![Image: From left to right: French Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Eric de la Moussaye, EU Ambassador Mikael Barfod and British High Commissioner to Barbados, Victoria Dean. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]](https://www.thevoiceslu.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/French-Ambassador-to-Saint-Lucia-Eric-de-la-Moussaye.jpg)
EU Ambassador, Mikael Barfod, told the media at a press conference held at Alliance Francaise last Thursday afternoon that he – along with French Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Eric de la Moussaye and British High Commissioner to Barbados, Victoria Dean – had met with Prime Minister Dr. Anthony earlier that day.
Barfod said the meeting with Dr. Anthony stemmed from the 28-member EU bloc’s concern with the slow pace of the Saint Lucian government’s promised follow-up regarding the alleged extra-judicial killings cited in the IMPACS report.
The EU previously notified the government of Saint Lucia about its concerns last December. However, Barfod explained that justice delayed is justice denied.
“We believe that there is an important issue that is dealt with by the IMPACS report,” Barfod said. “It is an issue that must be solved for the sake of the country, its authorities and – not least – the police. We do fully respect the Constitution, of course, but we believe it’s important that issues are dealt with.”
Barfod said that Thursday’s meeting was requested by the Prime Minister. After nearly a year since the Prime Minister addressed the nation on the findings of the IMPACS report and the process seemingly stalled, Barfod said, the trio “conveyed our strong message” to Dr. Anthony that “there has to be action”.
“The due process with regard to the allegations of extra-judicial killings by members of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force is an indispensable condition for a system that respects the principle of rule of law,” Barfod told the media. “We fully respect that the Prime Minister has no direct control over the judicial branch and there is a separation of powers.
The EU Ambassador said that while Saint Lucia’s Constitution must be respected, the duty of the government is to ensure that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) gets the requisite resources to function properly.
Barfod said Dr. Anthony has pledged to have the posts of Director of Public Prosecutions, Deputy Director of Prosecutions and Police Commissioner filled as soon as possible. He added that despite the present IMPACS case attracting the EU’s attention, Saint Lucia’s justice system needs a major overhaul.
“There is a current backlog of cases (and) too many adjournments that lead to long delays. As we know, long delays can often lead to no justice. This affects, in fact, several concrete cases of the European Union Member States as well,” Barfod explained.
He added: “We’re afraid that this could lead to a sense of impunity that is dangerous for a society, especially for the future generation. In addition, it also affects tourism because travellers will need to be given advice that they can’t expect a proper functioning of the legal system in Saint Lucia. That is not good.”
The team also plans to meet with the Opposition on the matter, Barfod said.
Barfod said a follow-up meeting with Dr. Anthony should take place at the end on March or early April to determine whether any progress has been made. However, he said the team was “a bit more optimistic” that the matter will be dealt with after this week’s meeting.
Among the other commitments said to have been made by Dr. Anthony to the EU delegation was the new Director of Public Prosecutions will be provided with the requisite resources for that office and that the follow-up investigations to the IMPACS report should commence immediately following that appointment.
Earlier this month, the United States Embassy in Barbados issued a statement accusing the Saint Lucian government of “making no meaningful progress towards criminal prosecution in 10 months”. The Prime Minister has since responded, referring to the Embassy’s suggestion that this was due to the government’s inaction as “misplaced and unjustified”. (See statement on page 4)
Nevertheless, Barfod believes that like the EU, the United States also wants to see the IMPACS matter receive the serious attention it requires for the benefit of future relations with the island. He said the allegations made in the IMPACS report are “serious” and that “this case sticks out”, begging the question as to “whether the judicial system is functioning” in Saint Lucia.
“I believe that we all have the same goal: we want you to improve on the follow-up to the IMPACS report so that this case that we’re talking about will not be hanging like a dark cloud over Saint Lucia for much longer,” Barfod said.
When pressed, the EU Ambassador refrained from disclosing whether any sanctions would be applied to Saint Lucia should the follow-up meeting prove that commitments were not met. He said Saint Lucia and the European Union have enjoyed a special and close relationship, with the island benefitting from aid packages, including nearly $38 million for the new hospital’s construction.
“It is definitely our intention to help to bring Saint Lucia a step forward and not to worry at this moment about the negative consequences for our relations if nothing happens and if this situation gets out of hand,” Barfod explained.
Barfod said Saint Lucians need to know what exactly what happened during police crackdown, “Operation Restore Confidence” in which twelve men died as a result of police shootings because “the country is suffering from not know definitively what happened.” Above all else, he said, Saint Lucians have a right to an efficient justice system.
