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August Town Peace Treaty [Stemming the Tide of Violence in Jamaica]
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

AUGUST TOWN FIVE-YEAR PEACE AGREEMENT


 Being fully respectful of August Town Community’s strong desire for peace

 Attentive to the need of children for a safe environment in order to receive a proper education and develop their talents

 Convinced that tolerance of the beliefs of one another is the road to be followed

 Looking forward to the implementation of plans being drafted by the University of the West Indies for August Town to be a University Town

 Conscious of our obligations to the wider society and their apprehensions about the high levels of crime in August Town

 Believing that the amount of lives lost over the last 15 years due to gang violence has set back the social and economic development of the community.

 Eager to reduce the unemployment rate in the community by allowing persons to freely and safely move around or leave the community to seek employment.


We the leaders and representatives of the various corners or sections of August Town, in spite of our differences of various kinds, do hereby formally agree to put an end to all disputes and conflicts for a period of 5 years and we set out the Rules that will govern the conduct of this Agreement.

We enter into this agreement among ourselves and with our signatures as leaders and the signatures of key stakeholders and supporters of peace and development for August Town.



RULES OF THE FIVE-YEAR PEACE AGREEMENT


1. All leaders must be truthful with each other: your word is your word.

2. There is to be free movement of all persons across all boundaries and corners regardless of reputation or affiliation to a particular corner.

3. Guns are not to be brandished – they must not be seen at any time.

4. There must be no intimidation or threat to persons from any corner.

5. No gun salute or any other forms of shooting is to take place in the community for a period of at least 5 years.

6. Corner Leaders have a responsibility to guide and counsel corner members away from domestic violence, theft, extortion, carnal abuse, rape and other wrong doing.

7. Respect and tolerance must be shown for the political beliefs of others.

8. No person should be criticized, abused or labeled as an “informer”.

9. A PEACE COUNCIL with representatives from every corner is to be established and will meet monthly to monitor adherence to these rules and the development and temperature of the community. The Peace Agreement will be reviewed every six months at a meeting of the Council and key stakeholders. It is also expected that the ability of Council members to deal with conflicts will be enhanced by training received in the areas of Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Anger Management etc.
10. If this Agreement is violated, the leaders of the corners involved hereby commit to make good faith efforts to defuse the matter and if such efforts fail an emergency meeting of the Peace Council is to be convened. Where such efforts fail or are unsuccessful, the community agrees to call in the Peace Management Initiative to facilitate their discussion.

We agree to play our part this 24th day of June 2008 at the Mona Bowl August Town, St. Andrew.

Signed By:

…………………….
Name:
Corner: African Gardens (Vietnam)

………………………
Name:
Corner: Jungle 12

……………………
Name:
Corner: Gold Smith Villa (Gola)

……………………….
Name:
Corner: Colour Red (Judgement Yard)


……………………….
Name:
Corner: Bedward Gardens (River)

………………………
Name:
Corner: Peace Management Initiative



……………………….
Name:
Corner: August Town Minister’s Fraternal



……………………….
Name:
Corner: University of the West Indies



……………………….
Name:
Corner: August Town Sports and Community Development Foundation

July 12, 2008 | 1:34 PM Comments  0 comments
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Jamaica needs to invest in Internet Safety & Precautionary Measures
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

This is a letter that was written to the Editor of the Daily Gleaner, let's see if it will be published.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Editor Sir:

Since 2006, The Ministries of Education Technology through the e-Learning Project has been promoting the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the classroom as tool to enhance the learning experience for students and improve their grades.

Through initiatives of the Government several Jamaicans now have access to a computer with internet facilities. Companies like Cable & Wireless and Flow has donated computers and/or given free internet access to schools, community clubs, organisations and cyber centres as well.

Obviously we have recognised the advantages the computer and Internet can have on the productivity of our society. More specifically, the Internet is a great tool to enhance our students learning through online communication and research. However, the Internet can be a very dangerous place for our children as they are vulnerable to identity theft and Internet fraud, cyberbullying, trojans and viruses, spywares, and spams.

Late in 2007 I conducted a non-scientific survey with some Jamaicans to glean how much they know about Internet safety and security. I was alarmed to glean that so many of us know little or nothing about these potential dangers that exist on the web.

Many Jamaicans are already victims of Internet fraud. In fact like many children, I have been conned by foreigners, Nigerians especially soliciting help to retrieve a lump sum of money that a dead relative left. Funny enough, I have even won the lotto on several occassions.

With each Jamaican owing US$7,920 I could have paid for my entire family more thank three times. Surely, we all could have relieved Jamaica's debt burden if these were true.

