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Archive for the ‘Caribbean’ Category

COVID-19:  ADDRESSING VACCINE HESITANCY AND RESISTANCE IN JAMAICA, WI.

October 16th, 2021

COVID-19:  ADDRESSING VACCINE HESITANCY AND RESISTANCE TO TAKING THE VACCINATION IN JAMAICA, WI.

 

 Give Them a Hand Foundation is painfully aware that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected lives all around the world and has taken a toll on almost every aspect of society. Jamaica is no exception, and in fact has one of the highest levels of vaccine hesitancy and resistance in the world. We are committed to doing something to correct that.

Our plan is to host a Vaccine Health and Wellness event on November 19, 2021. It will be streamed on YouTube and Facebook and the GTAH website. We are also discussing the possibility of partnering with one or more TV outlets.

Presently, with our Jamaican partners, we are developing a program which we believe has an excellent chance of attracting the masses that will give us the opportunity to inform and educate.  Our partners on the ground are the Medical Association of Jamaica, the Lions Clubs of New Kingston and Mandeville, and several University of the West Indies chapters in North America as well as a number of noted infectious disease specialists in the Caribbean

We are very aware that the Jamaican Government wants at least 70% of the population to be vaccinated. However, we do not expect people to turn out to hear scientists and health professionals speak about the pandemic and the vaccines. The intelligentsia may turn out to listen and view, but not hundreds of thousands of the general public which are the numbers we are expecting to attract.

We will have some popular artistes to entertain people and speakers with whom they are familiar. Speakers will deliver short, targeted messages. No statement will be longer than 4 minutes. PSA’s will be 60 seconds. We will record Man-in-the-Street interviews in Half-Way-Tree, Mandeville and May Pen and play the myths and misinformation that they repeat, rebutting each as they appear. The entire program will be pre-recorded.

Speakers who have confirmed are Dr. Morais Guy, MP and Shadow Minister of Health; Professor Peter Figueroa, University of the West Indies; Professor Swinburne Augustine (Dominica); Professor Winston Davidson, as well as Speakers from Sierra Leone and the World Health Organization (WHO); Harold Lovell, Former MP, Antigua, and Barbuda, and Dr. Joy St. John (CARPHA).  Mr Leachim Semaj, Faith leader, Rev Newton Dixon and Dr Abrahams are all on board as well. We have invited Dr. Christopher Tufton, Minister of Health, and hope to have him on board shortly.

The following artists have agreed to perform in the event: Nadine Sutherland, Christopher Martin, Ding Dong, Fab5, Menace Da General (Sierra Leone), and Daphne (Cameroonian superstar). Frankie Campbell is the musical director for the event. The Mighty Sparrow and Patrick Ewing have agreed to record PSA’s in support of vaccination. Fab5 will be the musical director; Phase 3 Productions will do the video recording and Big Yard Studios will be the venue for the artistes to perform.

We are still in need of funding, and we are asking concerned global citizens who are reading this to assist by donating to cover the costs of production, which will amount to US$25,000.  Working together we can save lives and improve health outcomes for COVID-19 in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

 

 

December 2013: GTAH and UAC present letter to UN High Commission for Human Rights protesting mistreatment of Haitians in Dominican Republic

March 1st, 2014

 

Photo of GTAH and UAC at the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to deliver letter protesting the mistreatment of Haitians and persons born in  the Dominican Republic of Haitian descent by the Government of the Dominican Republic

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Give Them A Hand Foundation and United African Congress meet with the UNHCHR in December 2013 to present a letter from them protesting the mistreatment in the Dominican Republic of Haitians and persons of Haitian descent by the Government of the Dominican Republic.  Shortly after this letter was presented and forwarded to the Human Rights Council that was meeting in Geneva, the Government of DR suspended its deportation programme.  However, this suspension lasted for only a short period of time and the Government is now back to driving thousands of these persons out of the country in violation of their human rights and civil rights and creating unhealthy and unsanitary refugee conditions on the border between the two countries. It’s time that the world stops looking the other way and boycott the DR tourist industry until there is a change in its behaviour.

