KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says while the Samoa Agreement is “a comprehensive agreement,” St. Vincent and the Grenadines has not committed itself to changing its laws on same-sex intimacy, abortion and other traditional values.
“The European Union has its own agenda with several things as we know,” Gonsalves told a news conference, adding “this agreement is a very comprehensive agreement and it is intended in its salient aspects, which touch and concern us, to advance inclusiveness but inclusiveness within the parameters of issues of human rights, general equality, special considerations for women and girls and the young people and the elderly and so on and so forth”.
The Samoa Agreement will serve as an overarching legal framework for the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) for the next 20 years.
The agreement was signed last Wednesday in Apai and succeeds the Cotonou Agreement. It covers subjects such as sustainable development and growth, human rights and peace and security.
The provisional application of the agreement will start on 1 January 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 79 OACPS members.
Gonsalves said that St. Vincent and the Grenadines “hasn’t signed on to any matter which demands of us that we alter our legislative provisions relating to issues such as same-sex marriages, issues regarding transgender”.
However, he noted the legal challenge to the constitutionality of the nation’s buggery laws, and the fact that the court has ruled similar provisions unconstitutional in other Caribbean jurisdictions.
“… the government is insisting in the courts that it is not unconstitutional and that in any event, the court ought not to be the body to adjudicate that but the parliament would be dealing with that particular matter,” said Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Legal Affairs.
“I would like someone to point out to me where are the specific provisions in relation to the overall agreement of some 400 pages where some of the more outlandish commentaries I have seen, where are they represented in those terms in the agreement.
“But I assure everybody that St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in its interface with other countries, we always respect other countries’ views and the like but we have our own determination on particular matters.
“Any alterations in our existing law has to be done by our Parliament and there is no intention for the Parliament to alter any of our positions as they are laid out in our laws in relation to the controversial question touching and concerning same-sex marriages and the like,” Gonsalves said.
Dominica and Jamaica have since indicated that they would be signing the accord that has raised concerns in several quarters, including the Roman Catholic Church“ amid fears that it will impose laws on Caribbean people that are not in keeping with the culture and values.
Prominent pastor Cecil Richards says it cannot be denied that this is part of the “stated agenda” of the European Union.
Richards, in his commentary on a local radio station here, said that while many Vincentians had a knee-jerk reaction to local reporting on the agreement, he had been flagging it for two years.
“I said watch the emerging language … and intent on two particular things that were happening: social development … [and] sexual and reproductive health rights – SRHR”.
Richards said that when the agreement speaks of tolerance for marginalized groups, disenfranchised disempowered, this includes transgender individuals, gays and other minority groups.
“So, the language now is being framed to reflect a concern and an axial push, a deliberate push to effect these,” Richards said.
“… sexual rights — rights to determine what you do sexually, and reproductive health — rights to determine what you do with respect to the reproductive functioning of your body. In the main, if you are carrying a baby, reproducing, you have the right whether to prolong the pregnancy or to terminate the pregnancy,” he explained.
“There are, in fact and in truth, statements regarding intentions with respect to sexual health and reproductive health. And it is not just a matter of people deciding what to do with their body,” the pastor added.
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