Guyanese debater Himanshi Kumar was adjudged Best Speaker at the 19th Regional Youth Parliament, held virtually on Thursday as part of the 48th Conference of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
According to a statement from Parliament of Guyana, the sitting was held under the theme “Youth Leadership in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” while the wider conference focused on strengthening parliaments in the digital age.
Kumar, who performed the role of Opposition Leader, challenged the proposition that the foreign development and ownership of artificial intelligence technologies threaten Caribbean sovereignty.
She argued that the region’s approach to AI should focus on effective regulation, institutional capacity and regional cooperation, rather than treating the foreign ownership of technology as an inherent loss of sovereignty.
Kumar contended that sovereignty rested principally on a state’s ability to exercise legal and political authority and did not require it to own every technology it used. She cited the European Union’s AI Act and General Data Protection Regulation as examples of laws capable of influencing the conduct of multinational technology companies.
She also referred to the UNESCO Caribbean AI Policy Roadmap 2024 and CARICOM’s digital-resilience initiatives as measures through which the region could pursue technological development while retaining regulatory authority.
Kumar warned that a greater democratic threat could arise from the misuse of AI by governments and other powerful actors. She said governments could use claims of “digital sovereignty” to justify excessive control over algorithms, surveillance systems and citizens’ data.
She concluded that although technological dependence posed risks, it did not necessarily amount to the surrender of sovereignty. The Caribbean’s digital future, she argued, would depend on the region possessing “the knowledge to understand it, the laws to regulate it, the institutions to hold it accountable, and the political power to decide how it serves our people.”
The proceedings were judged by Bermuda parliamentarian Jarion Richardson, Jamaican Association for Debating and Empowerment founder Germaine Barrett and Jamaican law student Jordaina Denton.
Richardson commended the participants for the quality of their arguments and delivery, while noting that Kumar distinguished herself through both the content and presentation of her case.
Kumar was previously named Best Speaker in the finals of Guyana’s Speaker’s National Youth Debating Competition.
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