US Haiti envoy quits over 'inhumane' deportations
The US special envoy for Haiti has resigned in protest over the deportation of Haitian migrants.
The decision to return migrants fleeing an earthquake and political instability was "inhumane", senior diplomat Daniel Foote said.
Last weekend, the US started flying out migrants from a Texas border town which has seen an influx, with some 13,000 having gathered under a bridge.
They have been waiting in a makeshift camp in temperatures of 37C (99F).
Local officials have struggled to provide them with food and adequate sanitation.
Most of those at the camp are Haitians, but there are also Cubans, Peruvians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans present.
Since Sunday, the US has returned to Haiti 1,401 migrants from the Texas camp on the border with Mexico.
But in his resignation letter, Mr Foote said Haiti was a "collapsed state" that "simply cannot support the forced infusion of thousands of returned migrants lacking food, shelter, and money without additional, avoidable human tragedy".
Images of horse-mounted US officers corralling the migrants have evoked dark comparisons to US slavery and the country's historical mistreatment of black people.
The widely shared images, taken by an AFP photographer earlier this week, appear to show US Border Patrol agents on horseback using their reins against the migrants and pushing them back towards the Rio Grande river that divides Texas and Mexico.
That led to pressure on President Joe Biden's administration, and prompted calls from within his Democratic Party to give the Haitians asylum rather than fly them back to their home country.
Many Haitians left the country after a devastating earthquake in 2010, and a large number of those in the camp had been living in Brazil or other South American countries and travelled north after being unable to secure jobs or legal status.
This year has brought further hardship for the impoverished country. In July, Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated - and in August it suffered another deadly earthquake.
Mr Foote said Haitians needed "immediate assistance", and criticised the US and other countries for interfering in the country's politics.
"What our Haitian friends really want, and need, is the opportunity to chart their own course, without international puppeteering and favoured candidates but with genuine support for that course," he said.
Mr Foote has served in the role since Moïse's assassination in July.
A state department spokesperson thanked the ambassador for his work, and insisted that the US remained "committed to supporting safe, orderly, and humane migration throughout our region".
Source - BBC
EU rules to force USB-C chargers for all phones
Manufacturers will be forced to create a universal charging solution for phones and small electronic devices, under a new rule proposed by the European Commission (EC).
The aim is to reduce waste by encouraging consumers to re-use existing chargers when buying a new device.
All smartphones sold in the EU must have USB-C chargers, the proposal said.
Apple has warned such a move would harm innovation.
The tech giant is the main manufacturer of smartphones using a custom charging port, as its iPhone series uses an Apple-made "Lightning" connector.
"We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world," the firm told the BBC.
It added that it aims to make every Apple device and usage carbon neutral by 2030.
Most Android phones come with USB micro-B charging ports, or have already moved to the more modern USB-C standard.
New models of the iPad and MacBook use USB-C charging ports, as do high-end phone models from popular Android manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei.
The changes would apply to the charging port on the device body, whereas the end of the cable connecting to a plug could be USB-C or USB-A.
Around half of chargers sold with mobile phones in the European Union in 2018 had a USB micro-B connector, while 29% had a USB C connector and 21% a Lightning connector, a Commission impact assessment study in 2019 found.
The proposed rules will apply to:
smartphones
tablets
cameras
headphones
portable speakers
handheld video game consoles
Other products including earbuds, smart-watches and fitness trackers were not considered for technical reasons linked to size and use conditions.
The proposal also standardizes fast charging speeds - meaning devices capable of fast charging will be charged at the same speeds.
Preventing waste
EU politicians have been campaigning for a common standard for over a decade, with the Commission's research estimating that disposed of and unused charging cables generate more than 11,000 tonnes of waste per year.
In the European Union, around 420 million mobile phones and other portable electronic devices were sold in the last year.
The average person owns around three mobile phone chargers, of which they use two regularly.
In 2009, there were more than 30 different chargers, whereas now most models stick to three - the USB-C, Lightning and USB micro-B.