“Saint Lucians deserve a judicial system that works, that doesn’t have backlogs and can deal with all matters, no matter how serious they are or who is implicated. You need to know the truth about everything. That’s a democracy for you,” Barfod noted.
![Image: Star publisher, Rick Wayne. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]](https://www.thevoiceslu.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Star-publisher-Rick-Wayne.jpg)
Wayne contended that had the Prime Minister not declared that he had seen a “death list”, the European Union would not have been pursuing the matter in the first place. Nevertheless, he believes that the international interest in the matter will stir up enough publicity that keeps the matter active.
“It’ll bring more light on the horrible situation we’ve had in Saint Lucia,” Wayne said. “For years and years, people have been denied their human rights in this country.”
BLACK LIFE MATTERS.
KENNY TELL THOSE WHITE EXTREMIST GO AND FIX THEIR COUNTRY’S RECORDS OF POLICE MURDERING OF BLACK BOYS ON THEIR STREETS.
ALLAN TRUMP WAS IN GOVERNMENT AT THE TIME OF RESTORE CONFIDENT.
HE TO SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
Yes, murdering black boys on the street possibly reduces the cost element attached to the over-abundance of black people in the prison system in Britain where, we make up just 1% of the population yet but represent 40% of the prison population. As it appears duty of care and the police indicate a global issue.
Meanwhile, Star publisher, Rick Wayne, who was also press at Thursday’s press conference, said that while he appreciated the EU’s strong interest in the IMPACS matter, he was “very disturbed” that the team took the Prime Minister’s word at face value.
————————————-
Rick is an irresponsible father of 11 bastard children.
Who is judging the judges and who is guarding the security guards?
This is the problem on this island! People like that idiot Wayne talking more crap, and Lucians being force fed words from a jackass who does not have a clue, and don’t even know his name⌛
take a closer look at this white boy face with his mouth set-trap. as a contempt to wards our law.
who the hell are those white boys anyway?
go and get things right with the families of: TRAYVON MARTIN
ERIC GARNER
MICHAEL BROWN etc. etc. none stop list of unarmed black boys/men injustice racism, blacks endure all the time in those white boy’s country
a judicial system that is harsher on blacks than white and biases that combine to make every day a hell-hole and very hot for blacks.
yet the blacks bleed and die on the battle field to give honor and glower to America and Europe
MOTHER ETHIOPIA DO NOT CRY
because your children are hated for being of a darker hue
snub-nose, thick lips and curlier hair
all your children are made an astonishment
a proverb and a byword to all nations
Mother do not cry
for we know the nationality of those pirates
that devastate and dislodge us:
Danish
Swedish
French
Dutch
American
English
Spanish and Portuguese
They all made merchandise of us
and planted their evil curse on us.
Mother don’t cry
as you reflect on the great wickedness of those
who made themselves our masters!
our masters have made themselves our gods
and through their wickedness nail one on a cross
and by putting a crown of thorns upon his head
make us believe it was done for our salvation.
“one day all of those white boys will know the might of the black-race”
. .
People of St Lucia, please do not make this into a black vs white issue. The EU representatives just as easily could have been black, it just so happens they were white. The real issue here is to the address the findings in the report from over a year ago, and to which nothing has been done, or seen to be done.
If St Lucians are truly honest with themselves they will also realize why the state of affairs is what it is now – matters which should have been taken care of have been pushed under the carpet and kept quiet, and now there is accountability to answer for.
For example, many foreign governments have generously given money to the St Lucian government for the rebuilding of the St Jude Hospital, why has the hospital not yet been built to service the community? I realize that this is not one of the talking points of IMPACS, but a question of my own which I am posing.
With regard to the IMPACS report, I ask the commentators to consider the toll and stress it would take on their families if a member of their family was killed under suspicious circumstances and they could get no answers or information from anyone in authority, and to make it worse, this dragged on for years. This is what the IMPACS report is trying to force the government to do – to make police killings more transparent.
I see nothing wrong with this approach because it is an ethical and moral system all countries should strive to achieve. I urge people to look beyond color and know the facts of what is happening in your own backyard.
I see nothing wrong with this approach because it is an ethical and moral system all countries should strive to achieve. I urge people to look beyond color and know the facts of what is happening in your own backyard.
………………..
Well said.
Not to say that criminals must pay, sometimes with their miserable life, for their acts.
/
WILLFUL BLINDNESS ??
We must ask ourselves, was Vernon Pinochet Francois the only one suffering from this incapacitating ailment, which leaves those so afflicted in a trance-like state of arrogance and stupor ? This mental disorder is more widespread than Lucians realize, and add Rick John Wayne to that` list.
