Caribbean Report 21-02-1991

Abstract

A United Nations Human Rights expert has prepared a special report on Human Rights and Haiti. The report predicts a very challenging task ahead for Haiti’s newly appointed government as there is need to reactivate the economy and rebuild institutions. A Haitian millionaire and businessman, defends the Haitian President’s inexperienced cabinet and provides a perspective on the newly appointed government. At the recently concluded 7th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) which was held in Canberra, Australia, two delegates from the Caribbean notes that the issues that were earmarked to be discussed were superseded by the events in the Persian Gulf. Debbie Ransome provides an insight into the issues contained in the Mills Report compiled in May 1990 by a four man team headed by Jamaican Professor Gladstone Miller. Finally, Jamaican born, English premier league footballer, John Barnes speaks about his future career playing football with Liverpool.

Description

Table of Contents

1. Headlines (00:00 - 00:40)
2. Mr. Philippe Texier, United Nations Human Rights Expert has prepared a special report on Human Rights. In this report Texier warns that the new government of Haiti faces a difficult time ahead. He notes that the government’s room for manoeuver is small and 1991 will continue to be fraught with peril. He warns that the transition towards democracy will be a period of extreme fragility in Haiti since there is a need to reactivate the economy and rebuild practically all the institutions from scratch. Further there is a lot of ground to cover in ratifying Human Rights instruments and conventions and in getting local police officers in Haiti to obey them (00:41 – 00:21)
3. Mr. Antoine Izméry, a Haitian millionaire businessman is one of the major backers of Haiti’s new President, Jean Bertrand-Aristide. Mr. Izméry gives his perspectives on the newly elected Haitian government and believes that the main task of the government is to eradicate corruption. He believes that the newly installed Haitian cabinet would be a government of Human Rights and that Father Aristide has chosen all the right people for the task (02:22 - 06:16)
4. The 7th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has just ended in Canberra, Australia. Just before the close, BBC Mike Waldridge spoke to two delegates, Bishop Drexel Gomez - President of the Caribbean Conference of Churches and Reverend Kingsly Lewis, Chairman of the Moravian Church, Eastern West Indies Province. They report that they had hoped that the WCC Assembly would have discussed issues such as the Foreign debt, Human Rights, the Drug Trade and the Sovereignty of small states. However, the Assembly was overshadowed by events in the Persian Gulf (06:17 - 10:21)
5. A sweeping look at the state of the Caribbean is contained in the Mills Report compiled in May 1990 by a four man team headed by Jamaican Professor Gladstone Miller. The report spells out the major challenges that faces the Caribbean and points the way for a more advanced form of political control to replace the many declarations, accords and understandings in the Caribbean. It also calls for a deepening and widening of CARICOM. This report will be discussed at the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government Summit to be held in Trinidad and Tobago in the next week (10:22-12:33)
6. John Barnes, Jamaican born, international footballer who plays in the English club Liverpool speaks about the future of his career playing football with Liverpool (12:34-14:57)

Keywords

Citation