It is a bitter irony that Trinidad and Tobago, which helped bring the International Criminal Court (ICC) into existence, should now turn its back on the court to curry favour with Washington, says former UNC MP/minister Vasant Bharath.
Yesterday, the former minister accused the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Government of having an “obsession” with Washington and surrendering T&T’s sovereignty.
“It’s clear Washington’s hostility towards the ICC is dictating T&T’s diplomatic posture and that this country is firmly in Washington’s back pocket – the real cost of this slavish, submissive alignment is the damage caused to T&T’s national interests when policies and politicians change in Washington,” Bharath warned.
Bharath spoke a day after T&T abstained for the first time in 20 years from voting on a United Nations resolution on the International Criminal Court. Former prime minister and president ANR Robinson was a driving force behind the court’s establishment.
The US Trump administration has maintained an aggressive lobbying campaign against the ICC, including sanctions aimed at dismantling the court.
Yesterday Bharath said, “It’s increasingly clear that Kamla Persad Bissessar and her makeshift Government is intent on destroying every longstanding relationship and position of principle and integrity held and treasured by T&T for decades. The most troubling feature is the emerging pattern of diplomatic subservience towards Washington, even when that accommodation requires T&T to abandon longstanding positions and compromise its independent foreign policy identity.”
Bharath said TT’s abstention on the ICC matter is not an inconsequential diplomatic adjustment. “It is a departure from a position the country helped create and one the Government defended only last year,” he added.
He said in 2005, T&T told the UN General Assembly that it remained unwavering and resolute in its support of the ICC’s mandate, independence and integrity.
Bharath said on Monday, it suddenly changed. He questioned why.
“What changed? What compelling national interest required this departure? T&T is an independent republic, not an American protectorate. We didn’t acquire independence in 1962 or become a republic in 1976 to exchange British colonial tutelage for diplomatic dependence on Washington.”