"Having one common charging standard would be a victory for common sense in the eyes of consumers," Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight said.
"Although Apple has made a strong argument for keeping its Lightning connector, given the one billion active iPhone users, some of its products including Mac and iPad now support USB-C.
"Hopefully it will eventually become a non-issue if Apple keeps adding USB-C to more devices."
It may be a number of years before the proposals come into effect.
The legislative proposal, known as a Directive, will be debated by the European Parliament and national governments.
MEPs and member states may suggest amendments to the proposal. Only once the EC has agreed these amendments, will the directive be enacted.
The EC hopes that will happen in 2022 - after which member states usually have two years to enact the rules into national law, and manufacturers will have 24 months to change their charging ports.
"We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger. This is an important win for our consumers and environment and in line with our green and digital ambitions," Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said. "Hopefully it will eventually become a non-issue if Apple keeps adding USB-C to more devices."
It may be a number of years before the proposals come into effect.
The legislative proposal, known as a Directive, will be debated by the European Parliament and national governments.
MEPs and member states may suggest amendments to the proposal. Only once the EC has agreed these amendments, will the directive be enacted.
The EC hopes that will happen in 2022 - after which member states usually have two years to enact the rules into national law, and manufacturers will have 24 months to change their charging ports.
"We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger. This is an important win for our consumers and environment and in line with our green and digital ambitions," Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said.
Source - BBC
Afghanistan's female volleyball players tell of threats and fear
Players from the Afghanistan women's volleyball team are hiding from the Taliban and one of the squad was killed last month, two former members of the team have told the BBC.
Almost 30 players are hoping to escape from Afghanistan, saying they fear for their lives.
Some of the team have been moving between provinces to avoid detection from the Taliban, who retook control of Afghanistan last month.
Zahra Fayazi arrived in the UK about a month ago after fleeing. She played for Afghan women's volleyball team for seven years before stepping into a coaching position.
Zahra told the BBC one of the squad had been killed, but said the details are unclear at present.
"We don't want this to repeat for our other players," she said.
Zahra is still in contact with her former team-mates, many of whom remain on the move.
"Our players who were living in the provinces had to leave and live in other places," she said.
"They even burned their sports equipment to save themselves and their families. They didn't want them to keep anything related to sport. They are scared.
"Many of our players who are from provinces were threatened many times by their relatives who are Taliban and Taliban followers.
"The Taliban asked our players' families to not allow their girls to do sport, otherwise they will be faced with unexpected violence."
Sophia, who is using a pseudonym to protect her family in Afghanistan, was a leading member of the volleyball team, but fled to a neighbouring country two years ago after being stabbed by two men in Kabul.
She said she had received threats from the Taliban beforehand, warning her to stop playing volleyball.
Sophia's family destroyed any medals and kit she could not take with her when she escaped because of fears it could make them a target if they fell into the wrong hands.
Sophia is in regular contact with her former team-mates. She also said one was shot dead last month, although details of the killing are unclear.
"I'm sure it was the Taliban," said Sophia. "At that time the Taliban was overtaking all of the cities and there were no other groups that would do this. She was only a player and she didn't do anything for people to want to attack her.
"We are all shocked about how it happened, we couldn't believe it. Maybe we will lose other friends."
Volleyball is one of Afghanistan's most popular sports.
The first women's national team was founded about four decades ago but was dissolved when the Taliban ruled for five years from 1996. The team restarted after the Taliban's overthrow by US-led forces in 2001.
But the lives of Afghanistan's female athletes were upended when the Taliban retook control of the country in mid-August.
The Taliban are yet to pass any firm law about sport and women but Ahmadullah Wasiq - deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission - recently told SBS Radio Pashto "it is not necessary" for women to play sport.
Last week, female players from the junior national football team crossed the border into Pakistan after spending weeks hiding from the Taliban.
Earlier this month, members of the women's cricket team told the BBC they were in hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have excluded girls from Afghan secondary schools, with only boys and male teachers allowed back into classrooms.
