Can CIPs Ever Outgrow Their Political Stigma?

THE STAR Businessweek JUNE 22, 2019

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in this edition of

Can CIPs ever outgrow their political stigma?

Citizenship by Investment Programmes occupy a controversial place within the Caribbean. While regional nations like Saint Lucia, Dominica and Grenada have established CIP industries to go the distance, as a global commodity, CIPs are also subject to change and evolution via supply and demand, like any other product.

By ED Kennedy, STAR Businessweek Correspondent Continued on page 4

SBW THE STAR Businessweek

Neighbours to the North: Part I Canada and the Caribbean are natural allies. Firstly, there’s the Commonwealth connection which has fostered cultural and political ties since the former British colonies first came together.

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Looking into the Heart of Haiti’s Crisis Recent weeks have seen the latest chapter unfold in Haiti’s ongoing crisis.

It’s one that has seen protests against incumbent head of state President Jovenel Moise result in schools and offices being shuttered alongside suspension of public transport.

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Philip J. Pierre, Leader of the Opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party

“The brazen shooting of radio journalist Pétion Rospide highlights the precarious and dangerous conditions for the Haitian press,” said Committee to Protect Journalists South and Central America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick in New York.

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JUNE 22, 2019

making moves

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The STAR Businessweek Christian Wayne Publisher & EDITOR of STAR Businessweek

Patricia Lee’s Love of Nature is Woven Into Her Work

By Dean Nestor, STAR BUSINESSWEEK CORRESPONDENT

Patricia Lee [pictured] shares her love of life and nature through her skincare products and jewellery.

She is an entrepreneur, mother and the founder of popular local jewellery and skincare brand Patricia Lee Products.

P

atricia Lee is no ordinary jewellery designer and skincare manufacturer.

In fact, those labels don’t encapsulate what she really is: an artist with an immense passion for the world around her, a world that serves as the canvas for her work. The founder of Patricia Lee Products says that her brand is based on her love of nature and on her eagerness “to show everybody that Saint Lucia’s an amazing place”. Star Businessweek sat down with Lee to discuss the inspiration behind her work.

What inspired THE Patricia Lee Brand?

Patricia Lee: My passion is about nature and how much healing it provides for us. We all need to learn to love ourselves and heal from whatever the traumas have been. So I really found solace and relief in the essential oils and the bath soaps, with my Epsom salts and sea salts. That’s how the skincare really came about. Then the jewellery came about because of the crystals. I found comfort in the crystals through my healing journey and I would like to give everybody the same opportunity. That’s really why I started making the crystal jewellery.

What goes into your jewelLEry designs?

Patricia Lee: I mainly wrap the raw stones and assemble them on a metal chain, and the chain comes with the stone just as a complementary addition. You can switch out the chain if you want a cord or other chain; because what you’re really paying for is the design of the wrap that I’ve encased the stone in and the stone itself.

What sort of jewelLery do you design?

Patricia Lee: I do mainly copper wire that’s either gold plated or silver plated.

It’s not that much of an expensive wire but it is a great conductor of energy so it’s a fantastic metal to wrap your crystals in. I use amazonites, moonstones and freshwater pearls, for my signature beads.

You can wear the three of them together and it would be an absolute Patricia Lee signature! I also use jasper, quartz and agate as well as lava stones.

FOR your skin care products, what ‘s out there on the market?

Patricia Lee: I have my West Indian Warmth Massage Oil, my Hydrating Continued on page 6

CANADIAN FOREIGN RELATIONS

The star businessweek

Neighbours to the North: Part I

By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

C

anada and the Caribbean are natural allies. Firstly, there’s the Commonwealth connection which has fostered cultural and political ties since the former British colonies first came together. The two also enjoy long-standing trade links which date back to the 18th century when the region sent its biggest exports, sugar and rum, north.

Over time this special relationship has evolved and Canada is now one of the Caribbean’s biggest tourism markets and trading partners, in addition to being a key source of development assistance. Many of the Caribbean diaspora have braved the cold weather to make Canada their home, further cementing cultural linkages and ensuring that the depth of the CanadaCaribbean connection continues to grow. The explosion of Caribbean heritage in the north has already given rise to a growing movement in Canada, as evidenced by increasingly high-profile events such as Caribana Toronto which takes over the city every summer, the Caribbean Days Festival in Vancouver, organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Cultural Society of British Columbia, and the Carivibe Ottawa Carnival which attracts thousands to Canada’s capital each year.

