At the Second Meeting of the first Session of the Eleventh Anguilla House of Assembly, on 7th July 2015, the Leader of the Opposition made history by being the first opposition member to bring to the House three Bills of crucial importance to the social fabric of Anguilla:
• The Family Law (Guardianship, Custody and Access to Children) Bill, 2015
• The Status of Children Bill, 2015
• The Protection Against Sexual Harassment Bill, 2015
The background to these Bills is well documented in the report for UNICEF on the Current State of Legislation in the British Overseas Territories from a Children’s and Women’s Rights Perspective, by Alejandro Morlachetti, which draws attention, amongst many other deficiencies of Anguilla legislation, to the fact that “there is clear need to adopt a new and modern legal framework related to the maintenance and access to children to reinforce common responsibilities of both parents in upbringing children and also to assure that children have the right to stay in regular contact with both parents, even when they are not living together.”
In the current state of Anguilla legislation, the fact is that loving fathers have no rights when it comes to their children unless they are married to the mothers of their children. There are many men who regularly pay child support for their children but who are punished wrongfully by the mothers who refuse them access to their children. As and when the Family Law (Guardianship, Custody and Access to Children) Bill, 2015 becomes law, it will at long last give men who support their children the right to have the Magistrate order the mother to allow them access to their children. At present, a vindictive mother can “punish” a father by depriving him of any right to see his child no matter how faithfully he pays child support. As a result, some children grow up without knowing and bonding with their fathers, even where a father desires this relationship. We believe there is not a man in Anguilla who would oppose reform in this area.
Department of Social Development has long tried to get a Bill introduced in the House of Assembly, without any success. Now there is a glimmer of hope that there is an alternative route to constructive social legislation, through a member of the House – the Leader of the Opposition – who does not just wring her hands and say that a member who is not part of the majority government cannot achieve anything, but who rolls up her sleeves and sets about doing what is needed.
As far as the Status of Children Bill is concerned, Anguilla has done nothing to comply with our obligations under the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, long ago extended to us by the British Government. We still have “bastardy” laws in our Magistrate’s Code of Procedure, for example. The rationale of the Status of Children Bill is that Anguilla should long ago have passed it in order to be in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Status of Children Bill is firmly based on the OECS model with only minor adjustments. It will bring Anguilla into conformity with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, compliance with which is long overdue.
It is a shameful secret, known only to every Anguillian woman, that the sexual harassment of women in the work place and in government offices goes unopposed and unpunished. There are not many women who would object to reform in this area, and that is the purpose of Ms Webster’s Protection Against Sexual Harassment Bill, 2015. The Bill is based on the CARICOM model save that, instead of proposing the establishment of a whole new Tribunal, it proposes that the new law which will be mainly concerned with harassment in the place of employment will be administered by the existing Labour Tribunal.
All three of the above Bills represent legislation of crucial importance to the social fabric of Anguilla. The challenge for Ms Webster now will be to get the Bills out to public consultation, to incorporate in them any constructive new ideas, and to shepherd them successfully through their second and third readings.
Ms Webster has faced some difficulties in this endeavour already, but she is not daunted and has confidence that the government will, in the interests of the Anguillian people, ultimately cooperate with her objective of getting these Bills onto the Statute Book without further inordinate delay.
Ms Webster proposed a motion for the Fourth Meeting of the first Session of the Eleventh Anguilla House of Assembly, on 22nd September 2015, Motion #442, as follows:
WHEREAS the following Bills have received their First Reading in the House:
The Family Law (Guardianship, Custody and Access to Children) Bill, 2015
The status of Children Bill, 2015
The Protection Against Sexual Harassment Bill, 2015
AND WHEREAS it is of the utmost public importance that these Bills be open to extensive public discussion and consultation, including their circulation to interested parties, their publication in the Gazette, their publication on the Government website, their exposure to comment on social media, their amendment in any respect in which they may be found deficient
AND WHEREAS the Bills have been Gazetted for public information, but not otherwise exposed to public discussion
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Honorable Minister of Social Development, the Member for Valley North, give instructions for the said Bills to be placed on the Government website to encourage public discussion and comment prior to their being brought back before this Honorable House for their second reading.
To Ms Webster’s disappointment, the government opposed this motion on the grounds that they could not countenance giving time to any legislation that they had not already included in their “agenda”. This stance does not sit well with an objective to serve the best interests of the Anguillian people, and Ms Webster tells us that she is determined to surmount this obstacle. If the Government is unwilling to expose to public consultation Bills which have already had their first reading, by placing them on the Government website, Ms Webster tells us that she herself will engage the public in consultation on them, by all means available to her. We wish her every success in this endeavour and warmly welcome the energy she brings to improving the lot of the people.
— Contributed