Zahra and Sophia called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) to assist the volleyball team in escaping before it is too late.
A spokesman for the IOC said it was "helping many sportsmen and women and sports administrators in Afghanistan".
"For obvious reasons we wouldn't comment on any individual cases, particularly ones that are currently being dealt with," he said.
An FIVB spokeswoman said: "The matter of helping anyone from the Afghan volleyball family is extremely sensitive and in order to respect the privacy and safety of all involved, no further details will be given."
Zahra and Sophia both hope they will be able to one day reunite with their team-mates on a volleyball court, but hold out little hope of that happening in Afghanistan.
"We have fallen in a dark period," Zahra said.
"I can't see a future for volleyball in Afghanistan. Hopefully, if we can help evacuate them, there's a possibility to have the same team outside of Afghanistan."
Sophia said: "We lost everything in one day, but we want to go further.
"We want the world to help us achieve the goals and hopes we have worked for. It is our dream, we can't give up."
Source - BBC
Cricket West Indies continues planning for Pakistan tour
Cricket West Indies (CWI) said it plans to fulfil its tour obligations wherever possible, including to Pakistan in December.
CWI chief executive officer Johnny Grave said the sport’s regional governing body will follow the same measures they did three years ago when the West indies, under Jason Mohammed, were swept convincingly in three Twenty20 Internationals in Karachi.
“At this stage, our intention is to fulfil our touring obligations,” Grave told the Trinidad Newsday newspaper. “We’ve got a pretty clear process that we go through with independent security experts, like we did in 2018.
“We will follow that process, the board of directors, WIPA (West Indies Players’ Association), as well as the players themselves will review the plans and our reports, including the independent security advice. Most of our women’s and men’s players have played in Pakistan in the last few years.”
The Caribbean’s side tour of Pakistan came into sharp focus after New Zealand abandoned its tour to the south Asian country last Friday citing security concerns and England withdrew on Monday from sending their men’s and women’s team there for similar reasons.
“We don’t have to make an imminent decision,” Grave told Newsday. “We will just go through the process first, with the PCB and the security experts.
“We’ll have a meeting with the players to answer any questions and give them all the information. We’re just at the start of that process now, with the women’s team just finishing against South Africa.”
He said: “We’re firming up our plans, with the World Cup qualifiers and, from a men’s perspective, we’re focused very much on the (Twenty20) World Cup. That’s the major operations focus.
“We’re looking at getting our T20 players to the World Cup and our Test players into Antigua for a camp, and then over to Sri Lanka. We’re not due (in Pakistan) with the men’s team until December 9, so we’ve got a bit of time.”
West Indies are scheduled to play three One-day Internationals and three T20 Internationals in Pakistan.
International sides have largely shunned Pakistan over the past 13 years following an attack on a Sri Lanka team bus heading to a match in Lahore.
The Pakistanis have played most of their home international matches in the United Arab Emirates, but they have been pushing in the past three years to host them on home soil in effort to spark further interest in the sport in the country.
Apart from West Indies, Zimbabwe, the Sri Lankans, South Africa and Bangladesh have played international matches in Pakistan with little or no trouble.
“I had a call with Wasim Khan, the Pakistan CEO, (on Tuesday) morning to find out everything that had happened during the past week, on the back of New Zealand abandoning their tour and England’s decision not to go there, and to suggest that we have another call later this week with our operational teams to discuss our women’s and men’s tours that are scheduled for later this year,” Grave told Newsday.
“We’ll speak to our independent security consultants, ESI, who we used back in 2018 when we went to Pakistan. We’ve had an initial meeting with WIPA too about it, and we’re going to follow the same process, that we have done in the past.”