Trading partners Canada and the Caribbean have made a series of bilaterial trading agreements over the years, culminating in the Caribbean-Canada Trade Agreement (CARIBCAN), signed in 1986. CARIBCAN provides for trade promotion so that Caribbean manufacturers and exporters can better target markets in Canada, as well as permitting duty-free access to market for some categories of Caribbean exports into the country.

Having hit and surpassed its 30year anniversary, the free trade

Panel discussion at last month’s ‘Women Share Conference’ held at UWI’s Sagicor School of Business by the Canadian High Commission in Barbados.

agreement has come up for discussion and renegotiation in recent years. After several rounds of talks, there is yet to be a firm consensus on the latest version of CARIBCAN, but the World Trade Organisation has granted a waiver for the deal’s preferential agreements until 2023.

The Caribbean continues to have dutyfree access to the Canadian market for now, but the full potential of Canada’s role as a trading partner has not been fully exploited by regional producers or their Canadian counterparts.

Senior Trade Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean at the High Commission of Canada in Barbados, Georges Lemieux, works to encourage trade between 13 Eastern Caribbean countries, including Saint Lucia, and Canadian companies. He says that currently the bulk of trade flows is in agricultural and food products and, in a

good year, Eastern Caribbean exports to Canada can reach CAD$ 30-50mn while Canadian exports into the region can total around CAD$ 150mn.

To boost the numbers, Lemieux believes Caribbean exporters need more support to overcome the challenging trade environment and says: “The export business is really tough. I know there are good SMEs, good exporters and good products out there that can enter the Canadian market. The problem is having the support available. Export agencies like Invest Saint Lucia and others work really hard, but it is an amazingly difficult challenge. When you get into the export business, you need to put human resources and money behind it.”

Lemieux suggests more representation on the ground in Canada, with stakeholders from the Eastern Caribbean making more grassroots links and connections so they

JUNE 22, 2019

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can learn the market firsthand — as the High Commission has been doing in Barbados and beyond.

“Canada is a longstanding partner of the Caribbean. We have been here in the region for a very long time and our name is very, very good. I see an opportunity to use this name to better improve our trade numbers,” says Lemieux.

“The challenge is not just here in the region; the challenge is in bringing the opportunities to the attention of Canadian companies in Canada. We have been very successful in trying to form as many connections as we can. We have taken local clients to Canada and put them together with Canadian companies. These links that we are forming will result in a closer trading relationship. I see more and more connections being made.

Only good things can happen when you build these types of business relationships.”

Lemieux also notes that SMEs themselves can better prepare by doing their own research and using regional markets as a case study, saying: “SMEs have serious challenges.

Before thinking of the Canadian market, they should look at whether they are exporting regionally. If they are successful regionally, chances are they will be successful in Canada.”

SMEs are often held back from expanding into exports by longstanding concerns such as lack of resources, lack of financial support and lack of technical capacity. Before Caribbean producers can make the most of Canadian opportunities, the business environment must be greatly improved, and this is another area where their northern allies can make a difference.

Next week, in the second part of this Canadian-Caribbean series, STAR Businessweek will look at how Canadian support is enabling Caribbean business and partnering for the future in the areas of energy, education and equality.

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JUNE 22, 2019

CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT

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Can CIPs ever outgrow their political stigma?

Continued from page 1

T

hat’s why the growing interest in CIPs pursued by ‘regular’ people beyond the global tycoon class is a notable trend, and one of which all in the Caribbean family need to be aware, whether they are pro- or anti-CIP.

American status.

And the people looking to do this are those whose accountants would classify them less as titans of industry, and more as ‘regular’ people.

Ongoing Coverage of CIPs At Star Businessweek we have regularly covered developments in the CIP industry locally and globally, alongside outlining the broader debates and perspectives that exist surrounding the sector. But for those who don’t right now have access to the Businessweek back catalogue, or perhaps are just keen on a refresher, the following is a quick overview of the essential tensions that exist in the CIP industry today.

CIP Critics and Advocates Critics of CIPs cite a range of perceived risks to a nation when it allows cashed-up foreigners a fast track to all the benefits provided by citizenship. Concerns range from poor vetting processes that may allow someone with criminal intent to gain citizenship, to the more philosophical arguments that those who become citizens through an investment programme are less likely to have the same deep sense of identity and patriotism in the nation as would a native-born citizen.

