The Caribbean This Week: First Female CARICOM Sec-Gen, Green Caribbean, and more
CARICOM appoints first female Secretary-General
In an unprecedented move, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has unanimously selected economist Dr. Carla Barnett as the new CARICOM Secretary-General.
A citizen of Belize, Dr. Barnett will succeed Ambassador Irwin LaRocque of Dominica, whose term will end in three months. Barnett will be the eighth Secretary-General of CARICOM.
According to the CARICOM press release, Dr. Barnett’s appointment as the community’s Secretary-General was made on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at the Special Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government. At the helm of the virtual meeting was CARICOM Chairman Dr. Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr. Barnett has served as Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM prior to her designation. She was also formerly the vice president of the Belize Senate.
Dr. Barnett has also served in various ministerial capacities in her country’s government, as well as a Financial Secretary of Belize and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Belize.
As the new CARICOM Secretary-General, Dr. Barnett will function as the Chief Executive Officer of the Community and the head of its principal administrative organ, the CARICOM Secretariat. Her term begins in August 2021.
COVID-19 hampers Caribbean’s goal for greener, cheaper energy
The Caribbean region has still a long way to go before it can shift to clean energy, a Thomson Reuters Foundation article has reported.
On top of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects, the lack of climate finance and electricity monopolies have been challenging the Caribbean’s move from a fossil-fuel economy to a greener one.
Banking and government officials revealed that in the Eastern Caribbean, only 10% of energy comes from renewable sources.
Plans on carrying out solar and wind power have been disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis, which has greatly affected tourism-reliant economies.
“We are reeling from the effects of the pandemic,” Timothy Antoine, governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, which covers eight island nations, told a U.N.-led series of climate events for Latin America and the Caribbean this week.
“The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has a vested interest in creating a green and resilient future for the Caribbean because we recognise the impact on our foreign reserves and on our businesses, on job creation and on households,” Antoine added.
The Eastern Caribbean, which is home to 650,000 people, suffered a 14% loss in its overall economy in the last year due to the pandemic. Nations greatly affected by this loss include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada.
Meanwhile, up to 7% of the region’s GDP was spent on importing fossil fuels in 2019, Antoine noted. Ninety percent of the region’s energy is fossil fuel-dependent, which prompts for a huge import energy bill.”
Overall, progress in shifting to clean energy has so far “been extremely disappointing.”
The pledged climate action plan to double the use of renewable energy from 10% in 2020 to 20% by the end of 2025, “may seem to be modest for Latin America, but for us in the Eastern Caribbean that would be a big step forward,” Antoine said.
Authorities in Haiti alarmed over viral video of parent beating kid in school
The Ministry of National Education in Haiti (MENFP) has expressed its concern over a student being “violently beaten” by a parent in a school, the Caribbean National Weekly reported.
MENFP was “deeply alarmed and shocked” at the video that captured the horrible ordeal, and which eventually went viral over social media.
It stated that corporal punishment had been banned in Haiti since October 2001. Legislation has further stipulated that “inhuman treatment of any kind whatsoever there is including corporal punishment against children is prohibited”.
The ministry has called on Haitian parents, school directors, teachers and all stakeholders to be mindful of the law, which aims to “protect the child and respect his dignity as a human being.”