Source - CMC
NADRA WILSON-KIRLEW APPOINTED AS VICE-PRINCIPAL OF CLEMENT HOWELL HIGH SCHOOL
The Office of the Deputy Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands is pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs. Nadra Wilson- Kirlew to the post of Vice-Principal of the Clement Howell High School in Providenciales.Mrs. Wilson-Kirlew who hails from the nation's capital Grand Turk, joined the public service in November 2005 as a Graduate teacher at the Clement Howell High School in Providenciales and in 2015 was promoted to the post of Head of the Modern Languages Department.Mrs Wilson- Kirlew completed her teacher training at The Shortwood Teacher’s College in Kingston, Jamaica in 2002 and continued to pursue her studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.Currently she is enrolled at the University of Leister studying for a Master of Science in Educational Administration.Commenting on her appointment Mrs. Wilson-Kirlew stated:“As an educator, I am committed to ensuring that each student is equipped with the tools necessary to ensure they have the best possible chance of success for their success ensures our success as a nation.I deem it a great privilege to be selected as Vice Principal of such a noble institution that is the Clement Howell High.I remain steadfast in my mission to create the change that I want to see and build young people who are resilient and visionaries who can successfully aid in nation building.”Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service Her Excellency Anya Williams in extending her congratulations stated:“It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Mrs. Nadra Wilson-Kirlew on her appointment as the new Vice Principal of the Clement Howell High School.Nadra is a dedicated educator who is passionate about her love for education and for her students.She has done an excellent job as the Head of the Modern Languages Department and has been a constant resource to the management of the school.We are certain that she will do well in her new role and wish her all the best as she works along with the newly appointed Principal Ms. Shanta Seymour to continue to promote positive change and transformational leadership at the Clement Howell High School in Providenciales.”
France and The US seek to mend rift Caused by the Aukus pact
France and The US have made efforts to end a row which started last week with the announcement of the Aukus defence pact between the US, the UK and Australia.
The pact cost France a deal worth $37bn (£27bn) to build submarines for Australia.
Paris said it found out only hours before the public announcement.
The American and French presidents have now issued a joint statement saying the situation would have benefited from open consultations between allies.
Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone for half an hour on Wednesday. They will also meet in Europe at the end of next month.
French anger was palpable - the French defence minister called it a "stab in the back".
In a rare step among allies, Mr Macron ordered the recall of the French ambassadors to Washington and Canberra.
However, the ambassador to Washington will now return to his post. There was no word on whether the ambassador to Canberra would do the same.
The agreement involves the sharing of information and technology in a number of areas including intelligence and quantum technology as well as the acquisition of cruise missiles.
But the nuclear submarines are key. They are to be built in Adelaide in South Australia and will involve the US and the UK providing consultation on technology for their production.
"A nuclear submarine has enormous defence capabilities and therefore ramifications for the region.
Only six countries in the world have nuclear submarines. They are a really powerful deterrent capability without giving them nuclear weapons," Michael Shoebridge, director of defence, strategy and national security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said.
President Biden reaffirmed the importance of French and European engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.
And the statement underlined US recognition of the importance of stronger European defence to complement Nato - one of President Macron's flagship projects.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Mr Macron to "donnez-moi un break" and get over his anger about Aukus.
Brokered last week, Aukus is widely seen as an effort to counter China's influence in the contested South China Sea.
Analysts have described it as probably the most significant security arrangement between the three nations since World War Two.
However, a meeting next week between senior EU and Australian officials is now in doubt.
It is the third event - between the EU and Australia or the EU and the US - that could face postponement following the announcement of the Aukus pact.
Source - BBC
Marlon Samuels charged under ICC anti-corruption code
Retired West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels was charged on Wednesday with breaching the anti-corruption code of the International Cricket Council.
The ICC said in a media statement that it charged Samuels, on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), with breaching four counts of the anti-corruption code for participants in a Ten10 league the Board hosted.
The alleged offences include failing to disclose the receipt of any gift, payment, hospitality, or other benefit that was made or given in circumstances that could bring the participant or the sport of cricket into disrepute; failing to disclose receipt of any gifts and hospitality worth $750; failing to cooperate with the anti-corruption investigation; and obstructing or delaying the investigation by concealing information.
