BOTH THE government and media enterprises in Guyana and other Caribbean Community states should consider acquainting themselves with two new pieces of legislation introduced last week in Trinidad and Tobago’s House of Representatives.They are intended as new initiatives to combat frightening levels of serious criminality, including rising rates of gun-related murders and violence.
Piloted in the 41-member House of Representatives by, respectively, Attorney General, Anand  Ramlogan, and National Security Minister Gary Griffith, the two pieces of legislation are: “Administration of Justice Bill” and the “Cybercrime Bill 2014.”
Expressed fears have come from both the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) and the T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) over the likely erosion of press freedom and the welfare of journalists in relation to the Cybercrime Bill.
So far as the Justice Administration Bill is concerned, Opposition MPs have pointed to likely discrimination and abuse of the rights of foreign citizens, including from CARICOM, in view of provisions requiring fingerprinting of foreigners—including Community nationals—under suspicion, on arrival at ports of entry into T&T. As the saying goes, stay tuned.

Lingering challenges
The People’s Partnership coalition government, which has an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives–having secured 29 of the 41 seats at the 2010 elections to the PNM’s 12—easily managed to pass both bills since the opposition PNM’s parliamentarians abstained.
But there remains the challenging hurdle that necessitates Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s “People’s Partnership Government” having to secure at least four votes from among Independent Senators in order to obtain a stipulated three-fifths majority
Whatever the final outcome for the bills to be assented by the T&T Head of State (President Thomas Aquinas Carmona), the government should consider, as a matter of mutual interest, sharing with CARICOM the two pieces of legislation that, differently, deals with combating the plague of criminality with cybercrime—such as hacking of computers and misuse of unauthorised emails-being an increasingly dangerous human rights problem.
The current regional crime epidemic is a major challenge facing, in varying degrees, all 14 independent states of the Caribbean Community. And in the allocation of portfolio responsibilities among Heads of Government, a T&T Prime Minister has always been designated with lead responsibility for “crime and security.”
It is in this capacity, it is felt, current Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar should give consideration to the importance of sharing with her CARICOM counterparts both the “Cybercrime Bill 2014” and the “Administration of Justice Bill.”
Consistent with a prevailing region-wide political culture that elevates divisive party politicking in preference for consultative and information-sharing approaches, both the Cybercrime Bill and the Justice Administration Bill have been subjected to criticisms in and out of the House of Representatives, with the government offering strong defensive responses.

Privacy violations
Those in the media familiar with the burden of violations of privacy by others committed to making a farce, and a crime, personal fundamental rights to which ALL of us are ENTITLED, should objectively assess the value of the proposed anti-cyber-crime legislation-if possible, with guidance of a legal mind and most certainly in preference to self-serving partisan political perspectives.
For instance, while  one PNM parliamentarian (Terrence Deyalsingh) denounced the ‘Cybercrime Bill, contending that the media would be the primary victim of the legislation, another PNM parliamentarian (Marlene McDonald),had urged the Attorney General to revisit provisions of the Justice Administration Bill with a view to removing mandatory fingerprinting requirement.
Other critics of this T&T legislation feel that mandatory fingerprinting of CARICOM nationals by immigration officers at ports of entry, without any known prior consultation with governments, private sector and civil society organisations, is most likely to widen disagreements and disillusionment within the Community at a time when closer social and economic integration is urgently required.
Whatever the pluses for both bills, the government in Port-of-Spain, as well as CARICOM partner states, must bear in mind the fall-out that has already occurred over what is so often depressingly referenced as the “Myrie case” that led to that landmark ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in favour of the young Jamaican woman, Shanique Myrie, over the sexual humiliation suffered via Barbados immigration service.
More on this particular development later.
 Analysis by Rickey Singh