Time ‘For Change’
The
Nation, October 12, 2003
P.O. Box 1203, Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados, W.I.
Tel: 246-430-5400 Fax:
246-427-6968
By Karin Dear
The issue of decriminalisation of homosexuality and
prostitution will soon be placed “on the front burner”, if
Attorney-General Mia Mottley has her way.
She is determined to remove the “cancer of
discrimination” that is preventing “highly at risk” segments of the
population from benefiting from HIV/AIDS prevention, and it is an issue that
Government has to deal with sooner, rather than later.
Mottley conceded, however, that it may take some time to
remove the “inflexible legislative framework” which, she maintained, was
threatening the national security of the country.
“We cannot afford ourselves the luxury of not taking
decisions because they were unpopular in circumstances where it fell within
the province of our power to do so,” she said.
The Deputy Prime Minister underscored that, in the action
of addressing such critical issues, “we are in no way seeking to prescribe
morality”.
“We accept that one of the characteristics of an
evolving society and a pluralistic society is that there is never going to be
consensus of morality among every single citizen,” she noted in an exclusive
interview with the Sunday Sun.
“While we would like to believe that there are
normative values that will guide the society, the reality is that a government
in a pluralistic society must accommodate and respect the human rights and the
dignity of each individual,” said the MP for St Michael North East.
“To that extent, law, which seeks to discriminate in a
society whose history has been scarred with the cancer of discrimination, has
in fact, to be reformed.
“Because discrimination, on any basis whatsoever,
cannot be tolerated in our society for it has truly been a cancer throughout
our history,” Mottley, who is also Minister of Home Affairs, said.
And, the sooner the issues can be addressed the better,
said Mottley, “because for every day the issue remains unresolved, our risk
factors are allowed to increase; so, sooner rather than later.”
Condoms in prison
Making reference to the controversial issue of the
distribution of condoms in the prisons, Mottley stated:
“The reality is that we accept that the prison
population is one of the at-risk populations. We also accept that more people
spend time out of prison than in, and the average period of time within prison
is in fact usually less than three years.
“And, to that extent in a small society, where there is
a high level of interaction, the entire population is at risk in some way or
another.”
Mottley also stressed that “Government clearly cannot
breach the law and distribute condoms so long as homosexuality remains a
criminal offence.
“We can’t conspire to breach the law, but we believe
that as a Government there are going to be difficult decisions we have to
make. In that context, we cannot put our national security at risk and, more
specifically, the security of each citizen at risk by reason of an inflexible
legislative framework,” she said.
Mottley’s comments came last Friday at the end of an
all-day Second National Consultation on HIV/AIDS held at the Sherbourne
Conference Centre which was attended throughout by Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
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