Samuels, 40, was given 14 days from September 21 to respond to the charges, the ICC statement said.
Cricket West Indies (CWI), the governing body for the sport in the Caribbean, said in a separate statement that it had been made aware of the charges.
“While CWI has yet to receive detailed information relating to this ICC investigation, The CWI remains firm in denouncing any such activities within the sport, and fully supports the ICC anti-corruption unit in their efforts to rid the sport of all corruption,” CWI said in a statement.
CWI said the charges related to Samuels’ involvement in a T10 league staged two years ago in Abu Dhabi.
Samuels represented the Karnataka Tuskers, but he did not play a single match.
The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) also said it had conducted extensive anti-corruption seminars as part of its player development and welfare programme over the past seven years.
“We have further conducted joint seminars with CWI and have partnered with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) to have such information accessible at any time via an online platform,” WIPA said in a statement.
“WIPA will continue to educate cricketers about pertinent issues that contribute to their personal and professional development and help to safeguard the sustainability and integrity of the sport.
“We take this opportunity to again urge all West Indian cricketers to play their part in protecting the sanctity of the sport we all love.”
Samuels played 71 Tests, 207 One-day Internationals and 67 Twenty20 Internationals for West Indies, scoring 11,134 runs and taking 152 wickets across all formats, and retired from international consideration in November last year.
The highlight of his career were two sparkling half-centuries that earned him Player-of-the-Match awards in the finals of the 2012 and 2016 ICC Twenty20 World Cups in Sri Lanka and India respectively, that helped the Windies claim the titles.
Samuels, however, spent two years on the side-lines 13 years ago, when he was handed a two-year ban by the ICC for “receiving money, or benefit or other reward that could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute”.
Source - CMC
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association says travel advisories paint distorted picture of Caribbean tourism destinations
The Director General of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Vanessa Ledesma, says while travel advisories have been placed on several Caribbean destinations due to the increase in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, travel to the region is safe because of effective health safety measures and a continued commitment to protect employees and visitors.
Ledesma, who is also the acting chief executive officer of the CHTA, said that there has been no indication that the increase in travel to the region over the past several months has contributed to any significant spread of the virus.
“According to contact tracing analysis provided by several of the region’s destinations which are monitoring this, the level of COVID-19 transmission between residents and visitors has been negligible,” said Ledesma, adding that testing of departing travellers returning to major source markets has shown insignificant positivity rates.
She warned that warnings based on COVID-19 positivity levels can be misleading.
“We have gone to great lengths to produce the safest possible corridors in our tourism-related communities,” she assured, adding that “Caribbean travel is safe and continues to get safer.”
The United States-based Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has been at the forefront of institution travel advisories on Caribbean countries coping with the impact of the virus that has killed and infected thousands of people since March last year.
Ledesma said that the Caribbean had been committed to health safety started long before the beginning of the pandemic, and its multi-agency collaborative approach helped to jumpstart the training of nearly 8,000 of the region’s tourism industry supervisors, managers and owners.
Last year, the CHTA joined the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Global Tourism Resiliency and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) to form the COVID-19 Caribbean Tourism Task Force.
CHTA said that recognizing that the Caribbean is the world’s most tourism-dependent region, a priority was placed on establishing protocols to ensure that interpersonal interactions within tourism communities and between members of the tourism community and visitors were as safe as possible.
It said that the next priority for the regional organizations is to continue managing the pandemic’s risks and rebuild the region’s economic mainstay by protecting lives and livelihoods.
Ledesma said speeding the momentum of vaccinations throughout the Caribbean in the upcoming weeks is part and parcel of the process as she congratulated governments for prioritizing vaccines for travel- and tourism-related employees.
But she warned that “the pace of recovery still rests in the hands of the public and we encourage all employees who are able to be vaccinated to do so, to help fast-track the region’s recovery”.