It's only a matter of time before we hear that several cases of rape and abduction have been made possible by social networking websites such as Hi5, Facebook and MySpace.

At present little or nothing is been done by the Government or Private Sector to raise awareness about the dangers which exist so young people can use the Internet more responsibly. I am delighted that the focus of the 2008/2009 budget is youth. However, the revitalisation of youth clubs, and uniformed groups is not the only thing needed to safeguard the future for youth. A cut of the budget must be used for proactive approaches, rather than continuing our reactive and shortsighted tendencies all the time.

In lieu of this, I recommend that out of the budget expenditure a new unit be established in either Ministries charged with the responsibility of developing promotional materials and planning seminars, conferences and other initiatives to sensitise Jamaicans (youth especially) about the dangers that exist and how they can protect themselves.


I am,
Jaevion Nelson
Chairman, Caribbean Youth Summit Association (CYSA)

March 30, 2008 | 10:20 AM Comments  0 comments
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Let's Have Sex Now! Before It's Too Late
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Early sex is certianly not a new fad and children are fully aware of that. In fact many of us are products of teenage mothers or parents who were in a sexual relationship in high school.

Quite recently, a number of sex clips have been surfacing the internet. Every parent must be living in fear, wondering when they will hear or perhaps see their child on ‘de tape’. In fact I am sure my mother prays everyday that my little sister is not having sex and certinaly wont be one of the rising stars. I was far from shocked to learn that video of a girl performing oral sex at my alma mater surfaced or rather was leaked to the Principal.

Not too long ago Betty-Ann Blaine in discussion with a caller on her daytime programme ‘On the Agenda’ about this high school students hobby recording sexual scenes deemed these explicit acts abominable, unacceptable, and unjust in the sight of God.

But do teenagers really care what any of us think? Of course not! When I expressed my shock with one teenager from a school in Manchester who sent me some clips he was quick to let me know that the technology has only made these occurrences more blatant. He highlighted that we were all having sex and we must stop pretending.

Does this mean that if we begin to approach our high school problems with more ‘livity’ as we may call it - our policies and intervention programs might begin to have more purpose? Perhaps we will never know.

We are all so quick to attack these students for enjoying themselves to the point that we stigmatise them, but none of us have taken responsibility of lynching the media for sensationalising these incidences.

The media have a major role to play in society and a responsibility to the public. But we have all become so profit focussed that even the best of us with National Honours and respect have lost focus. Now can we really blame these children? Think about it.

In all the articles I have read sorrounding these happenings not once I have I seen a call for students to use a condom, talk to a responsible adult or peer about what they are doing or even to speak with a teenager and find out why all this really happens. And to make an even more bigger impact charge the relevant stakeholders to look into the issue differently.

Now who are we to blame? Let’s point fingers on the media, the education ministry, guidance counsellors, parents, churches, businesses, and schools. I say let’s blame the damn society! Who makes it up? All of us.

Why are we all so important to this process of so called communication and behaviour change modification? What should we really do? Sit and continue to curse students who hav sex? Tell them that sex is something that should be of value between two - when so much of us sleep around? Com’on let’s be real for once!

I agree that the issue of students having sex at school or at home is one that must be taken seriously, but certainly not the way in which we have been going about it over the years.

Let’s talk about sex now! And I say do it before it’s too late. Before we even try to educate children about all these fears we have why they shouldnt have sex - we must tell them about it. Young people need as much information about sex and sexuality from an early age so they can begin to make more informed decisions.

Really, why are Jamaicans so afraid to talk about sex and sexuality? Why cant we be open about it? Yes it is a private activity - so what? I am sure morals and the Bible permits discourse on the matter and even if it didnt you wouldnt automatically be banished to hell. So my friends, there is no need for us to go back to the days of telling our children that mommy has a tomato (instead of saying vagina) and daddy has a plantain (why not penis?).

Do you realise how silly we are? As Nadia Howe, CEO at the May Pen Hospital expressed to me in a conversation recently - it makes no sense for us to tell young people not to do this and that and not speak to them openly.

One student from a prominent all girls school in Montego Bay also shared with me that “it doesnt really matter how much abstinence is preached it all boils down to personal choice.”

So how can we influence personal choice? Tell them about sex or shove things under the carpet? According to Andrew Francis, Convenor of the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) “thats the only way they (young people) can make informed choices about such when they are given the necessary information.”

Francis highlighted that information sharing is important to influencing personal choice because “curiousity and adventure may lead them to get involved in high risk sexuality activity even without information about sex, sexuality, benefits of delaying sexual activity or protecting one’s self in the case that you cannot abstain.”