KINGSTON, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, says, At the same time, the Samoa Agreement would present trade and economic opportunities; Kingston is also seeking to assure stakeholders that nothing in the accord will contravene local law.
The Samoa agreement was signed earlier this month in Apai and served as an overarching legal framework for the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the 79-member Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS). It follows the Cotonou Agreement and covers sustainable development, growth, human rights, and peace and security.
The provisional application of the agreement will start on Jan 1, 2024. It will enter into force upon consent by the European Parliament and ratification by all EU member states and at least two-thirds of the OACPS members.
However, there have been concerns in several quarters in the Caribbean amid fears that it will impose laws on Caribbean people that are not in keeping with the culture and values.
The Roman Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago and the local Christian group, Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), are among those raising concerns regarding the agreement.
The JCHS said it would reintroduce the rejected Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curriculum back into Jamaican classrooms and undermine Jamaicans’ fundamental rights and freedoms.
“The agreement will bind Jamaica to undefined human rights obligations tied to trade sanctions, reintroduce comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) back into schools despite parents’ outrage in 2012 with regards to CSE’s sexualizing content; 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 alarming concerns,” JCHS said in a statement.
But as he addressed supporters of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) 80th annual convention on Sunday, Prime Minister Holness said, “As we pursue these opportunities, we must engage, explain, and reassure our stakeholders of the various provisions in place to respect our values and laws as a sovereign country.”.
Holness said Jamaica remains a reasonable and rational voice in international affairs.
“We continue to lead in global initiatives and treaties, whether in trade, finance or climate change. Whatever treaty obligations we negotiate or sign on to must be consistent with our laws and constitution, and we must engage with local stakeholders within our democratic framework.”
The JLP leader said this has been his administration’s approach: “Even as it is, we’re determined and committed to ensuring that our local financial system is robustly compliant with the international financial system, Financial Action Taskforce recommendations for anti-money laundering and other illicit activities.”
Holness told supporters that he wants Jamaica’s financial system to meet the highest international standards “as we believe this will make Jamaica a stronger and safer destination for investment. So it is with the Samoa Treaty”.
Van Steen told the Gleaner newspaper that Jamaica and the EU engage in “political dialogue every year. The last one was at 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, ‘You know what? We are not 100 percent ready. We will postpone. We are not saying that we will not sign, but we need a little more time to do some consultations’,” Van Steen said.
“In general, when we had our political dialogues, we never had this expectation that Jamaica would have difficulties with the very general and comprehensive agreement we negotiated. So, yes, it took us by surprise,” she told the newspaper.
The diplomat told the newspaper that the Samoa agreement was a negotiation between member countries, and 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. An agreement like that does not intend to undermine national legislation. That is not what we intend to do,” the EU ambassador told the Gleaner newspaper.
Last week, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, said Kingston would be signing the agreement.
“I can’t give you a date,” she noted, telling the Jamaica Observer that the new agreement will not impose any requirements on Jamaica to introduce measures foreign to the island’s culture.
“There is no need to fear. The Jamaica Labour Party government is a government that can be trusted to ensure that any agreement that we enter into with a third-party state or third-party organisation will never infringe upon our laws,” Johnson Smith told the newspaper.
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