A significant constituency of Christian advocacy groups and churches have reiterated their call to the Government of Jamaica to preserve Jamaica’s sovereignty, right to self-determination, and fundamental freedoms in the face of a pending new 20 year legally binding Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU).
Jamaica is part of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations that is expected to sign a new Partnership Agreement with the EU in June 2023. Finalisation of the agreement has been delayed since 2020 over various concerns.
At a press conference on Friday April 21, 2023, the large cohort of Christian churches and advocacy organisations including Jamaica CAUSE, the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) and the Love March Movement (LMM) explained that they have been lobbying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade since 2021, for clarity on the intended impact of the Agreement.
Representatives from the Cayman Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Kenya were also in attendance.
The groups had submitted to the Ministry a detailed 16-page dossier highlighting the provisions which were cause for concern. These provisions arguably undermine Jamaica’s sovereignty, surreptitiously overturn laws that protect the family, marriage, religious freedom, and expose Jamaica’s children to a dangerous curriculum promoting high-risk sexual behaviours. The groups lamented that the Ministry’s response was incomplete and failed to address the specific questions asked.
Among the group’s concerns is the lack of a definition of ‘human rights’ which is a key pillar for the operation of the Agreement. The lack of a common agreement on these critical terms could become the target of dispute among the parties and subsequent trade sanctions should a party, like the EU, disagree with Jamaica’s stance on certain claims to ‘human rights’.
Also of concern is the inclusion of controversial terms which do not enjoy international consensus and have been demonstrated to undermine existing fundamental rights and freedoms in the EU nations themselves. The controversial terms include:
– ‘Sexual and reproductive health and rights and services’, considered an euphemism for legalising abortion;
– ‘Sex’ and ‘gender’ which have been used to promote normalising of same sex sexual relations and transgenderism, and,
– ‘Hate speech’ which has become a term used to justify criminal action against European citizens who hold traditional views of marriage and family life.
President of Jamaica CAUSE, Bishop Dr Alvin Bailey stated that, “The Agreement’s extensive coverage over vast areas of national, social, economic and political life, its duration and binding nature, plus the effect of the controversial terms as seen in European nations spells potentially grave implications for our national sovereignty. It warrants public attention and action. As concerned Jamaican citizens, we are entitled to speak and lobby our government to make wise decisions for the good of the nation and the people.”
Alarmingly, the Agreement expects countries to favorably provide access to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). CSE is the offensive curriculum that sexualises and grooms children by gradually conditioning their minds to accept as normal and equal all sexual behaviours. CSE espouses a trajectory towards absolute personal autonomy, moral relativism and sexual anarchy.
CSE was the subject of public outrage and culling by the Ministry of Education in 2012 when modules advancing CSE were discovered in the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curriculum.
Dr Daniel Thomas of the Love March Movement indicated that when he spoke at the Office of the Prime Minister’s (OPM) public town hall meeting in September 2022, about the Agreement’s re-introduction of CSE, he was given assurances by the Prime Minister, and the Ministers of Education, and Foreign Affairs and Trade, that Jamaica would not sign any agreement that reintroduced CSE.
He said that, “it is disappointing that it was stated publicly that Jamaica would not sign this document, but behind closed doors the government seems to be set on signing this document that will impose European ideas of sex, sexuality and gender identity on our nation’s children. We want every parent in Jamaica to understand this threat to their family and to oppose the signing of the document in its current form. A statement to protect our families, sovereignty, laws and culture must be included before it is signed.”
According to Chairman of JCHS, Dr Wayne West “the EU is well-known for expanding its concept of human rights that has the effect of undermining the fundamental freedoms of speech, conscience, religion, and parental rights. To enter into a twenty-year binding agreement with the EU without clear definitions to key terms renders Jamaica vulnerable to any definitions imposed by the wealthier, stronger party – the EU. Jamaica will find itself under a form of cultural imperialism and a woke LGBT+ tyranny.”
JCHS Advocacy Officer, Philippa Davies indicated that the groups had suggested alternate language to the Ministry or at a minimum, requested that a reservation be entered regarding the troubling provisions in order to avoid conflict with Jamaica’s current laws, mores and Constitution. This suggestion was rejected by the Ministry.
She added that, “We note that Hungary had originally refused to sign the Agreement until amendments were made to protect its national interests including rejecting an imposition of the offensive ‘gender’ ideology. Only two days ago, Hungary indicated that the desired amendments were accepted, and they will now sign. If a European country can lobby for an amendment based on its national interests, surely, a Caribbean nation like Jamaica can do likewise to protect its own national interests.”