By: Staff Writer
July 11, 2025
Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness said at the closing press conference of the 49th CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting held in Montego Bay, Jamaica that governments agreed upon Model Law that protects young people from cyber bullying and exploitation.
Holness, who is now the sitting chair of CARICOM, said: “We also had exchanges on legislation for online safety and protection of young people from online abuse, cyber bullying and exploitation.
“In recognition of the importance of this issue, we have mandated the legal affairs committee to look at a proposal for a Model law for the digital safety of Caribbean people.
“Following the consultations and discussions that were held on the issue of regional transportation, we also agreed to establish a small committee led by the Prime Ministers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Republic of Barbados, as well as the president of the cooperative Republic of Guyana to review presentations on ferries and report back to heads.”
Outgoing chair of CARICOM, Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, said that her government is being inundated with an intolerable amount of fake news being generated by Artificial intelligence apps that agencies of her government has been working assiduously to clarify. She also said that it is time for the region to have a version of a truth checker or blue tick verification protocols for information.
Meanwhile, Holness also said that the Jamaica is making headway on reparations for descendants of the African slave trade.
“We also discussed the issue of reparations, and I’m pleased to report that there was broad support for Jamaica moving forward with a petition to King Charles III in his capacity as Jamaica’s head of state, to seek a formal ruling from the Privy Council on whether the Atlantic enslavement of Africans was lawful under common law, and whether local laws supporting it were invalid, and whether or not slavery as practice in Jamaica, up to 1838 constituted a crime against humanity under international law.
He continued: “And whether, if so, the United Kingdom bears a legal obligation to provide reparations to Jamaica and its people for the enduring harm caused through the use of this legal route to challenge the historical legality of slavery and assert claims for reparations.”
“This petition will mark a watershed moment for CARICOM and the broader global movement for reparatory justice. Ladies and gentlemen, the next six months of Jamaica’s chairmanship will be very active with several opportunities for us to amplify on the world stage the issues we have discussed and agreed upon in Montego Bay.”
The reparations issue has spread wider than the Caribbean and CARICOM with the greater Commonwealth heads of government seeking to defy the United Kingdom and agree plans to examine reparatory justice for the transatlantic slave trade.
How far can and will Jamaica go with the Privy Council remains to be seen. But the issue may not be ignored much longer.