Caricom governments to meet Rastafarians over decades of discrimination, with St Kitts on working committee
Leaders agreed at a virtual meeting in May to set up a stakeholder committee including St Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago to advance the community’s concerns.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana. Caribbean governments say they will soon meet members of the Rastafarian community to discuss decades of marginalisation and discrimination, following persistent complaints and lobbying from the group.
The decision follows discussions between presidents and prime ministers at a virtual leaders’ meeting in early May. The Guyana-based Caricom Secretariat announced only this week that the high-level discussion had taken place and that a formal meeting is being planned in the coming days.
The announcement said the May meeting considered the issue “against the background of persistent discrimination and marginalisation experienced by Rastafarians, both in the region and internationally.”
It said member states noted that many Rastafarians continue to face exclusion in education, employment and public life, and “reaffirmed the importance of ensuring the full recognition and protection of the rights of Rastafarians as equal members of society.”
Working committee
The governments have agreed to establish a working committee of stakeholders, including representatives from Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, to advance consideration of issues affecting Rastafarians at regional and international level.
They said some member states had already taken steps to address historical wrongs, including official public apologies, land grants and legislation to “protect individuals from discrimination in the workplace.”
Coral Gardens
The most notable historical injustice against Rastafarians took place in Jamaica in 1963, a year after independence, when police and soldiers arrested more than 150 members, beat, tortured and detained them after a violent confrontation at a petrol station in western Montego Bay.
Tensions had been building for months between members and the security forces over marijuana use, among other issues, with alleged extrajudicial killings and other abuses against the group.
Jamaica’s government formally apologised for the Coral Gardens atrocities in 2017, but officials say more needs to be done to address alleged injustices.
