Black Immigrant Daily News

Email correspondence sent from high officials in the Surinamese Government, to their Guyanese counterparts, reveals that Suriname had promised Guyana that the fishing licence for Guyanese to fish in Surinamese waters would have been issued on January 1, 2021.

In the email dated December 13, 2020, which was seen by this publication, Surinamese Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Prahlad Sewdien had written to Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, informing him that the fishing licences would be issued from January 1 of the next year and that they would try to have preparations completed within two weeks.

The email also acknowledged the list of fishermen that Mustapha had sent to Sewdien, while also suggesting various actions that should be taken to complete the process of issuing the licence, under Surinamese law.

These suggestions included having the fishermen register their vessels in their own name and the appointment of a State-owned company to be their business partner and sign a “vessel basing” agreement.

“This company will take care of the further registration of the vessels over here and also take care of the licenses by which your fishermen will pay just the normal fees. The company will also sign the purchase and other agreements needed with your fishermen,” the email stated.

Meanwhile, Sewdien had also promised to track down the Surinamese middlemen who had been renting licenses to Guyanese fishermen, at exorbitant prices. In the email, he asked Mustapha to have the fishermen mail copies of their licences.

“We would like to recognise the middlemen on whose names the licenses were issued. Ask the fishermen to mail a copy of the licenses of 2020 to my Director of Fisheries Mrs. Parveen Amritpersad, who is also included in this mail.”

“With that, it will be easier for us to trace the middlemen. These middlemen have registered the boats on their own names in the Fisheries Register at our Maritime Authority. We will have to get it changed,” Sewdien also said in the email.

In the past, the Surinamese opposition has pushed their Government for clarity on the issuance of the licence to Guyanese fishermen. It is understood that the issue was raised by Opposition Parliamentarian Melvin Bouva, in the Suriname National Assembly, on Tuesday.

The matter of Suriname’s harassment of Guyanese fishermen and the Dutch-speaking republic’s continued refusal to grant licences to them, has been a topical issue in recent times, that even escalated to the point where Guyana’s Ambassador in Suriname, Keith George, was summoned last month to a meeting with the Surinamese Foreign Minister, Krishna Mathoera, on this very issue.

Following the high-level meeting in Guyana during August 2021 between President Dr Irfaan Ali and Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the two leaders had issued a joint press statement indicating that the age-old issue of licences for Guyanese fisherfolk to operate in Suriname’s territorial waters would be addressed.

These fishermen operate from the Corentyne coast and have to use the Corentyne to get access to the Atlantic where they get most of their catch. The Corentyne River is considered Surinamese territory. Currently, the licences are issued to Surinamese businessmen at US$100 per year and rented to the Guyanese fisherfolk at US$3000 annually.

About 150 boats operate from the Number 66 Fisherman’s Co-op Society thus providing direct employment for about 800 fishermen. Additionally, some 200 persons are employed in providing services which include transportation, fish vending and repairs to machinery and equipment.

Guyana has already said that it will be bringing this matter before the Caribbean Community (Caricom), since Suriname is also a member state.

Moreover, Attorney General Anil Nandlall has also said that legal measures could be taken, if necessary, to get compensation for the fishing boats and equipment that Suriname had seized and subsequently sold.

And comments by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo that Surinamese businesses could be met with reciprocal treatment in Guyana, were met by the Surinamese Government pleading in a statement for all parties to await a diplomatic resolution of the issue.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Broadcasting Commission in Jamaica has issued a directive requiring broadcasters to take immediate steps to prevent the transmission of any recorded material that promotes and/or glorifies illegal activity.

Guided by and exercising the powers granted under the Television and Sound Broadcasting Regulations, the Commission said in a release that it requires an immediate halt to the transmission of:

any audio or video recording, live song, or speech which promotes and/or glorifies scamming, illegal use or abuse of drugs (for example ‘Molly’), illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, “jungle justice” or any other form of illegal or criminal activity.any edited song which directly or indirectly promotes scamming, illegal drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, jungle justice, or any form of illegal or criminal activity. This includes live editing and original edits (eg edits by producer/label) as well as the use of near-sounding words as substitutes for offensive lyrics, expletives, or profanities.

“To be clear, the broadcast of a sampling of any song which promotes or glorifies scamming, illegal drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns, or other offensive weapons, ‘jungle justice’ or any other form of illegal or criminal behaviour is strictly prohibited,” the Broadcasting Commission said on Tuesday.

The Broadcasting Commission is the regulatory body responsible for monitoring radio, television, and cable services in Jamaica.

According to the release, the directive reinforces the commission’s commitment to keeping the airwaves free of harmful content given the important role traditional media still play as agents of socialisation.

