae, an American lawyer who works in Haiti, gave a radio interview to describe the humanitarian parole program and was later flooded by calls from people seeking a sponsor.

She said her clients have described being expected to sponsor entire extended families and in some cases face threats.

“It’s true that this is a program that will unite families,” said Rae. “I would say it’s also a program that will place undue stress on families and cause family divisions.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, did not respond to a request for comment.

Guerline Jozef, executive director of non-profit immigration advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance, which is helping Haitians find sponsors, described the dilemma.

“People will say ‘I have more than one cousin I would like to sponsor, I’m only able to sponsor one of them,’” Jozef said. “And that creates a major issue because how do you choose which one to sponsor?” She is also opposed to the expulsions of Haitians and other migrants arriving at the southwest border, many who are seeking U.S. asylum.

Jozef said immigrant advocates have long fought for measures such as humanitarian parole, but said the program should not be attached to systematic deportation or expulsion of immigrants seeking asylum.

“Unfortunately, it is attached to a lot of bad policies. It is being used to literally deter people from seeking protection at the U.S-Mexico border.”

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The regulator of the island’s financial services has obtained a court order preventing the official of the investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) which is under fraud investigation, from winding up the company.

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke said the Financial Services Commission (FSC) was granted the order as it sought to prevent an attempt by members of SSL who had applied to the Companies Office of Jamaica for a members’ voluntary winding up around January 16.

He said that prior to the application, the FSC had put the company under temporary management, using its powers under the Financial Services Commission Act.

“To effect its temporary management, the FSC went to court to prevent the company from going through the process of winding up itself,” Clarke explained.

The court order restrains SSL, the purported Trustee of SSL, and directors of SSL from: disposing of, dealing with assets and liabilities in SSL’s name or its clients’ name; withdrawing, transferring or otherwise dissipating any funds from accounts in its name wherever held.

It also restrains the embattled firm from interfering with the acts of servants or agents of the FSC and temporary manager; winding up or dissolving the company and liquidating the assets.

The FSC also wants to stop any SSL official from reorganising the company or its operations, whether it be in any document form or organisation of its members, or the assets and liabilities.

Government has already announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States will assist local investigators in their probe into the alleged multibillion fraud at SSL that has affected several clients including eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt who is said to have lost more than US$12 million.

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The US oil and energy company, Hess, Wednesday announced a “significant new oil discovery” at Fangtooth SE-1, one year after the original Fangtooth-1 discovery.

Hess, the 30 percent joint venture partner in the Stabroek Block, said the Fangtooth SE-1 well encountered approximately 200 feet of oil bearing sandstone reservoirs, adding to the Stabroek Block’s gross discovered recoverable resource estimate of more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The company said the recent discovery “has the potential to underpin a future oil development.”

The Ministry of Natural Resources said it has noted the information and is currently working with Exxon who is completing the analysis so as to make the information available.

Hess is a co-venturer with a 30 per cent stake in the Stabroek Block. Esso Exploration Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, is the operator in the block, and has a 45 per cent stake. The other partner is China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

Hess has also reported significant earnings in the fourth quarter of 2022- a large sharing drawn from the production in Guyana.

Earlier this week, the company said it would increase spending on capital projects this year by US$1 billion, to US$3.7 billion, mostly for its Guyana’s and North Dakota’s Bakken shale field projects.

EEPGL plans to start production in the Payara Field in late 2023 or early 2024 to add 220 000 barrels per day.

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Noting the challenges achieving sustainable impact by development projects, Canada’s Minister of International Development Harjit Sajjan was pleased to see the sustainable impact of farmers and market actors reaping successes four years after they recevied support through the Global Affairs Canada funded Promotion of Regional Opportunities for Produce through Enterprises and Linkages (PROPEL) project.

During his visit to Jamaica on January 12, Minister Sajjan, while touring project sites in Glastonbury, Trelawny; Cascade, St Ann and Coleyville in Manchester, noted that the project had exceeded his expectations.