CHTA’s First Vice President, Chair of its Advocacy Committee, Nicola Madden-Greig, said the people of the Caribbean can control their own destiny, “accelerate our recovery, and help to get our people back to work faster, while generating the revenue our governments desperately need to provide basic services.
“There is no question that the rate of vaccination within the tourism and related communities is higher than the national averages, and we know that vaccination provides that extra level of protection for our team members and their families,” the Jamaican hotelier said, while pointing to efforts by many Caribbean hotels to assist health authorities with administering vaccines to tourism employees, who along with essential workers, were given priority.
She applauded the work of CARPHA, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Caribbean governments for placing high priority on securing vaccines: “We’ve been advised that vaccines are now readily available throughout the Caribbean, so there is little excuse for those who are able to receive one not to do so.”
“A number of destinations in our region rely on tourism for more than 70 percent of their GDP and over 50 percent of employment. That is what makes it deserving of special consideration for vaccines,” she added.
CHTA said that despite the challenges which the delta variant has presented to global travel, the Caribbean’s industry performance numbers have been among the best in the world.
CHTA’s Data Partner, ForwardKeys, which tracks air travel globally, indicates that through August 31, 2021, the Caribbean and Mexico have been reliable destinations for international visitors, with seven of the world’s top airlift performers coming from the region.
Hotel occupancy rates for the Caribbean, while still below the 2019 strong performance, increased to 53.6 per cent in July 2021 from 19.5 per cent the year before according to CHTA Strategic Partner STR, which gathers global hotel performance data.
“While advance bookings have slowed globally, demand for travel to the Caribbean this upcoming winter is strong as indicated by advance bookings, buoyed by flexible cancellation policies and travel insurance as added assurances to give travellers confidence,” the CHTA added.
Source - CMC
Angry scenes at Haiti airport as deported migrants arrive
Angry scenes broke out at Haiti's main airport after migrants were deported to the country from the US.
On Tuesday, migrants at the airport in Port-au-Prince rushed back towards the plane they had arrived on, while others threw shoes at the jet.
Last weekend, the US started flying out migrants from a Texas border town which has seen an influx in recent weeks.
About 13,000 would-be immigrants have gathered under a bridge connecting Del Rio in Texas to Ciudad Acuña in Mexico.
Chaos unfolded at Toussaint Louverture airport as one man attempted to re-board the aircraft. The plane's crew rushed to close the jet's doors in time, Reuters news agency reports.
Video footage taken a the airport shows people scrambling for their personal belongings after their bags were dumped out of the plane.
There are reports that some migrants were not told they would be returning to Haiti.
media captionThousands of people are camped out at the US-Mexico border bridge in poor conditions
According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there were two separate incidents at the airport on Tuesday.
A source told NBC News that the pilots on board one of the flights was assaulted on arrival in Haiti and three US immigration officers were also injured.
In a separate incident in Texas, a group of Haitians reportedly fought Border Patrol agents and attempted to escape after realising they were being deported.
At the time, the migrants were being transported on a bus from the town of Brownsville to Del Rio.
"When the migrants found out they were going to be sent back to Haiti, they took the bus over and they fled," Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, said at a news conference late on Tuesday.
The removal of migrants has been criticised by Partners In Health, an NGO that has been working in the country.
"During a challenging and dangerous period for Haiti, it is unthinkably cruel to send men, women and children back to what many of them do not even call 'home' anymore."
About 4,000 people have either been deported or moved to other processing centres, according to DHS.
From Thursday, flights could be ramped up to as many as seven a day, according to the Washington Post.
Quoting an unnamed US official, the Associated Press also reported on Tuesday that authorities are also releasing Haitian migrants into the US "on a very, very large scale".
The official added that many of the migrants have been given notices to appear at immigraiton offices within 60 days. The official said this approach requires less processing time than having them appear before an immigration court.
The migrants have been waiting in a makeshift camp in temperatures of 37C (99F).
Local officials have struggled to provide them with food and adequate sanitation.
Most of those at the camp are Haitians, but there are also Cubans, Peruvians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans present.
