Five years ago, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, one of Africa’s foremost scholar-diplomats, died in Cairo. He served as the sixth United Nations (UN) secretary general between 1992 and 1997, helping to build the foundations of the post-Cold War security...
Two weeks ago in this column I asked: “Why are we more concerned about violence against women than violence against men? … Is it because women are more important than men? If so, then we should stop preaching equality of the sexes.” I was...
On International Earth Day, the Escazú Agreement came into force, having been ratified by 12 countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay,...
KAMINA JOHNSON Smith, Jamaica’s foreign minister and the leader of government business in the Senate, is obliged to go further with her claim of having, in the past, been cyber-harassed by an opposition People’s National Party (PNP) senator. She...
As expected, Global North takes the lead. However, a late entry, COVID-19, leaps ahead and in turn fires the starting gun twice. Late starters, the Global South, somehow retreats to the tunnel - staring at the finish line - pondering their strategy...
The Institute for Gender and Development Studies Regional Coordinating Office (IGDS-RCO) has demonstrated commitment to its gender justice mandate for over 25 years and is strategically positioned to apply its model of research, activism, community...
THE 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was a record for named storms – 30 in all. Seven, or 23 per cent of the storms, developed after September, of which five were hurricanes, four of them major ones. Indeed, by September 20, with 21 named storms...
For this week, in reflecting on the region’s contact with the Biden administration since January, I reverted, for reference, to my articles on relations within the Western Hemisphere of September 30 and on more effectively promoting regional...
On Monday, April 12, I received a message on my phone. It was a reminder that the COVID-19 drug in use here had an expiry date of Tuesday, April 13. It added, “This means that if not used up by tomorrow, they have to be discarded – no good on Wed...
April is commemorated as Farmers’ Month in Jamaica. It highlights contributions from a sector which has fuelled the development of every human community. Also in April, the world paused to observe Earth Day on the 22nd. It’s not just another...
Dear Mr Wright, I do not know you. As a matter of fact, I do not recall hearing your name being called prior to the sharing of the now infamous video of a man beating a woman, when allegations were made that you were the perpetrator. It is a...
Four years ago, when the Holness administration approved American investment company DADA Holdings’ acquisition of the bankrupt Noranda Aluminum’s 49 per cent interest in a bauxite mining partnership with the Government, Jamaica agreed to change...
Phillip Paulwell, the shadow energy minister, has proposed a mechanism, based on the use of small solar systems, to defeat Jamaica’s long-standing problem of electricity theft and – although he didn’t frame it that way – energy poverty in the...
“Hey Boss, five bills can only buy one food”! That was Trevor’s complaint last week. “Nothing in tin. Just likkle rice, sugar and one soap,” he continued. “Food raise, everyting raise.” Trevor is probably bipolar, goes to Bellevue for an...
It was alleged that something untoward transpired between a man and a woman. It was alleged that they had a verbal altercation, which escalated into a physical confrontation. It was a rather brutal fight, culminating in shoves, punches and an...
When Joe Biden declares that “America is back”, he offers as proof an end to the hectoring of partners in NATO, Washington’s return to the Paris climate agreement, its rejoining of the World Health Organization (WHO) and, among others, a generally...
There is a saying attributed to Confucius. “If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years, educate your children.” This is not just an abstract expression. It has been...
In a set of recent tweets, Parliamentarian Juliet Holness offered a commentary on the futility of addressing violence by focusing on gender, triggering a renewed conversation about the real causes of violence in the nation. For many, the comments...
Minutes to seven in the morning, it is week five of the battle with COVID-19. Virus free for 17 days but pneumonia taking its own time to leave. One check with the oximeter; numbers good; a small prayer giving thanks for life; I suck in a deep...
The viral video of a man repeatedly punching a woman and then hitting her with a stool is at the centre of a controversy about how our society intends to confront the abominable physical and psychological abuse of women. Though the video is...
Travel advisories, once issued sparingly by the US Government to discourage travel to war zones or countries experiencing natural disasters, high crime or terrorism, are now tied to the novel coronavirus and are hurting target countries. Every...
In Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados there is outrage in some quarters that the US Embassy, accredited to these countries, has listed them as ‘Level 4 – very high’ for risk of infection with the coronavirus. Under this categorisation, the US Embassy...
Life, especially growing up, is not an exact science or, like a hard-boiled egg, all it is cracked up to be. It is more egg-sact than exact and, in that sense, very much like the story of the bartender who came out of the back room and saw a...
Most Jamaican non-Catholics are not aware that there are three quite separate Catholic jurisdictions (dioceses) in Jamaica, each which its own bishop. For the Anglicans, Jamaica is one diocese with one Lord Bishop, with three suffragan bishops...
That they suffer physical or sexual violence, or emotional abuse, is usually a nasty little secret that women are too often ashamed to share. Men rely on it as cover for their indecent behaviour. Indeed, a 2016 survey by The Statistical Institute...