“This project has exceeded my expectations. Just imagine what’s been accomplished with teaching people about using good quality seeds and now they’re able to do second and third planting…rather than just purchasing them, they’re able to now continue to plant and each farmer is doing this so it’s actually creating a really good sustainable opportunity,” he shared.

PROPEL, which was implemented in Jamaica by World University Service of Canada (WUSC) in partnership with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries from 2013-2017, aided in the transformation of Jamaica’s local potato market with the implementation of a potato based economic growth project.

The PROPEL initiative was a J$2 billion (CAD $20 million) undertaking across five countries: Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica and Saint Lucia, that was aimed at significantly reducing the Caribbean’s food imports and increasing farmers’ and processors’ access to external markets. Today, the project credits sustained success to the active participation of stakeholders from across the potato market-system, including government officials, research institutions, extension services, private sector input providers, buyers and buyer groups, storage providers, credit institutions, producers and producer groups.

Now, four years later, producers supported through project partners such as Glastonbury Purveyors Co. under the project are still earning livelihoods from their potato crops. The PROPEL model was used to develop the Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean (SAC) project, which is also funded by the Government of Canada and is currently being implemented by WUSC Caribbean in five countries: Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Suriname.

As a part of his visit to Jamaica, Minister Sajjan visited the Glastonbury Purveyors Co. in Manchester, where he met with owner & CEO, Hugh Gentles. Glastonbury was the first private sector firm the PROPEL project worked with in order to pilot the importation of improved quality planting materials and developing interlocking agreements with potatoes producers.

Partly as a consequence of the PROPEL-supported interventions in the potato market system, Jamaica reached its highest level of domestic production of potatoes in 2017 and have had no reported cases of crop failure due to seed quality since 2016. Elite seeds were imported from the Netherlands and Canada based on farmers preferences and used for potato variety trials. This helped to satisfy 70% of local Irish potato consumption.

Minister Sajjan also welcomed the project’s ability to promote sustainable living.

“I love that this project has been able to make a difference for Jamaica. One of the most notable changes is the fact that the country no longer depends solely on imports for products such as potatoes and is now able to produce enough to supply seventy percent of the local market. That for me is a huge accomplishment in regards to sustainability. We want to see more jobs and more means for sustainable livelihoods,” he stated.

Samuel Lynch, a farmer from Lucky Hill St. Mary, who benefitted from the project through Glastonbury Purveyors Co., attested to this impact, noting that his farming business is now able to employ several workers. He received 20 bags of potato in year 1 of the project then a hundred bags in years 2 and 3.

“Before benefiting from this initiative, I felt like giving up on planting Irish potatoes but this project gave me hope and the push I needed to continue. So, I must say thanks to the WUSC Caribbean and Glastonbury team for the support, because without them I would not be farming right now. I am now able to employ several workers who are also grateful for the help,” he said.

According to Minister Sajjan, the data and knowledge gained from the potato programme in Jamaica will aid other efforts within the region.

“Although a major part of my trip is to assess the work that our team has been doing here, we also want to use the opportunity to learn. Everything we’ve learned throughout this project will be a guide to how we implement similar projects not only in the wider Caribbean, but also around the world,” the Minister noted.

Meanwhile, WUSC Caribbean Director, Doug Graham says PROPEL has provided important lessons for the current Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean (SAC) project, which addresses gaps in the previous one.

“When we were working on PROPEL, we realised that we weren’t offering enough support to women and youth in agriculture so we decided to implement our current SAC project as a means of addressing that oversight. The project looks at how we can create more opportunities for women and youth in agriculture by providing them with resources and access to knowledge of best agriculture practices that promote climate smart agriculture”, he said.

The current Global Affairs Canada funded SAC project in Jamaica, is currently supporting women, youth and male producers in Jamaica to promote increased productivity and climate smart agricultural practices in the herbs and spices and small ruminants (goats) market systems.

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