Jamaica is reporting significant progress in its talks with America on a revised Shiprider Agreement in wake of an incident involving a Jamaican fishing vessel  ‘Lady Lawla’, which was intercepted by the US Coast Guard, pursuant to that treaty.

The vessel was destroyed by Coast Guard vessel and its four Jamaican crew members detained having been accused of drug trafficking. Months later, the men were eventually freed by the US court and have since returned home.

Their ordeal having gone public has sparked a firestorm and credible evidence put forward that the American Coast Guard had breach the 23-year-old Shiprider Agreement with Jamaica. The Shiprider Agreement is a treaty between Jamaica and America for cooperation in suppressing illicit maritime drug trafficking.

In a statement to the Senate on Friday (February 12), Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson-Smith, disclosed that Jamaica is close to clinching a deal with America on revisions to the Shiprider Agreement.

She reported that the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and National Security, the Attorney-General and the Director of Public Prosecution, supported by an inter-ministerial technical team, convened a meeting with senior US officials last Saturday (January 6), to further review the operational procedures associated with implementation of the agreement.

Work far-advanced towards finalising revised Shiprider Agreement

“Mr President, I can inform this Chamber that progress has been achieved and the work towards finalizing those protocols is far-advanced. Further to the meeting, the Government of Jamaica transmitted draft revised proposals to our US counterparts, in response to which we received the reply of the US Government accepting many of our proposals and sharing counter-proposals,” Johnson-Smith told the upper House of Parliament.

Having received the comments of the US Government, the Senate Leader of Government Business, advised that the Jamaican stakeholders further met and considered the counter proposals in detail and earlier this week, we transmitted the response of the Jamaican Government.

According to Senator Johnson-Smith, “with this latest round of exchanges now concluded, both sides have found agreement on the majority of the proposed protocols.”

She further disclosed that a meeting is now being scheduled between the parties to iron out the handful of issues where there still remains a difference of opinion. She emphasized the timely responses and the constructive engagement have maintained the spirit of cooperation between the parties and have provided some optimism about finalizing these protocols within a reasonably short period of time.

The Government Senator explained that these operational protocols at their core are aimed at improving the flow of information between parties at critical stages in the process. Ultimately, these protocols, added Johnson Smith, are to put the Government of Jamaica in the best position possible to do two main things.

Two imperatives to be achieved

On the one hand to further enable us to take strong and effective action to put a serious dent in the illicit uses of our maritime areas and on the other hand to improve Jamaica’s ability to protect the interests of its citizens, who may be intercepted at sea pursuant to the Shiprider Agreement.

She declared that the Andrew Holness-led government is committed to achieving both goals pointing to the reality that Jamaica’s vast maritime area, which is almost 25 times that of our landmass, is exploited by criminal elements for trafficking in guns and drugs.

As such cooperation with our international partners is not only important but is necessary if the country want to achieve any meaningful and sustainable reduction in serious crime in Jamaica.

Johnson-Smith conceded that the 2019 case concerning the ‘Jossette’ and the more recent incident involving the ‘Lady Lawla’ and her crew, have highlighted the need for continued review and refinement of the systems established to give effect to the agreement.

“Therefore, the Government of Jamaica is commitment to securing the improvements needed to make the agreement the effective crime fighting tool it was intended to be, while ensuring the rights of our citizens are protected,” Senator Johnson-Smith argued.