EU ‘surprised’ Jamaica delays signing new aid deal

The European Union (EU) was taken by complete surprise when Jamaica delayed signing the Samoa Agreement, which provides the legal framework guiding relations between the bloc’s 27 countries and the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, the EU ambassador told The Sunday Gleaner.

Only stating that it needed to undertake further consultations on the matter, it is unclear what spooked Jamaica to withhold its signature. However, the EU found it puzzling, as the country was among several non-EU members that became anxious that the final document was unavailable for signing earlier.

Admitting that there were some hiccups among EU members in agreeing on the final document up to July 2022, Head of Delegation to Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize and Barbados, Marianne Van Steen, told The Sunday Gleaner last week that a breakthrough came in July 2023 and the green light was given for the signing by October.

Prior to that, she explained, extensive deliberations were held with a broad cross section of Jamaican officials under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the last meeting being October 2023. Even up to then, there was no indication that Jamaica would not sign on November 15 in Apia, Samoa, the small island country in the South Pacific Ocean where members of the EU and the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) met.

At the ceremony, EU’s 27 member states signed the Samoa Agreement. Of OACPS’s 79 members, three had signed prior and 41 put pen to paper in Samoa. Among the 44 were six countries from the Caribbean OACPS Forum (CARIFORUM) – Barbados, Belize, Dominican Republic, Haiti, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. For various reasons, 35 OACPS members did not sign, including eight from CARIFORUM, Jamaica being among them. Grenada, which did not sign on November 15, inked the agreement last week.

“We were surprised [by Jamaica not signing] because we’ve been working very closely with Jamaica in the negotiations,” Van Steen stated. “I think that Jamaica, as part of the OACPS, took a very proactive, constructive role to the new agreement, and they were very engaged.”

She continued: “It’s not like an agreement that we are concluding. We have been negotiating between the EU’s 27 countries and OACPS, altogether 79 countries. So, of course, not every country is as much involved in the negotiations as there are different degrees of involvement. But we have seen Jamaica very much involved, not only in the negotiation with us, but also with their own stakeholders in the country. There have been discussions on the content with us and within the country. So it took us by surprise.”

Guyana and Jamaica were lead negotiators for CARIFORUM for the post-Cotonou Agreement. There were rigorous negotiations, as there were several sensitive issues for OACPS members, including on human rights. After a lengthy delay caused by several factors, the roadblocks were cleared and a date set for the signing. The OACPS, including Jamaica, had said that they were satisfied with this agreement and were ready to sign.

But, days before the Samoa meeting, on November 10, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade announced that Jamaica would be delaying signing to facilitate ongoing consultations.

Although the Government did not state with whom it would be having these consultations, according to reports, it included the Christian civil society group, Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), which had raised objections about articles/paragraphs in the agreement that they felt could be promoting alternative lifestyles.

‘WE DO NOT IMPOSE ON ANY NATION’

According to the EU ambassador, Jamaica and the EU engage in “political dialogue every year. The last one was in the beginning of October this year, and the one before was in July 2022”.

“So, that was another thing that took us by surprise. That, only a couple of weeks after our last talks, the Government said, ‘Yu know what? We are not 100 per cent ready, we will postpone. We are not saying that we are not going to sign, but we need a little bit more time to do some consultations’,” Van Steen said.

“In general, when we have our political dialogues, we never had this kind of expectation, that Jamaica would have difficulties with the very general and comprehensive agreement that we have negotiated together. So, yes, it took us by surprise.”

Stressing that the post-Cotonou Agreement was a negotiation between member countries, she said it was a reasonable expectation by the EU that Jamaica would sign.

“It was a negotiation. We do not impose on any nation. We negotiate an agreement. It’s a region-to-region agreement … . It’s not the intention of an agreement like that to undermine national legislation. That is not what we are intending to do,” the EU ambassador pointed out.

“And, on sovereignty, let me say we are surprised, but, of course, we respect the sovereignty of every single country to sign or not to sign. Of course, we did not expect it, because we had been negotiating together and we thought we had come to an agreement, which was initialled.”

Reinforcing the issue of non-interference, Van Steen said the EU does not support the death penalty, a law which Jamaica maintains, but that has not prevented the body from funding programmes in the security or justice systems.

The EU provides financial support to the country in the form of grants and is the largest contributor to the government’s coffers. It has contributed billions of dollars to Jamaica over the last 40 years, and is funding a number of government programmes while also contributing to civil society organisations and the programmes they run. The Citizen Security and Justice Programme, as well as the courts and climate change programmes, have received millions of dollars in support from the EU.

PROBLEM WITH NON-SPECIFIC AND VAGUE LANGUAGE

The Samoa Agreement replaces the Cotonou Partnership Agreement signed in 2000 and which was scheduled to expire in 2020, but was extended to September 2023. Around two billion people are covered by the agreement, which aims to strengthen the capacity of the EU and the OACPS countries to address global challenges together. The six priority areas it covers are: democracy and human rights, sustainable economic growth and development, climate change, human and social development, peace and security, and migration and mobility.

Dissent in Jamaica has centred on the vague language in the agreement, which opposers, including the JCHS, believe is asking the country to commit to non-specific elements. Areas highlighted by dissenters include undefined human rights obligations tied to trade sanctions, and the reintroduction of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools despite outrage by parents in 2012 with regard to CSE’s sexualised content.

They also believe that the agreement will trap the nation in yet-to-be-negotiated international instruments, and demand the acceptance of terms that directly threaten citizens’ freedom of conscience and speech, among other things.

There are also concerns that the deal will impose and introduce to Jamaica measures which are foreign to the island’s culture, specifically rights to the LGBTQ community. They believe, under this deal, pressure will be placed on the Government to introduce legislation that will rescind laws on buggery and to legalise same-sex marriage.

HOPE JAMAICA WILL SIGN BY YEAR END

Last week, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson Smith told The Gleaner that “there is nothing in the agreement that would supersede any law, any Jamaican law or any other country’s law in that document as it stands.”

“The issue being that, while we are confident that the agreement will not supersede any Jamaica law, we want it to be made clear – remember this is a 20-year agreement – that, at the point of signing, that the interpretation that we expect is crystal,” she explained.

Explaining that no adjustments can be made to the document, she noted, however, that “… what we do wish to do is to issue an interpreted declaration, which will make clear the terms. Where it is that there are concerns, … our understanding can be made clear to stand the test of time.”

The minister said Jamaica, between 2017 and 2020, incorporated feedback from a diverse range of stakeholders, including members of civil society, about the terms of the agreement.

Up to last week, some religious groups that expressed concerns about the broad terms of the Samoa Agreement said they had not been part of any discussions with the Government.

Dr Wayne West, chairman of JCHS, told The Sunday Gleaner, “No, we have had no discussion with the Government”.

West said that for 27 months, the JCHS and seven other Jamaican NGOs have been impressing upon the foreign affairs ministry to take heed of the “obvious threats to Jamaica’s national sovereignty in the current language of the agreement”.

Offering no opinion on the reasons for Jamaica’s delay in signing, last week, Van Steen expressed hope that the country will sign the pact by December 31.

The EU ambassador, like Johnson Smith, said Jamaica will derive no benefit until it has ratified the document.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com