Advocates, by contrast, hold that CIPs are the way of the future in the global economy. Also, that by providing a path to citizenship for a wealthy investor, the nation benefits from a capital injection and their capacity to draw new business to the country from further afield.

Advocates argue that CIP vetting processes are strong, and that if someone truly has criminal intent to a nation, whether or not they have followed the CIP path is unlikely to stop them. Further, it is held that even though successful CIP applicants may not have been native-born, they did select their new nation to invest in, and the more they are welcomed and form ties in the community, the more their sense of kinship with the nation will grow.

These arguments will continue into the future but, up until now, they have typically been framed with the high-net-worth individual in mind.

This is a byproduct of CIPs within Caribbean nations commonly costing over US$100,000. As a result (save for exceptional circumstances where a political refugee or similar may seek citizenship) the industry’s ebbs and flows move with a focus on how CIP changes impact primarily HNWI applicants.

Yet now things are changing and reframing the CIP debate.

A Taxing Issue As CIPs will always, by default, be an international issue, understanding the new trend requires recognition of the local impact of global changes.

Saint Lucia Labour Party Leader of the Opposition Philip J. Pierre has noted several times that foreign applicants who have been granted citizenship through the CIP may no longer be welcome in Saint Lucia if an SLP administration comes to power.

Recent years have seen multinational corporations come under great pressure to ‘pay a dollar where you earn it’.

Undoubtedly, the fact that some businesses can earn billions of dollars of revenue from nation A, but then pay only a fractional amount of tax while headquartered in nation B where there is a far lower tax rate, contributed to the outcry following the data leaks of troves of documents commonly known as the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers.

The new emphasis on local taxation of earnings was also unquestionably a factor behind Donald Trump winning the White House in 2016, running on a populist platform that flirted with a form of economic protectionism not seen in the United States since before World War

II. But it’s within the United States that a particular CIP-related phenomenon is occurring, and the reason why is telling.

Although the Trump administration has pursued tax reform, and sought to simplify tax returns with the release of a ‘postcard’ format 1040 income tax form (albeit with six accompanying pages to use for additional information, like student deductions), the US still requires its citizens living abroad to pay US tax annually.

Although there are ways for Americans to reduce the amount they pay while living outside the US, this system still means that some of them have to pay tax to two nations each year. This has resulted in many Americans living overseas long term, looking to acquire citizenship in another nation, and renounce their

Saint Lucia CIP applicants by birthplace for 2017/2018. Data provided by the St Lucia STAR Newspaper and visualization provided by ImiDaily

Going where you’re treated best Though the US is an exception to the rule in this case — many nations around the world not requiring their citizens to pay tax locally if living and working overseas — going forward, the pursuit of CIPs by regular people for taxation purposes can be expected to rise.

Some observers may view this as craven tax minimisation. Some may go further and argue that although tax minimisation is legal, it’s morally akin to evasion. This perspective is understandable but the trend is owed to a number of factors.

Alongside the borderless nature of CIPs, the world is ultimately — despite the fiery rhetoric of Donald Trump and similar politicians — becoming more economically borderless. Presently, anything that could be deemed a truly global economy is still a long way off but, besides the rise of CIPs and cryptocurrency, the pioneering of commercial concepts, like Estonia’s e-Residency which allows entrepreneurs from around the world to digitally headquarter their company in the Eastern European nation, means that innovation and mobility in global business will continue to converge.

And in this space, the pursuit of CIPs to maximise benefits for tax, location and business will increasingly entice those outside the HNWI tax bracket.

A Real Civic Issue CIPs being pursued by more non-HNWIs is inevitable for many reasons, and is nothing to fear, at least if you subscribe to the view that CIPs for HNWIs haven’t been a massive issue so far. But certainly there are cause and effect considerations here.

Although the US taxation system may be regarded as antiquated today, if reforms occur in time ahead that absolve Americans abroad from having to pay income tax each year, suddenly those who sought a CIP exclusively for taxation purposes may no longer have use for it.

While people can usually renounce their citizenship in their adopted CIP nation, can they then apply to have their native citizenship restored after it has already been renounced? What happens if nations start actively enforcing laws, or enacting new ones, to deal with tax-minimising CIP applicants? How secure and reliable are CIPs when the issuing government is booted from office and replaced with an administration that views those who obtained citizenship by investment less favourably than its predecessor?

On these questions we here at Businessweek will continue to pursue perspectives and answers.

OECS

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JUNE 22, 2019

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A Roadmap for the Region: Can the OECS’ Development Strategy deliver?

