LA breached CI constitution say human rights groups

(CNS): Some twenty five international human rights groups and individual activists say the Legislative Assembly and its speaker breached the Cayman Islands Constitution 2009 as well as the UN Declaration of Human Rights by revoking the privileges of and call to prosecute local reporter, Brent Fuller. In an open letter circulated by the Centre for Law and Democracy on behalf of another two dozen people and organisations, to the Speaker of the Cayman Legislative Assembly, the activists said that Fuller’s right to freedom of expression was protected under international law and section 11 of Cayman’s own constitution. The human rights groups said the article at the heart of the issue was legitimate comment on the Legislative Assembly, a key public body in Cayman.

“We believe that the right to engage in criticism of elected bodies, even of a trenchant or unreasonable nature, is central to a democracy,” the authors stated in the letter sent to Mary Lawrence the LA Speaker on Wednesday.

Following the Attorney General’s announcement that he would not be prosecuting Fuller in the wake of the LA’s vote 9-4 to do so and the activists said the attempt to prosecute was still “likely to exert a chilling effect on local coverage of this important public body,” in the letter.

They also criticized the move to undertake the FOI law review behind closed doors which was the point of the article written by Fuller and the supporting editorial both published in the Caymanian Compass.

“As advocates of openness, we also believe that it is inappropriate for the legislature to conduct discussions regarding reform of an access to information law in secret,” the authors stated. “International good practice dictates that such meetings should be conducted in the open and that any committee reviewing such a law should provide as much opportunity as possible for public input.”

The authors of the open letter (attached below) called on the speaker to ensure free reporting on the Assembly, by repealing the motion suspending Fuller and to use her influence to ensure that legislative discussions about reform of the Freedom of Information were held in public.


(2010-12-22/caymannewsservice)