Montserrat is one of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean, with a population of about 5,000 people. It adopted a new Constitution in 2010 containing a chapter on fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. The Constitution provides for the creation of a Complaints Commission that is mandated to help resolve complaints about human rights violations, in addition to traditional legal remedies.
Montserrat is currently bound by five UN human rights treaties: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention against Torture (CAT) and Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). It has not yet had the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) extended to it. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) also applies to Montserrat and individuals have the right to bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights where no other remedy exists in Montserrat.
Project activities 2008-2010
In October 2010, 50 people from 11 government offices and public agencies and 10 civil society organisations took part in three days of human rights training.
Four persons (two from the public service and two from civil society) participated in the CEDAW workshop held in Anguilla in October 2010.
Under the technical assistance facility, Montserrat is currently preparing a booklet in plain English for ordinary people that explains the human rights protected in the new Constitution.
The Montserrat Red Cross ran an awareness-raising campaign funded by the Challenge Fund about the human rights of people with HIV and AIDS in 2010, culminating in a festival at the carnival in December.
The Alliougana Human Rights Group (a coalition of civil society organisations established after the human rights training) is currently running a project under the Challenge Fund to reach 60% of the population of Montserrat with human rights awareness activities, including local group meetings, media events, group training, focus groups and web-based information.
Project plans for 2011
In 2011, Montserrat will be developing a national human rights action plan. Montserrat will also undertake a review of its laws and policies as a first step towards extending CEDAW.
In Montserrat, a steering committee helps to direct the project, consisting of Anne Thomas (Montserrat Red Cross), Oris Sullivan (Attorney-General’s Office), Rose Willock (freelance journalist) and Denise Phillip (Labour Commissioner, who is also the project contact. Her e-mail is phillipd@gov.ms.