St. Maarten: Demand Prompt And Fair Investigation Of Attack Against Two Gay Tourists
05/08/2006
IGLHRC asks for immediate letters to be sent to the government of St. Maarten demanding that the investigation keeps moving until those responsible for the attack are duly identified and punished. A sample letter is provided below.
Please write today to,
- Mr. Taco Stein
Chief Prosecutor - Taco Stein
tseing@ovjsxm.com - Governor of St. Maarten
Governor F.E. Richards: - governor@governorsxm.com
Secretary of the Governor: hodge@governorsxm.com
Director of Cabinet: dircab@governorsxm.com
Head of PR & Protocol: christian@governorsxm.com
General Policy Advisor:
boyrard-brewster@governorsxm.comGovernment Administration Building
Clem Labega Square
P.O. Box 943
Philipsburg
Saint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
Fax (00) (599) 542 4172 - Netherlands Antillean Affairs
Mr. Xavier Prens, Consul for Netherlands Antillean Affairs - Fax: (+ 1) 786-866-0498
Email: mia@minbuza.nl
And please cc us (mferreyra@iglhrc.org)
Sample letter
Dear Mr. Stein,
We write to commend you on the actions you have taken on the incident in which US citizens Mr. Richard Jefferson and Mr. Ryan Smith were attacked after leaving the Bamboo Bernie’s nightclub on the early hours of Thursday, April 13.
We want to encourage you to keep looking for all those involved in the incident and to make sure that, once all attackers are identified, they are punished according to the law.
Your swift and thorough action on this incident is important also as a way to convey the message that violence based on sexual preferences and their expression by consenting adults will not be tolerated by the St. Maarten society. We are concerned about some news accounts published in the island that seem to blame the victims for the incident. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Smith were in a night club and engaged in a behavior that is not unusual in those places. Had they been a heterosexual couple, it is very unlikely that other patrons would have insulted and then physically attacked them.
We hope that this regrettable incident might help St. Maarten society to enter a productive debate on how to live with the diversity of sexual and affectionate expressions that are found in all human communities. The authorities can –and must- contribute to provide spaces and frameworks for that debate, highlighting those values that are enshrined in human rights documents to which St. Maarten local laws are bound, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which affirm that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. To be entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law and to an effective remedy when one’s rights are violated are among those fundamental rights.
Sincerely yours,
(name, address, organization)
Background
Richard Jefferson, a senior journalist with NBC has been vacationing in St Maarten for more than 15 years, and claims never to have been harassed before in the island.
On the last hours of Wednesday, April 12, Mr. Jefferson, Mr.Smith and other friends were gathered at a night club called Bamboo Bernie´s. Other customers started to verbally attack them, on homophobic terms. The verbal violence was such that the bar’s manager offered to have Smith wait until it was possible for him to leave the club escorted, in order to avoid his being attacked. The attackers took up a chair and tried to hit the group of friends with it.
On the first hours of Thursday, April 13, the group of friends left the nightclub, to get back to their hotel. Four men and two women followed them in a car, and drove very near them, almost hitting Mr. Smith. The car stopped, the group got out and started beating Mr. Smith. One of the men had a pipe wrench with which he beat both Mr. Smith and Mr. Jefferson.
Mr. Jefferson said that many onlookers, including management at Sunset Beach Bar –a nearby casino- and Bamboo Bernie’s Club called the police, but no police showed up. Mr. Jefferson himself called the police in the afternoon of Thursday, April 13, and talked to a detective but nobody went to see him and Mr. Smith at the hospital or contacted them.
Mr. Jefferson has severe cuts on the back of his head and his lower back. Mr. Smith has a fractured skull and has been unable to speak properly since the incident. Mr. Smith was in the Intensive Care Unit at the St. Maarten Medical Center and was then flown out to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami along with Jefferson.
Two men have already been arrested. One of them was released because it turned out he was not involved in the incident. The other remains in detention and the authorities are looking for other suspects.
US media has reported extensively on this incident. Meanwhile, in St. Maarten, the Chief Prosecutor has asked three detectives to look into the case and the investigation is moving ahead. However, some homophobic reports have appeared in the local media. For example, The Daily Herald has published an article under the title “Who was really wrong in gay bashing incident?” where victims are blamed for the incident on the basis of their “flagrant public behavior”, and attackers are referred to as “four upset young men” who “didn’t like it” (the “flagrant public behavior”).
International legislation
St. Maarten is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and thus, international human rights treaties ratified by the Netherlands apply.
The right to be free from discrimination and to equality before the law is protected by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR - Articles 2 and 7) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR -Articles 2 and 26).
The United Nations Human Rights Committee affirmed in its decision in Toonen v Australia (1994) that existing protections against discrimination in Articles 2 and 26 of the ICCPR should be understood to include sexual orientation as a protected status. Numerous other human rights mechanisms of the United Nations have subsequently condemned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The right to Freedom of Expression is protected by the UDHR (Article 19) and the ICCPR.
The Right to Effective Remedy/Compensation for acts violating the fundamental rights of a person is protected by the UDHR (Article 8).
The Netherlands ratified ICCPR on March 11, 1979. The UDHR is considered part of customary international law, and binding on all member States of the United Nations, like The Netherlands.
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