Caribbean: beaches shrink as thieves steal sand

Caribbean round grains, favored in creating smooth surfaces for plastering and finishing, are being hauled away by the truckload late at night. On some islands, towns and ecologically sensitive areas get exposed to tidal surges and rough seas.

Among the hardest hit is Grenada, where officials are building a $1.2 million seawall to protect the 131-square-mile island. Large-scale sand thefts have exposed north-coast towns to rough seas.

About 706,000 cubic feet of sand were taken from private property beaches in the northwest of Jamaica in late July.

Source: The Boston Globe; find article here>>.

"Air policy and Air Jamaica"

At the Jamaica Gleaner, Stephen Vascianne states that "Earlier this month, the Government of Jamaica participated in negotiations with the British Government on matters pertaining to the conclusion of a new Air Services Agreement between both countries.
This round of negotiations was the latest in a series undertaken by representatives of the Jamaican Air Policy Committee with other countries. The series included negotiations with Germany, Chile and Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
The negotiations with individual countries raise a number of technical questions concerning air law and the economics of air transportation; but they also prompt issues that may be of direct importance to Jamaicans at home and abroad, tourism interests and the trade sector."

Read more.

Forum Non Conveniens-Doctrine inconsistant with Brussels Convention

Mr Owusu, a British national domiciled in the United Kingdom, suffered a very serious accident during a holiday in Jamaica. He walked into the sea, and when the water was up to his waist he dived in, struck his head against a submerged sand bank and sustained a fracture of his fifth cervical vertebra which rendered him tetraplegic. Following that accident, he brought an action in the United Kingdom for breach of contract against Mr Jackson, who is also domiciled in that State. Mr Jackson had let to Mr Owusu a holiday villa in Mammee Bay (Jamaica). Mr Owusu claims that the contract, which provided that he would have access to a private beach, contained an implied term that the beach would be reasonably safe or free from hidden dangers. Mr Owusu also brought an action in tort in the United Kingdom against several Jamaican companies, which were involved in access to or control and upkeep of the beach. The Court of Appeal (England and Wales) stated that, in this case, the competing jurisdictions were a Contracting State and a non-Contracting State. The question of the application of forum non conveniens in favour of the courts of a non-Contracting State, when one of the defendants is domiciled in a Contracting State, was not a matter on which the Court of Justice had ever given a ruling. ECJ held: Nothing in the wording of Article 2 of the Brussels Convention suggested that the application of the general rule of jurisdiction laid down by that article solely on the basis of the defendant’s domicile in a Contracting State was subject to the condition that there should be a legal relationship involving a number of Contracting States. for the jurisdiction rules of the Brussels Convention to apply at all the existence of an international element is required It must be observed, first, that Article 2 of the Brussels Convention is mandatory in nature and that, according to its terms, there can be no derogation from the principle it lays down except in the cases expressly provided for by the Convention. It is common ground that no exception on the basis of the forum non conveniens doctrine was provided for by the authors of the Convention, although the question was discussed. Respect for the principle of legal certainty, which is one of the objectives of the Brussels Convention would not be fully guaranteed if the court having jurisdiction under the Convention had to be allowed to apply the forum non conveniens doctrine. (ECJ 01.03.2005, C-281/02).

(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)

Jamaica

The Jamaican army is to be deployed at tourist resorts to crack down on crime and harassment of tourists. The measure followed a recommendation from the Jamaican Hotel and Tourist Association. The Opposition has criticised the measure as detrimental to the country's image and point to a dramatic decrease in the number of crimes against tourists in the last 6 years.

(Originally posted by John Downes)