Source - BBC
CARICOM countries say COVID pandemic has wrecked their economies
Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Wednesday said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wrecked the economies of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping as the United States announced it is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world to one billion doses.
Browne, who is also the chairman of the 15-member grouping, told the virtual Global COVID-19 Summit organised by the White House, that in in some Caribbean countries, more than 20 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been lost; unemployment has risen; poverty has expanded and demands on the state have multiplied, even as revenues have declined steeply.
He told the summit, taking place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly UNGA) that recovering from the economic effects of COVID-19 will be protracted, because hard won economic progress has been greatly reversed.
“Therefore, building back will be longer and harder for CARICOM countries, than it will be in larger economies with greater resources. Thousands of our people have been infected and thousands have died, many who had not yet begun to enjoy life, and others who had much to contribute.”
Browne said that the disease must be stopped, and nations must act together to build a stronger, better, and more prosperous world.
He said CARICOM governments are committed to a global drive to inoculate 70 per cent of the world’s population by September 2022, “including in our own countries.
“From the onset of the pandemic, our 15 governments took joint approaches to tackling the virus, including the pooling of our resources in the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), and negotiating together, access to vaccines from friendly countries, including the African Union and the United States. “
Browne said that the region is resolved to strengthen the Trinidad-based CARPHA, “and we will do so to the best of our ability, but we recognise that we will need more help from our international partners, to strengthen our infectious disease preparedness and response capabilities”.
He said in his own country, “we have made inoculations against COVID-19 mandatory for all public sector workers to protect the lives of all, including tourists who visit our shores.
“As a region, CARICOM is determined to overcome the baselessly flawed arguments, of those who promote resistance to vaccines despite the fact that, sadly, the number of hospitalisations and deaths are rising daily.
“We will continue to educate and inform our people at home to get vaccinated in their own interest and for the public good. Additionally, we continue to raise our voice internationally for the equitable distribution of vaccines at affordable prices and for the reduction in the price of COVID testing.”
The CARICOM chairman said that vaccines are a global good and they should not be a commodity for profit at the expense of human life.
“We have already enlarged our health facilities and we are resolved to continue doing so within our means, in building a resilient health infrastructure. None of us are safe until all of us are safe.
“Therefore, we will work unrelentingly for better, coordinated global planning and preparation for any future pandemic, including the provision of resources to poor and vulnerable countries, recognising the imperative of collaboration for the safety of all peoples.”
Browne said that the Caribbean will cooperate with all governments “to protect our world and our human civilisation, giving our young people the chance to live a safe, secure, and enjoyable life”.
In his address to the summit, President Joe Biden said Washington would be doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world embracing the goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the global population within the next year.
World leaders, aid groups and global health organizations are growing increasingly vocal about the slow pace of global vaccinations and the inequity of access to shots between residents of wealthier and poorer nations.
The US purchase will bring Washington’s the total vaccination commitment to more than 1.1 billion doses through 2022.
At least 160 million shots supplied by the U.S. have been distributed to more than 100 countries, including the Caribbean, representing more donations than the rest of the world combined.
“To beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere,” Biden said, adding that with the new commitments “for every one shot we’ve administered to date in America, we have now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world.”
Biden is also pressing other countries to do more in their vaccine-sharing plans.
“We need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges,” Biden said, calling on wealthy countries to commit to donating, rather than selling the shots to poorer nations, and to provide them “with no political strings attached.”
More than 5.9 billion COVID-19 doses have been administered globally over the past year, representing about 43 per cent of the global population. But there are vast disparities in distribution, with many lower-income nations struggling to vaccinate even the most vulnerable share of their populations, and some yet to exceed two per cent to three per cent vaccination rates.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says only 15 per cent of promised donations of vaccines — from rich countries that have access to large quantities of them have been delivered.
It wants countries to fulfil their dose-sharing pledges “immediately” and make shots available for programmes that benefit poor countries.
Source - CMC