T&T: Government laxity in protecting rights of T&Tians

This Government has to be constantly reminded of its duty to ensure that all law-abiding citizens enjoy the right to life, limb, liberty, security of the person and the enjoyment of property and not to be deprived thereof except by the due process of law.

These constitutional and fundamental human rights and freedoms are not limited to citizens operating legitimately on land but also extend to local fishermen working within our territorial waters and on the high seas.

Although the fishermen do not belong to any powerful business organisation that can whisper its demands directly into the ears of the Executive, the plight of these men ought not to be frivolously dismissed.

The recurrent promise by the Government to upgrade the Coast Guard without any meaningful action to honour its word has led to the loss of life and serious financial hardship to those who have been victims of the increasing incidence of piracy.

While local fishermen are left to mourn the deaths of 21-year-old Shane Abraham, who was shot to death and Rupert Bissoon, who drowned after being forced to jump overboard, two Bajan fishermen were freed in our courts and the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of the charges brought against them remain a mystery.