 

LETTER FROM GTAH/UAC TO UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS:

December 16, 2013

HE Ivan Simonovic Assistant Secretary General OHCHR in New York
UN Headquarters
New York NY 10017

Re: Citizens of the Dominican Republic of Haitian Ancestry

Your Excellency,

“All victims of human rights abuse should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard to action.” Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

The ruling of the High Court of the Dominican Republic on September 23, 2013 stripping Dominicans of Haitian decent of their citizenship rights has rendered an estimated quarter million of them suddenly stateless. This latest outrage follows a long history of discrimination against Haitians in the Dominican Republic. In 1912, the government passed laws restricting the number of black-skinned people who could enter the country. In a 5-day orgy of killing in October 1937, the Dominican Dictator Trujillo massacred an estimated 20-30 thousand Haitians to “cleanse the border”as he put it. This crime against humanity went unpunished. His successor, Balaguer, had said that the presence of Haitians would “contaminate Dominican blood” and in 1983, he made the racist remark that Haitians “multiply with the rapidity that is almost comparable to vegetable species.” It is against this historical backdrop that the current shameful court ruling should be viewed. The ruling is all the more egregious as it makes the law retroactive to 1929, thus putting the lives of several generations of Dominicans of Haitian decent in jeopardy. This ruling goes against all acceptable norms and standards of civilized behavior and violates almost every article of the UN Universal Declaration of Human rights.

Widespread incidents of abuse, killings and deportation of Haitians without due process since the court ruling have been reported by media outlets. This is a matter of the utmost urgency for the UN Human Rights Commission to address, lest we become yet again helpless witnesses to a human tragedy as history of the plight of Haitians in the Dominican Republic repeats itself. This is the time for the Commission to use its offices as a ‘springboard to action’ as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon implored the UN Human Rights Council.

As immigrants of people of African descent, other people of color and citizens of the United States, we cannot remain silent and become passive observers to this latest atrocity which is an affront to the world community and a flagrant violation of international law.

We therefore call on the UN Human Rights Commission to put the Dominican Republic on notice that it is violating international law and should therefore immediately cease the implementation of this repugnant and reprehensible law.

Failing compliance with the UN demand, the Commission should recommend immediate action by the Security Council to take further actions such as sanctions and bringing the Dominican Republic to the international court if need be, to answer for its behavior that is not acceptable under international law in the 21st century.

We urge the Commission to demand of the Dominican Republic that the citizenship rights of Dominicans of Haitian descent be immediately restored and proper state protection be given to the undocumented migrant workers while humane and just solutions are sought in consultation with the UN and the Haitian Government.

We further urge the Commission to monitor compliance by the Dominican Republic in implementing the UN recommendations expeditiously.

We, as civil society, will continue to follow the progress closely. We will, in the meantime, garner mass support for our campaign for human rights of Haitians in the Dominican Republic and urging our government and the CARICOM nations to bring pressure to bear on the Dominican Republic with the threat of sanctions and boycott of its tourist industry should it fail to comply with their demands.

We are hopeful the UN Human Rights Commission will take up this issue as a top priority and live up to the promise of the office when it was established and fulfill its obligations.

Respectfully submitted,

(signed) Mohammed A Nurhussein MD, National Chairman of the United African Congress (UAC)

(signed) Gordon M. Tapper, Founder and President of Give Them a Hand Foundation (GTAH)

Copies to: Hon. Sidique A. Wai, President and Chief Spokesperson of the United African Congress (UAC)

Anne Goeke, Co-founder and President of Earth Rights Institute (ERI)
Dr. Ron Daniels, Chairman of Institute of Black World (IBW) and Pan African Unity Dialogue (PAUD)

 

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