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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 70 - Monday July 25, 2005 |
St Maarteen Commissioner Laveist requests PM to discuss human smuggling with Dominica
 Reprinted from the Daily Herald
PHILIPSBURG--Commissioner Louie Laveist requested on Thursday that Prime Minister Etienne Ys take up contact with authorities in Dominica to jointly tackle the issue of human smuggling.
Laveist�s request to the Prime Minister came a day after his statement during Wednesday�s press briefing that he intended to contact authorities in Dominica to discuss the issue, as he said he had noticed that many of the vessels and captains intercepted here originated from that island. St. Maarten, he said, is used as a �stepping stone� to get to the US Virgin Islands.
His statement, he said on Thursday, �sparked an avalanche of comments, responses, clarifications and charges.� He stressed that his intention was not to �decry� Dominica, as he has a �tremendous amount of respect for the people of that nation, its government and the long, outstanding relationship between Dominica and St. Maarten.�
However, he said, it is �imperative� that diplomatic discussions regarding this matter �move forward� in a �timely and effective manner.� So, he added, he decided to ask Prime Minister Ys, who is in charge of Foreign Affairs, to take up contact with Dominica and to �act post-haste.� He said Ys had assured him that he would do so and that Laveist could expect to hear from him in August.
Laveist also appealed to the Court and the Prosecutor�s Office during Wednesday�s press conference to use the human smuggling law to its maximum to punish the persons involved in the illegal transport of persons on a boat to St. Eustatius early April.
Laveist was referring to Wednesday�s court case when captain and crew member of L�Eternel est Grand had to appear in court on human smuggling charges. The boat had been packed with more than 40 persons and two persons had drowned. The case in question has been postponed.
He said he didn�t want to �meddle,� but merely wanted to let authorities know his thoughts on this �despicable act.� He said he hoped �something meaningful� would come out of the court case and urged the Court to use the law to its �maximum.�
�The law is there and it should be used. The spirit of the law is clear,� said Laveist, who was instrumental in getting through Parliament, at the time he was a Member of Parliament, a law making human smuggling a crime instead of a minor offence and raising the penalties. Laveist said if authorities didn�t utilise the law to its fullest, it �might as well be taken off the books.�
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