Parliamentarians for Global Action, in collaboration with its National Group in the National Assembly of Suriname, chaired by Mr. Patrick Kensenhuis, Member of Parliament, convened a Roundtable Discussion on Effective Anti-Discrimination Measures based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) in South America and the Caribbean, in Paramaribo, Suriname on Friday, October 27, 2017.
Dr. Jennifer Simons, Speaker of the National Assembly, offered welcoming remarks at the roundtable discussion and highlighted her support to the conversation and the work on human rights that PGA’s National Group in the National Assembly of Suriname undertakes.
Mr. Kensenhuis, MP was joined by his colleagues and PGA members, Ms. Ingrid Karta-Bink, MP, Mr. Wendell Asadang, MP, Dr. Dewanchandrebhose Sharman, MP, and Mr. Guilliano Snip, MP as well as Ms. Krishnakoemarie Mathoera, MP and a member of the Human Rights Committee. They concurred that parliamentarians play an important role in addressing the inclusion of LGBTI people in their country and expressed their commitment to working towards establishing more legal protections to prevent discrimination against LGBTI persons.
Ms. Desiree de-Sousa Croes, MP from Aruba, Dr. George Norton, MP and Minister of Social Cohesion from Guyana, Senator Wade Mark from Trinidad and Tobago and Chair of PGA’s National Group in the country, and Dip. Tamara Adrian from Venezuela, shared their countries’ experiences and best practices with Surinamese MPs and underlined that the responsibility of parliamentarians is to push for measures that guarantee and respect the human rights of all individuals, even when such measures are not politically attractive or they have no clear support from a majority in Parliament.
After the presentations from Mr. Faisel Tjon-A-Loi, Chairman of the LGBT Platform Suriname, and Mr. Juan Pigot, Chairman of Parea, Mr. Kensenhuis opened the conversation thanking parliamentarians for attending and noting the importance of establishing building blocks with target groups and different stakeholders.
He mentioned Parliament is taking a hard look at their legislation, particularly on how to use article 8 on non-discrimination enshrined in Suriname’s Constitution to advance human rights for LGBTI persons, and invited civil society representatives to provide recommendations and feedback in this process.
Mr. Boris Dittrich, a former Dutch MP and PGA member, who currently serves as the Advocacy Director for the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, facilitated the discussions among participants. (Read his Op-Ed about the activity) During his remarks, Mr. Dittrich emphasized:
...sometimes, as lawmakers, you need to take the lead and then society will follow.
He used as an example the courageous and successful initiative by Ms. De Sousa-Croes in Aruba last year on passing same-sex registered partnerships.
Responding on how Ms. De Sousa-Croes stood up to religious arguments against this legislation, she reminded her colleagues that:
When we swear an oath to serve as parliamentarians, we do so to protect the Constitution, even if we place our hand on the Bible. We do not swear to protect the Bible with our hand on the Constitution.
Dr. Ruth Wijdensbosch, former Deputy Speaker of the Surinamese National Assembly and a former PGA Board member, pointed out that there has been some improvement and more tolerance towards LGBTI people in the last years, and advised current parliamentarians that initiatives do not need a majority to be introduced for discussion in Parliament; that it takes only one person. She added:
You need different MPs that can come out and lobby with you for the reform, to speak out and say they support these rights. We need courage and guts because no one likes it when you come out to say you want to protect the LGBTI community. That is why people are reluctant, but if you have a handful of MPs, you can achieve it.
She reminded her former colleagues that this is how she shepherded a bill to abolish the death penalty in 2015, during her last year as a parliamentarian.
At the closing session, Mr. Asadang, MP listed three concrete actions that Surinamese MPs had agreed to work on:
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During the second week of November, Mr. Kensenhuis will meet with Ms. Carla Bakboord, Executive Chair of Women’s Rights Center, as a preliminary meeting to define an agenda for a follow up meeting in early 2018 with LGBTI civil society. Ms. Bakboord is a prominent leader of the LGBTI civil society in the country.
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PGA will provide assistance to its National Group in requesting their Ministry of Foreign Affairs information about, and to join, the Equal Rights Coalition.