WILLFUL BLINDNESS on such an epic scale involving the MURDER of countless victims of poverty, deprived of the ability to afford an education or obtain meaningful employment to sustain themselves and support a family, and therefore the FINAL SOLUTION is the only remedy to rid the society of its handywork – MURDER THESE BAD BOYS ! and that rich Businessman, Vernon Pinochet Francois, and his cabal of KILLER COPS will have nothing to worry about.
Of course the Negro Ninny Rick John Wayne could not pass up the opportunity to insult the intelligence of the people of this island, by telling us that it was because Dr. Anthony informed the citizens of St. Lucia that this cabal of KILLER COPS had developed a list of names for individuals marked for extermination, that the EU sent a delegation to insist that prosecutorial action be taken against these KILLER COPS.
I wonder what other fictitious claims will this male stripper Rick John Wayne attribute to the USA severing all association with this Cesspool of Killers known as RSLPF ? You see people, long before there was something known as IMPACS, Nations of the world were aware of the MURDERS and ASSASSINATIONS committed by Pinochet Francois and his cabal of KILLER COPS, but this idiot Rick John Wayne, a victim himself of Anabolic Steroids, and prone to violence, snatching and striking guest with microphones, will practice his deception openly, thinking that we are incapable of seeing through his scurrilous attack on Dr. Anthony.
This Treacherous Narcissist, states how disappointed he is, that the EU delegation took Dr. Anthony’s words at “Face Value” . What this worthless traitor is really saying is, if there is no meaningful action taken by Kenny against Francois, his cabal of KILLER COPS, and the Businessman behind these murders, economic sanctions should be imposed against the people of St. Lucia to destroy their already fragile economy and make the poor people suffer even more than they are at this time.
This self-hating Negro Narcissist – not an oxymoron – a disease that has afflicted three people in the history of mankind, Rick John Wayne being one of the victims, should be arrested and charged with Treason, and Sedition
Here we see the Businessman calling for the murder of Black men in St. Lucia:
MICHAEL CHASTANET: TAKE THEM OUT !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLrnriLmWRE
/
/
ABIGAIL
who ever you are?
GO AND ASK YOUR ALLAN TRUMP AND S. KING ABOUT THE MONIES FOR THE HOSPITAL?
black life?
tell your Americans and Europeans family’s to go and clean the mess in their back yard first.
clean the blood stain streets. pay restitution to the family s of those thousands black kids murdered by police.
the government must act against those local police for the unlawful killing of our people. but kenny must never allowed himself to be bullied by outside forces.
.
/
CAUCASIANS STOLE MY LAND, KILLED MY PARENTS, CALLED ME INDEPENDENT
https://www.facebook.com/717947878333399/videos/775086112619575/
/
/
thanks again SON OF MAN
I WILL ALWAYS VISIT THIS PAGE/POST.
I AM THANKFUL FOR YOUR TEACHING.
“BLACK LIFE MATTER”
The defrosting weight lifter is at it again.
Kenny is his biggest nightmare
all of those sellout bastards should be in a place where the americans THEIR LORD AND GOD Drupe their heavy H T G B.
Peace begins with us – not the other person. If we as individuals continue to spread half truths and anger there will be no peace. At some point we have to grow up and realize that each of us has to be accountable and step up, and leave foolishness behind. Continuously dredging up blame from things from the past will not help us as a country to heal, sometimes we have to be the bigger man, and move on. Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.
If we have the best interest of St Lucia at heart like we like to say we do, then we each should stop pointing fingers at each other and consciously decide to put our differences aside, and work together for the good of our island. We have a beautiful island, an island that people pay an arm and a leg to visit, let us each play our part in keeping it safe and beautiful, both for us and our children, and the people who want to visit our shores.
Let us not fight each other with harmful words which hurt, but rather let us have an open, honest dialogue as to why our situation is what it is. The people who insist on going off subject and rant about topics which have no bearing on what is being discussed are not adding anything of value to the discussion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but they do not have the right to insult, call names, or otherwise belittle people simply because their opinion is different. Please be courteous because how you present yourself when you write on this site is a reflection of who you are.
Abigail
go and preach to your lords.
your Jesus say when you think it is peace and safety then comes a sudden destruction upon you.
please tell your Israel lords to forget the Nazi ovens.
.
I talk the language of peace. We should all dig deep in our hearts to find what language we talk. There is enough hatred in our world that I do not have to add to it. I have made the conscious decision to avoid divisive language and acts – that is my contribution to the world. Peace and harmony starts with just one person.
Remember that every time man does something against their fellow man, whether in deed or thought, they have deliberately made that decision, because they did not have to do it – they had a choice.