Where did US get its information?

26.JUNE.09

Editor: All of us who consider ourselves proud citizens of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were utterly disturbed and shocked last Wednesday morning (10th June) by the report on BBC Caribbean in which a branch of the US State Department branded St. Vincent and the Grenadines as being involved in Human Trafficking in children, with the potential for commercial prostitution.{{more}} Such branding paints every Vincentian as having poor moral values and little or no self-worth.

The Parliament or House of Assembly had a scheduled meeting on Thursday, 10th June, a mere twenty-seven hours after the BBC Caribbean report. The prime minister of our country made a Ministerial statement in parliament outlining the many phone calls he had made to all relevant US departments, all of which lead to the office of the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, expressing our nation’s shock and disbelief in the lack of evidence to support their branding of our country and a further call for the retraction of the release.

One felt that here was the most opportune time for the parliamentary opposition to show their sense of national pride by endorsing the prime minister’s statement. That did not take place, neither was there any condemnation of the United States’ unfounded branding of our country.

One hopes that Vincentians will grow up and re-order our priorities. For instance, the question of how the United States arrived at that conclusion is a question we need to ask ourselves. For instance, there has always been a number of non governmental institutions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Number one amongst them is the St. Vincent and the Grenadines “Human Rights Association” (HRA), which on a daily basis keeps tabs on all forms of human behaviour, including child abuse.

How did the U.S State department become aware that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is involved in Human Trafficking? Was the source of information external or internal? If the St. Vincent and the Grenadines HRA was not a contributor, then in preservation of its good name the HRA needs to come out and say so.

S. M. Quammie