To: communications@foreign.gov.tt
Re: trinidad and tobago abstention in UN human rights vote
Sent: Wednesday 22 December, 2010, 1.08 pm
Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dr. Surujrattan Rambachan
Dear Minister Rambachan,
I am writing to register my profound disappointment and indeed anger at Trinidad and Tobago's abstention in an important human rights vote in the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.
As you must be aware, on 21 December, 2010, the UN General Assembly voted on an important amendment to a resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions. This amendment, as described in UN document A/65/L.53, restores a reference to sexual orientation in the list of groups of people particularly targeted in extrajudicial killings. It recognises that in many parts of the world people are under extraordinary threat of violence because of their sexual orientation, and urges UN members to take necessary legal and judicial measures to protect all citizens.
The amendment was passed by the General Assembly by a vote of 93 to 55, with 27 abstentions. Trinidad and Tobago was one of the abstaining nations.
As a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, I am deeply disturbed that my country failed in its responsibility to take a stand on this very basic question of human rights.
I would like to believe that the government of Trinidad and Tobago is committed to creating a safer and more just and tolerant society for all citizens. Yesterday's abstention forces me to question that commitment. I hope you will take the time to respond to this email and explain this very disappointing decision.
Yours faithfully,
Nicholas Laughlin
Diego Martin
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Who is Nicholas Laughlin?
I am a writer (read some of my reviews, essays, etc. at Choosing My Confessions), editor of The Caribbean Review of Books and Caribbean Beat, and programme director of the Bocas Lit Fest. Visit my home page for more details. I’m a bit more active on Twitter: @nplaughlin.
I’m a co-director of Alice Yard, an experimental creative space and network in Port of Spain.
I co-edit Town, a modest literary magazine published in two formats: broadsides posted in public locations around Port of Spain, and online.
See photos at my Flickr page.
See my collaboration with artist Christopher Cozier, Tropical Night.
Amours de voyage; or, notes from an occasional traveller.
Some poems.
Email me at:
nicholaslaughlin[at]gmail[dot]com
My second book of poems, Enemy Luck, was published in 2019 by Peepal Tree Press.
My first book of poems, The Strange Years of My Life, was published in 2015 by Peepal Tree Press.
I’m a co-director of Alice Yard, an experimental creative space and network in Port of Spain.
I co-edit Town, a modest literary magazine published in two formats: broadsides posted in public locations around Port of Spain, and online.
See photos at my Flickr page.
See my collaboration with artist Christopher Cozier, Tropical Night.
Amours de voyage; or, notes from an occasional traveller.
Some poems.
Email me at:
nicholaslaughlin[at]gmail[dot]com
Blogs I read oftenish
Caribbean magazines, journals, newspapers
Literary magazines, websites, and blogs around the world
Other people, places, things that interest me (in no particular order)
1 comment:
Thank you for ensuring that the T&T government knows that its electorate is wide awake and keeping abreast of its every action and omission.
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