Small protest mounted in opposition to firing of Professor Brendan Bain

A dozen protestors gathered on Wednesday morning in front of  the regional headquarters of the University of  the West Indies, Mona campus, to protest against the dismissal of  retired professor Brendan Bain as head of  the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network (CHART).

The university announced the termination of  Professor Bain's contract on Tuesday following concerns from more than 30 advocacy groups across the Caribbean about his expert testimony in a Belizean court case seeking to challenge laws criminalising buggery.

The protestors wore black and taped their mouths shut. The masking tape over their mouths read "freedom of  expression."

Punished for dissent

Protestor Shirley Richards said she was there as a concerned Jamaican. In the opinion of the protesters, she said, the action taken agains Professor Bain was proof of "that with this agenda, once you're not allowed to dissent, and once you dissent, you're punished!" 

She said the small protest was an early indication of  opposition to the university's decision, and that there was more to come.

HRMAJ

Another group - the Human Resource Management Association of  Jamaica (HRMAJ) - has also raised concern about the UWI's decision to sack Professor Bain.

HRMAJ, in a statement to the media on Wednesday morning, said, in addressing the issue it had expected that the UWI would have properly reviewed and interpreted its policy guidelines on public commentary by its employees before the decision was made.

The human resource group also expressed disappointment at what it said appeared to have been the conduct of  due process in the news media and the haste by a respected employer to disregard the contribution of  a long serving employee.

The HRMAJ is also challenging the UWI to remain firm in its resolve to ensure that employee's right to their personal views is protected and that management's responsibility to ensure fair process in an alleged infraction is honoured.

The Medical Association of Jamaica (of which Professor Bain is a member) also expressed deep disappointment at the dismissal, noting the pioneering work that Professor Bain had done in the treatment and care of persons with HIV/AIDS from the onset of the disease in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

NAC

However, the responses to the UWI's decision have not all been unfavourable. The National AIDS Committee (NAC) issued a statement on Tuesday night, welcoming the decision of the UWI to remove Professor Bain from the leadership of CHART. 

"Professor Bain’s participation in the case of Caleb Orozco v. the Attorney General for Belize et al, at the specific request of, and on behalf of a group of churches who were opposing the suit brought by the Claimant, gave rise to a conflict of interest and threatened to destroy a hard-won partnership forged between the University, members of the MSM community and the HIV response in Jamaica and the region.  His continued leadership of that institution would have undermined the very purpose and raison d’être of CHART," the statement said.

According to the NAC, the call by civil society to remove professor Bain "was not a quest to muzzle him or to interfere with freedom of speech." Neither, it said, were the issues raised in the call from civil society about LGBT rights, "but about an approach to the regional HIV response based on the evidence available to those working in the field.  That evidence shows that punitive laws and which criminalize sexual intimacy between men who have sex with men, increases their vulnerability by subjecting them to stigma, discrimination and violence and makes members of the MSM population hard to reach with prevention and treatment services."