Editorial | Publish shiprider text

Jamaica and the United States have not only concluded the revision of the operating protocols of their Shiprider Agreement, but the amended pact has been in operation since June 16, the foreign minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, reported to the Senate last Friday.

This, on the face of it, is a positive development, given the perennial allegations of America’s abuse of shiprider, which the revisions were intended to cure. However, Minister Johnson Smith must do more than make declarations about the restructured agreement. She must publish its text, including having it laid in Parliament, so that the experts in these matters can undertake a fulsome analysis of its content. For, the devil, as they say, is often in the details. Moreover, such a move would be in the spirit of the transparency that Prime Minister Andrew Holness says he intends to be the hallmark of his administration.

The shiprider regime, in place for nearly a quarter of a century, allows US and Jamaican coastguards to interdict each other’s vessels on the high seas, if they are suspected of transporting contraband, including narcotics. The law-enforcement officers are also allowed to maintain hot pursuit of suspected vessels into either’s territorial waters. Jamaica’s legislation also allows it to waive its right to prosecute its citizens held by its cooperating partners in international waters.

But while shiprider is theoretically a bilateral agreement, in practice it is the Americans who do the interdicting and hot pursuing. And there are often complaints that they behave with impunity. Two relatively recent incidents, which ignited outrage among Jamaicans, were the catalyst for the treaty review on which Mrs Johnson Smith reported.

In mid-2019, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in the US on behalf of five Jamaican fishermen who claimed that they were mistreated by the US Coast Guard two years earlier and bamboozled into pleading guilty in a Florida court to lying to US officials.

The men were held in Haitian waters, suspected of transporting narcotics. No drugs were found, which the Americans said was because the contraband was thrown overboard. The gravamen of the ACLU’s suit, however, is that before being taken to court, the men were held for weeks, transferred from ship to ship, usually shackled on decks and exposed to the elements. The men claimed that they pleaded guilty to lying to federal officials because they were told that it was the quickest way to get out of jail and return home. At the time of this incident in 2019, Mrs Johnson Smith said negotiations would be opened with the Americans to fix the Shiprider Agreement.

Then last December there was the second Lady Lawla incident.

In 2014, the vessel’s owner won a case in the Jamaican court against the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) for allowing US officials to join a search of the boat while it was docked at a Jamaican harbour, where it had been escorted by a JDF Coast Guard ship. Only fish was found in that search.

In the more recent matter, the Americans interdicted the vessel at sea. Its crew were taken to court for smuggling cocaine in liquid form. But a US judge ruled that what the US Coast Guard claimed to be cocaine was in fact petrol. The Lady Lawla was, however, sunk at sea by the Americans.

EXPECT NO LESS

In February, the foreign minister announced that the negotiations were far advanced on amending the shiprider protocols, but disclosed neither the negotiating brief nor the scope of the talks. On Friday, she said the new agreement was sealed and operational.

“With the finalisation of the operational protocols, both parties stand to benefit from improvement in the sharing of critical information and in the process of interception of vessels suspected of being involved in drug-related, criminal activities at sea,” Mrs Johnson Smith said.

According to the foreign minister, the revised agreement provides for periodic consultations to ensure that its protocols are working well. “We will use these opportunities to ensure that the rights of Jamaican nationals are respected and upheld at all stages, and assuring the effectiveness of these security operations,” she said.

We would expect no less – Jamaica’s Government looking out for the rights and interests of its citizens, even as it cooperates with a major partner on mutual security. However, access to the text of the agreement would allow people to alert our Government to any gaps or threats to people’s rights, which must be addressed at those review meetings on the Shiprider Agreement promised by the minister.