By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

A

decade is a long time in the life of a region.

Advances in technology, shifting global trade alliances, economic peaks and pitfalls, fluctuating social demographics — there’s a lot to consider, and a lot to plan for. But that’s the mission of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) which recently launched its draft OECS Development Strategy, a roadmap charting the development of all members of the Eastern Caribbean Economic Union (ECEU) until 2028.

The Caribbean is awash in development plans. Every regional body from CARICOM to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has been drawing up decades-long strategies since their inception. These documents are a valuable tool for policymakers and are necessary to understand the depth of the issues; but despite reams of time, effort and expense dedicated to their creation, the central obstacles dogging the region remain. Persistent problems such as poor GDP growth, high unemployment and rising public debt are still affecting the lives of average Caribbean citizens, many of whom are struggling to make a living as the lofty goals of all these plans fail to trickle down into daily life.

So what makes the OECS Development Strategy (ODS) different? Can it deliver on its ambitious targets as it aims to boost annual growth by 3-5 per cent and reduce unemployment by 25 per cent? Assessing its chances of success requires a closer look at the plan in-depth.

Generating economic growth The ODS, which is currently open for feedback and consultation as the OECS kicks off a public awareness campaign throughout the region, tackles three pillars of Caribbean life: economic growth, social wellbeing and natural resources.

GDP has been in a slump across all Eastern Caribbean States since the 1990s. Decline in exports, coupled with falling Foreign Direct Investment and high public sector debt, has not only harmed GDP but had a knock-on effect on the workforce, leading to climbing unemployment figures.

The ODS proposes a number of ways to redress the balance including more oversight of public debt, reviewing access to credit, increasing domestic private sector investment, developing risk management infrastructure to support the financial sector and supporting the consolidation of national banks.

The OECS economy is largely dependent on tourism, but it is also supported by offshore financial services,

The OECS says its partnership with the Government of Grenada and USAID will enable the implementation of Phase II of the Juvenile Justice Reform project towards a successful reintegration into society of youth in conflict with the law.

agriculture and manufacturing. To boost tourism, the OECS wants to see better transportation networks across the region, an OECS-wide tourism marketing strategy and new initiatives to better target niche markets such as diving, health and wellness, and sports. In terms of agriculture and manufacturing, the ODS advises expanding markets by leveraging links with the tourism sector and enhancing support to SMEs and small vendors.

Promoting human and social wellbeing Economic growth must go hand in hand with societal development. A prosperous population is also a healthy population but this is another area where the Caribbean is lagging. Saint Lucia was recently named the second unhealthiest country in the world by the Indigo Wellness Index, and its poor performance is not an outlier in the region which has high rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. There are also worryingly high levels of alcoholism, drug abuse, poverty, crime and violence.

The ODS aims to improve access to social services, reform the justice sector, modernise the police force, increase opportunities in tertiary education and review healthcare services with an emphasis on early intervention, promoting affordable care and building a resilient health infrastructure.

Sustainable use of natural endowments The final link in the chain for the ODS is the Caribbean’s natural resources, the fate of which is directly tied to social wellbeing and sustainable economic

growth. Rising sea levels and intensifying weather events are an ongoing threat to the islands.

Solutions outlined in the ODS include seeking external support to fund environmental agendas, encouraging innovation and use of technology, investing in renewable energy resources and devising a community-based disaster risk management plan. It also looks at chemical, waste and pollution management, calling for this to be implemented into national development planning and for countries to look at new technologies in waste disposal.

GDP has been in a slump across all Eastern Caribbean States since the 1990s. Decline in exports, coupled with falling Foreign Direct Investment and high public sector debt, has not only harmed GDP but had a knock-on effect on the workforce, leading to climbing unemployment figures

Make your voice heard At first glance, the ODS seems like a plan for a plan. Many of the action points in the strategy involve drawing up further strategies, establishing frameworks, plotting agendas and making recommendations — heaping bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy. The institutional wheels turn slowly and it’s doubtful that the results of the ODS will be seen (or felt) any time soon. In addition, a plan is only as good as the governments, agencies and institutions implementing it. Rather than handed down from on high, development strategies must be built in to the public sector culture from the ground up.

Allister Mounsey, Macroeconomic Programme Specialist in the Economic Development and Policy Unit at the OECS Commission says: “In the OECS there is a long history of working together; we have been doing so for nearly forty years. The implementation of the Strategy will benefit from these existing systems as well as a specific focal point system that will be established to ensure appropriate attention is provided to the components of the Strategy that are to be implemented nationally.”

