Other Caribbean News

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Men Told: Go To Court by Mike King THE PRESIDENT of the biggest men organisation in the country says the time has come for laws to deal with women who tell men they are the fathers of their children when they are not. Head of the Men Educational Support Association, Ralph Boyce, thinks that men who arevictims of paternity fraud should have some legal recourse. The former Chief Education Officer made the comments following a front page lead story in yesterday's (12 January 2003) SUNDAY SUN which revealed that one of three men in Barbados might not be the real father of the childrenhe had raised. There should be a penalty for women who deceive men about fatherhood. It is a serious crime. It is almost like perjury where people give wrong information. We need to review the legislation with the view to making sure there should be some recourse. It is really deception of a very tall order and men have been suffering by it for many, many years. It isn't right, Boyce said. Barbados Consul-General in New York, George Griffith, a former chairman of the Child Care Board, was quoted in the SUNDAY SUN as saying that for decades some men had supported children that weren sure were theirs and are still doing so today. He said one-in-three-men might not be real daddies and jokes were often made of those wearing a ready-made shirt or jacket. President of the National Organisation of Women, Nalita Gajadhar, lambasted Griffith for his comments which she described as totally ridiculous. She said there were elements in the society who were hell-bent on creating animosity between men and women. I am really sick and tired of these people who are in positions of authority who make statements like that. We live in the real world and there is the possibility that some men could be fathering children that are not theirs biologically, but there is no evidence or study to support Griffith's statements. “Work more difficult." He has made some irresponsible statements without the necessary information. This will only serve to make the work of women's groups more difficult, she said. Both Boyce and former Member of Parliament Maizie Barker-Welch called for more readily and accessible DNA testing to settle paternity suits. Testing is clearly the way to go in verifying paternity. If we go that route, we will not get a whole lot of the problems we have now. The scientific evidence is the ultimate thing. It is proof that more men have to go to use DNA testing,he said. Barker-Welch, a member of the Democratic League of Women and the Business and Professional Women's Club, said it was wrong for women to fool men about fatherhood. If people will be promiscuous, you can expect these things to happen. I can never support the idea of false paternity. That is a a wrong thing. That is a sin. Duping someone is a sin. DNA is the only way that some men will really know, she said. Boyce said if the DNA costs were prohibitive, there should be some mechanism put in place by Government or some state agency, to offset the costs
BWIA wants co-operation, not single regional carrier Some Caricom Governments may have re-energised their call for a single regional airline, but BWIA has applied the brakes on the idea. I don't think it is a practical solution at this time, said BWIA chief executive officer Conrad Aleong on Monday. We think functional co-operation, functional integration, rather than a merger of companies is the right way to go. Aleong was speaking to reporters after a BWIA press conference with International Air Transportation Association Director General Giovanni Bisignani. As a condition of the State's US .5 million loan to the airline, BWIA must allow consultants to advise it on an appropriate operational structure including the concept of a regional carrier. Bisignani said mergers are not always the way to go. You know the worst thing is when you say let countries merge. One disappears, the other remains there. Consolidation, he said, was a better solution. This would involve a system where each airline runs a different aspect of the operations of its partners. Aleong noted the consolidation concept is not foreign to the Caribbean. Maybe all the carriers can put in one maintenance company and then do all the maintenance for all the carriers. We considered an accounting company for all the accounting for all the airlines. Aleong denied reports that Air Jamaica chairman Butch Stewart did not want to co-operate with BWIA and Liat. I think what Butch is against and probably the Jamaican government as well, he said, the integration of the two carriers into a merger like a financial merger. The Government has expressed its desire for one Caribbean carrier. Last November, Transport Minister Franklyn Khan said Caribbean governments can no longer continue to provide State funds for struggling regional airlines and stressed,g goal of a single regional carrier must become a reality. BWIA, Liat and Air Jamaica have all been losing money since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. All three are partly funded by various Caribbean Governments. When you start losing money, Aleong said,study and go on losing money, at a certain point you will find no Government that will be able to fund those amounts of money forever if it is not for an emergency. The airlines, said Bisignani, must begin coming up with their own ideas for self-sufficiency and success. Aleong did not totally shoot down the single regional carrier concept but said what is more likely to occur in the immediate future is a the kind of partnership BWIA has with Liat. We do reservations handling for Liat, which has saved Liat a lot of costs, because you pay people in TT dollars to have the calls where you were paying them in EC dollars, Aleong said. BWIA has a 29 per cent share interest in Liat.
Caribbean Leaders Discuss Cooperation to Counter Terrorist Threats KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent Jan. 10 Officials from throughout the America's on Friday discussed ways to police the Caribbean's remote coastlines and tiny airports in a bid to keep terrorists from moving through the region on their way to carry out attacks. Delegates, ending a three-day Organization of American States meeting on security threats in small-island states, looked for ways to stop terrorists from targeting tourist resorts in the Caribbean or using the islands as stop-off points on their way to attacks on the United States. The United States supports the Caribbean's efforts so far at improving airport and border security and encourages additional improvements, said Thomas Shannon, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere. Because many Caribbean islands have little money for security, officials are considering creating a fund that Caribbean governments could share to address security concerns. Details of the fund have yet to be worked out. Officials at the meeting were preparing a declaration on new efforts to counter security threats in small island states. Officials from more than two dozen countries attended the three-day OAS meeting, which began Wednesday. Experts say sharing intelligence is crucial to combatting terrorism, particularly in the Caribbean, where the vast island chains are notoriously difficult to police. "Without intelligence, you're kind of flying blind," Richard Bloom, a professor and terrorism expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said in a phone interview. Island governments should create a computer database that would allow intelligence to be shared, Barbados Attorney General Mia Mottley said.
American Troops in Panama In an announcement curiously timed on January 9, Foreign Minister Harmodio Arias said that US military engineering units have arrived in Panama and will start their "Nuevo Horizonte" construction works in the Ngobe-Bugle comarca shortly. The program lets US National Guard and Army Reserve units get needed practice in tropical engineering work and gives depressed rural areas roads, bridges, water wells, schools and health care clinics.