“The use of the public airwaves to broadcast songs that promote/glorify illegal activity could give the wrong impression that criminality is an accepted feature of Jamaican culture and society.

“It could also unwittingly lend support to moral disengagement and further normalise criminality among vulnerable and impressionable youth, and the young adult demographic,” the release said.

Commenting on the Directive, executive director of the Commission, Cordel Green, said it was the end product of a wide-ranging process that included focused monitoring, decoding of subculture dialect and urban slangs, deliberations on balancing free expression vis-?-vis protection from harm, and consultations with Industry.

Green explained that this approach was necessary given the nuances and peculiarities inherent in content regulation.

“Part of the difficulty in dealing with music, especially that which emerges from a subculture, is that it takes time to identify, understand and verify the slangs and colloquial language used. Understandably, new street lingua may take some time before they are normalised, or their meanings become well entrenched.

“The Commission also has to be circumspect in its actions, knowing that regulatory attention can have the unintended consequence of giving exposure to and popularising subcultural phenomenon,” Cordel Green said.

The executive director also said that while content regulation must always have regard for the right to freedom of expression, any context in which criminality is presented through music or videos as normal behaviour, conflicts with the tenets of responsible broadcasting.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Two Jamaicans are among the 10 nominees women for the World Athletics Women’s World Athlete of the Year.

In a release on Wednesday, World Athletics confirmed that both Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson are among the athletes selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics, for the 2022 World Athletes of the Year in the women category.

Fraser-Pryce is the World 100m champion, claiming a fifth gold medal in the event, as well as the Diamond League 100m champion. The ‘Pocket Rocket’, who now goes by Mommy Rocket, ran a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season.

Meanwhile, Jackson is the World 200m champion and Diamond League 200m champion. She ran a world-leading 21.45s to move to second on the world all-time list.

Another woman from the Caribbean, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, is also among this year’s nominees.

Miller-Uibo is the World 400m champion, World indoor 400m champion and the NACAC 400m champion.

“It has been another memorable year for the sport, and the nominations reflect some of the standout performances achieved at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits, and other events around the world,” World Athletics said.

In its press release Tuesday, World Athletics said a three-way voting process would determine the finalists for the 2022 World Athletes of the Year ahead of the World Athletics Awards 2022.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube this week with a ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter counting as one vote.

The release said the World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Monday, October 31. After the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.

The winners will be revealed on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

The other nominees for the 2022 Women’s World Athlete of the Year are:

Tobi Amusan, Nigeria

– World 100m hurdles champion

– Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion

– Set a world 100m hurdles record of 12.12

Chase Ealey, USA

– World shot put champion, and world indoor shot put silver medallist

– Diamond League shot put champion

– Threw a world-leading 20.51m

Kimberly Garcia, Peru

– World 20km race walk champion to win Peru’s first-ever World Athletics Championships medal

– World 35km race walk champion in a South American record to complete a race walk double

– World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medallist

Faith Kipyegon, Kenya

– World 1500m champion

– Diamond League 1500m champion

– Ran a world-leading Kenyan record of 3:50.37, just three-tenths of a second off the world record

Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Ukraine

– World indoor high jump champion and world high jump silver medallist

– European high jump champion

– Jumped a world-leading 2.05m, equalling the outdoor national best

Sydney McLaughlin, USA

– World 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion

– Broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships

– Further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title

Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela

– World indoor and outdoor triple jump champion

– Diamond League triple jump champion

– Improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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The government of Saint Lucia is concerned about what Sustainable Development Minister Shawn Edward described in parliament on Tuesday as a ‘pollution scourge’, including marine and plastic litter.

Edward acknowledged that clean-up campaigns are necessary.

But he asked whether it would not be fantastic if the nation could transition towards compliance, behavioural change, and enhanced waste management while depending less on clean-ups.

“Do we have hope? Well, I have hope and we should have hope. I know that our people want to do better and can do better and this government, Mr. Speaker, is committed to the cause of curing the pollution scourge that confronts us today,” the Dennery North MP declared.

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“I cringed in my own community Mr. Speaker when I saw the plastic accumulation following the heavy rains,” Edward recalled.

In addition, the Minister observed that, too often, Saint Lucians assert that in their inappropriate waste disposal, they are creating jobs for the poor and disadvantaged.

However, Edward said such inappropriate behaviour creates homelessness and loss of livelihood when the trash clogs the drains, flooding homes, and shops.

“The situation we are contributing to is one of poverty, revenue loss from visitors who are disgusted with the imprudent behaviour and opt for cleaner touristic destination,” the Minister told parliament.

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