The progress of the ODS will be monitored, with Ministerial Councils receiving annual reports and its first fullscale review taking place three years into its implementation. Mounsey concedes that it will not be an easy road, saying: “The main challenge is sustaining energy and interest in the Strategy. Development work results are sometimes slow in manifesting themselves; this leaves room for doubt and a softening of commitment.

As the future unfolds, some assumptions about conditions beyond our control may prove inaccurate [and] this is one of the reasons why all long-term strategies are subject to periodic review.”

In the meantime, the OECS is keen for the region to have its say. The public is invited to comment via the OECS Facebook page and OECS website where users can fill out a detailed feedback form. Participants can submit their feedback anonymously and all comments will be taken into account as the final plan is rolled out. “Feedback has been great, overwhelmingly positive,” says Mounsey.

“Some persons have suggested areas that greater focus can be placed on. We are taking note of these and hope to address them in the implementation plan that will follow once the strategy is approved.

“The feedback facility will be open even after the document is finalised. It will certainly be available at least until the end of the year. These comments and/or suggestions can influence the implementation. The opinions of stakeholders still remain important as we move towards concrete actions.”

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Patricia Lee’s Love of Nature is Woven Into Her Work Continued from page 2

What do customers say about Patricia Lee Products?

Patricia Lee: They rave about them!

They always say that I make such great quality products and that’s always been the most important thing for me; to have a product that’s true, pure and real; that doesn’t harm the planet in any way, shape or form.

Where can customers find your products?

Patricia Lee: At Harbor Club and at Baywalk shopping mall.

Patricia Lee’s “Helen of the West Collection”.

The charm sets are an assortment of local gems including citrine, jasper, quartz and agate that are then adorned and assembled with aqua aura quartz, angel aura quartz, freshwater pearls, aqua marine and lapis lazuli to create the charm sets.

Patricia Lee Products from left to right: Lemongrass Coconut Body Oil, West Indian Warmth Massage and Body Oil, Ocean Infused Body Soap, and Hydrating Aftersun Body Oil.

Aftersun Body Oil, the Vanilla Mint Cream and the Vanilla Mint Sea Salt Scrub, the Mosquito Repellent, my Lè Flè de Ste Lisi Facial Oil, the Lemon Grass Coconut Body Oil, as well as my Epsom salt and sea salt for soap.

The local stones, who finds them and where?

Patricia Lee: I do. I go to the northern east coast, the southern west coast, and the southern east coast. I’ve gone to the interiors. Anywhere and everywhere. I’m still exploring. There are beaches I still haven’t gone to. I’d love to check out Grande Anse one day. I know that the island has a lot of mineral content and it’s not something that I want to exploit or abuse.

You can check out more of Patricia Lee’s products at her website, www.patricialeeproducts.com and on her Facebook page www.facebook. com/patricialeeproducts/

The Saint Lucia Registry of Companies & Intellectual Property Company Incorporations Name: Star Margin Inc. Description: Various technology, marketing and procurement services Directors: Omarie Ferdinand, Herbert Regis Date Incorporated: 5/10/19 Chamber: Self-incorporation.

Name: Lucian Blue Ocean Seafoods Inc. Description: Trading activities Directors: Karen Peter Date Incorporated: 5/28/19 Chamber: Gaillard-St.Rose Chambers Name: Rafferty Inc. Description: Manufacturing of intimate apparels Directors: Victor Lascaris, Rose Lascaris Date Incorporated: 5/28/19 Chamber: SEDU Name: Caribbean Dredging and Marine Services (St. Lucia) Ltd. Description: Dredging and other marine services Directors: Byron James, Lorraine Sidonie, Malcolm Burns Date Incorporated: 5/29/19 Chamber: Shillingford Slack & Associates

Name: Grow Resources Inc. Description: Provision of lease administration support services Directors: Kimberly Finnegan Date Incorporated: 5/29/19 Chamber: Du Boulay, Anthony & Co. Name: Coucouks Accounting and Financial Counsulting Services Inc. Description: Accounting services Directors: Veronica Maxius, Elias Maxius, Clephus Maxius, Fabian Issac Date Incorporated: 5/30/19 Chamber: SEDU Name: Penny Pinch Inc. Description: Marketing solutions Directors: Martin Hanna Date Incorporated: 5/30/19 Chamber: SEDU Name: Saint Lucia Air Freighters Ltd. Description: Air freight brokers Directors: Francillia Scott, Natalie Monrose Date Incorporated: 6/4/19 Chamber: SEDU

HAITI IN CRISIS

The star businessweek

Looking into the Heart of Haiti’s Crisis

By ED Kennedy, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

R

ecent weeks have seen the latest chapter unfold in Haiti’s ongoing crisis. It’s one that has seen protests against incumbent head of state President Jovenel Moise result in schools and offices being shuttered alongside suspension of public transport. It has also seen government buildings closed and a session of parliament postponed.