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In close connection to the first action, the meeting with LGBTI civil society aims to begin discussions on a draft that could amend legislation to protect same-sex partners either through amending the current Social Pensions Act and/or through advocating for the right to registered partnerships for both same sex and different sex partners.
Around 50 participants, mostly representatives of LGBTI civil society in Suriname, attended the discussions. We were also pleased that Mr. Steven Mac Andrew, Director of Suriname’s Trade and Industry Association and a signatory to the Declaration of Paramaribo, and LGBTI activists from CariFLAGS representing Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname, participated. Mr. Richard Blewitt, UN Resident Coordinator for Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten, Mr. Armstrong Alexis, UNDP’s Deputy Representative, Dr. Ruth Wijdenbosch and Ms. Noreen Cheung, former MPs and PGA members, also participated. Representatives of the Embassies of the Netherlands and the United States to Suriname were in attendance as well.
A day prior to PGA’s activity, on October 26, Parea, an organization for gay and trans men professionals in Suriname established in August 2014 and active in the fields of human rights, advocacy, training, education, activism and health, organized a Conference on Gender and Human Rights with a focus on transgender rights to celebrate the Court’s decision to grant a transgender woman the right to have her gender formally changed and registered to reflect her amended status (January 2017). It seems, however, that the government is considering an appeal to this ruling.
Ms. De Sousa-Croes, MP from Aruba and Mr. Dittrich participated as speakers, along with transgender representatives from Aruba, Suriname and the Netherlands. Dip. Adrian from Venezuela and PGA Program staff also participated in the conference.
Additionally, the conference was attended by three Surinamese MPs, PGA members, LGBTI civil society representatives, and Ms. Jennifer van Dijk-Silos, former Minister of Justice and Police. She is currently serving as an adviser to the President and continues to advocate for LGBTI rights and the establishment of a National Human Rights Institute in line with the Paris Principles.
Brief visit to Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain
On Monday, October 23rd, Ms. Mónica Adame, Director of PGA’s Gender, Equality and Population Program, and Mr. Alex Roche, Program Officer for the SOGI Campaign, took advantage of their time in Port of Spain, en route to Paramaribo, to meet with parliamentarians from Trinidad and Tobago as a follow up to last year’s mission to the country. These were the highlights:
1. Meeting with Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, MP and Mrs. Glenda Jennings-Smith, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, Equality and Diversity
Mr. Roche made a power point presentation on the key contents of the SOGI Handbook for Parliamentarians and its importance as an advocacy tool for parliamentarians in ensuring equality and non-discrimination for all individuals regardless of their SOGI and sex characteristics. We also handed over a physical copy to each of them. As a next step, Mrs. Jennings-Smith will bring this topic to the attention of the other Committee members to request their views on holding a meeting with representatives of the LGBTI civil society and improve sensitization about this issue.
2. Meeting with the Honorable Senator Christine Kangaloo, President of the Senate, and Senator Nigel de Freitas, Vice-President of the Senate
Senator Wade Mark, Chair of PGA’s National Group in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, arranged this courtesy meeting where we discussed PGA’s human rights work and different programmatic Campaigns. We also handed her, and the Vice-President, a copy of the SOGI Handbook for Parliamentarians and congratulated her office for the successful amendment to the Marriage Act prohibiting marriage for both boys and girls before the age of 18. This bill was assented by President Carmona in September.
3. Informal encounter with Mr. Faris Al-Rawi, MP & Attorney General
Mr. Al-Rawi expressed a favorable position in introducing an amendment to the Equal Opportunity Act (EOA) to include sexual orientation, age and HIV status as grounds for non-discrimination. He welcomed more evidence and data about the current situation of LGBTI people in his country to make his case to his colleagues in Parliament, a strategy that worked very well in the passing of the amendment to protect the rights of girls. PGA Program staff will remain in contact with him and, in coordination with our local partners in civil society, will provide accurate information to begin building this case.
PGA wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Global Equality Fund (GEF), administered by the U. S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) to its Parliamentary Project on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Caribbean.
PGA would also like to thank UNDP for their financial support in covering the travel and accommodation of the parliamentarians from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
