The Dominica Freedom Party has provided its recommendations on the DLP government’s proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill. A letter sent to the Attorney General on 13th July 2018, as regards the Anti-terrorism Bill, stated ‘as per your deliberations in Parliament on that matter on June 25th, in which you indicated that interested persons have until July 15th to submit written suggestions for amendments to the bill, the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) wishes to make the broad suggestions contained in this letter for adjustments to the bill, before it is brought back to parliament for the second reading. However, we reiterate as per our letter to you dated June 28, 2018, that we are of the view that the time allotted for feedback to the government is not sufficient.
Though we note your response to our letter, we still advise that a minimum of three months be allowed before the bill is submitted to Parliament for the second reading and should that advice be heeded we could possibly make another submission that would have the benefit of our thorough review. Our substantive issues and suggestions are as follows; We note that Section 2, Subsection 2 of Dominica Anti-terrorism Bill, provides an exception to section 3 (general definition of terrorist Act). We note the general intention contained in this section and that a similar intent is reflected in the UN model legislation and in most such Acts of other countries. This clause is very important, as it preserves our constitutional right to assemble, to protest, to free speech etc. Jamaica goes a step further and says this: “This Act shall be interpreted and administered so as to ensure Jamaica’s conformity with its international obligations while protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the constitution”. We recommend that a similar clause be included in Dominica’s legislation. Given the present climate of extreme political mistrust in our country, it would be wise for the Government of Dominica to seek to place sufficient “guarantee” clauses into the Anti-terrorism Bill including those like the one above, in order to allay fear associated with political mistrust. It is better to seek peace than to create contention.
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