No nation, even in the best of times, could say it was prepared for a countrywide crisis such as Haiti is facing. That this comes after many years and episodes which have particularly strained Haiti means that right now its 11.2 million citizens are facing especially difficult times.

The events that led to this crisis, and the potential paths to its resolution, are important considerations for all in the Caribbean family. Let’s review now what has led the Haitian people to this point.

Undercurrents to this Crisis The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 was a savage setback to the nation’s aspiration for a new decade ahead.

As detailed below, the fallout of this earthquake impacted across Haitian society in unexpected ways.

Although Haiti has seen rapid economic growth in recent years, this has not translated into the alleviation of poverty as enjoyed by other Caribbean nations, like its neighbour the Dominican Republic. This failure to profit from growth has contributed to Haiti retaining the unenviable classification by the World Bank as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

These factors informed the anguish and outcry of the Haitian people in recent times as a corruption scandal arose, and may yet result in the early end of a presidency.

Haitian police have struggled to control street protests as demonstrators call for President Jovenel Moise to resign over alleged misuse of the Petrocaribe fund.

The Latest Events At time of writing the stand-off persists between protestors and President Moise surrounding embezzlement allegations.

This is a fluid situation, with twists and turns in the crisis each day, but the

No nation, even in the best of times, could say it was prepared for a countrywide crisis such as Haiti is facing. That this comes after many years and episodes which have particularly strained Haiti means that right now its 11.2 million citizens are facing especially difficult times

undercurrent is the same, principally resulting from a scandal surrounding subsidised oil shipments originating in Venezuela and dispatched under the banner of the Petrocaribe programme.

A report by Haiti’s High Court of Auditors released in late May alleged that the president himself was at the centre of recent criminal activity. These allegations referenced President Moise’s time as the head of Agritrans, a company which was found to have the same staff and tax registration number as another company, Betexs.

In another strange turn of events, in 2017 Agritrans was awarded a US$700,000 contract by the Haitian government to complete road repairs, even though the company ostensibly was only in the business of banana production. For this part Moise denies any wrongdoing, but for a nation ranked 161 out of 180 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, Moise’s capacity to effectively perform the duties of his office and lead the country is undoubtedly hampered while this cloud hangs over his head. And around him the nation is showing worrying new signs of decline.

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Murder and the Rise of Misinformation The murder on June 10 of journalist Rospide Pétion, who was shot and killed by an unknown gunman while driving home in his car, saw a tragic loss of life and tensions raised across Haitan society. Though the motive for the killing is not yet known, following Pétion’s death, media organisations in Haiti sought police protection.

This may seem a logical step but with protestors already accusing some media groups of providing progovernment coverage, a visibly closer relationship between police and media could inflame tensions further.

Regulation of Nongovernmental Organisation While the Caribbean family and people further afield will observe events in Haiti with anguish, and hope a path to peace emerges soon, it has to be accepted that every nation has a sovereign right to govern its own affairs. Save for some truly terrible or exceptional circumstance that opens the door to more active involvement by other nations, they must adhere to the rules of international law which says influence on domestic events starts and ends at the ambassador’s door.

Notwithstanding, the revelations in 2018 that some staff from nongovernmental organisation Oxfam had sex with under-age sex workers while on a mission to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, was harrowing news. Haiti banned Oxfam from the nation after the story broke, but the wounds of it remain deep and painful. The Oxfam episode is not the sole source of woe in Haiti’s current chapter, and future reforms will not undo the harm that has been done.

As Oxfam is not alone as an NGO that has sustained a sexual abuse scandal, pursuing meaningful reforms in this sector is a direct and real way that neighbouring nations can help address an area of pain that Haitians have so sadly suffered in recent years. Such reforms would benefit all regional nations, given that the Caribbean family knows how unpredictable a natural disaster, and post-disaster environment, can SBW become.

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