On the Map at Close Encounters exhibit in Florida

On the Map will be screened at the Art Gallery at Florida Gulf Coast University in "Close Encounters: Contemporary Art by Caribbean Women", which has been curated by Patricia Fay.

In the 21st century, women artists from the Caribbean region are producing intensely personal interpretations of their heritage in a range of media including photography, video, performance, painting, ceramics, mixed media, sculpture and installation art. These works highlight an acute awareness of the social and psychological complexities of the post-colonial landscape, and offer an intimate examination of the rich and subtle culture of an often misunderstood geography. Through the eyes and minds of contemporary women artists we can experience the Caribbean as a personal, lived reality, as a close encounter between self and place.

Gallery Hours
Monday – Friday 10am to 4pm
Saturday 11am to 2pm
Or by appointment

For more information, contact 239.590.7199 or visit our website:
artgallery.fgcu.edu

CARICOM helps Jamaica to maintain the JDF in Haiti

IT IS GOOD that Jamaica and the rest of its Caribbean Community partners have worked out their problems relating to cost-sharing for the Bruce Golding government in Kingston to maintain the Jamaica Defence Force relief operational base in earthquake-devastated Haiti until March 5.

Severely cash-strapped long before the earthquake nightmare descended upon poverty-stricken Hait on the night of January 12, Jamaica had, nevertheless, committed itself to playing a key role as the identified central focal point by CARICOM for its coordinated regional response in the provision of emergency relief aid and rescue operations.

Read full article here.

Jamaican writer, Honor Ford-Smith, remembers Caribbean icon - Rex Nettleford

By Honor Ford-Smith

The first time I met Rex Nettleford was when he came to our Kingston High school in 1968 around the time of the Rodney uprising to speak to our 6th form about Black Power. I don’t remember what he said because his vocabulary consisted mainly of words I had never heard before and his utterances bounced off my 16 year old brain before I could catch hold of them and translate them into plain English. But I remember vividly how his presence filled our Presbyterian classroom and how his pink shirt glowed against his obsidian skin. I remember the elegance of his postures and the hand that moved back and forth with his words.

Read full article here.

David Rudder reflects on Haiti and the Caribbean

Published on: 2/8/2010.


by MICHELLE SPRINGER

HE PENNED IT 24 YEARS AGO after a striking experience in New York City.

Today, David Michael Rudder's Haiti I'm Sorry has become the global anthem - in his words, "the road march around the world" - as people everywhere mourn in unison for the earthquake-stricken republic.

But the song, Rudder assured Monday's Man, is more than a requiem for the beloved land its people call Ayiti Chérie.

"Initially I realised that most of us in the English-speaking Caribbean don't know what's happening in the French or Spanish Caribbean, and likewise people in the French Caribbean don't know what's happening in the English Caribbean.

"One day I was in Brooklyn with a friend of mine and we took a cab with a Haitian driver, who charged us a little more than we're accustomed to paying," he said in a recent interview.

Read full article here.

On the Map to be screened at exhibition of Caribbean Women artists in Florida

"Close Encounters; Contemporary Art by Caribbean Women" has been guest curated by Patricia Fay, Associate Professor of Art at Florida Gulf Coast University. The show includes Ana Mendieta, Yasmin Spiro, Elsa Mara, Babette Wainwright, Yunia Pavon and Traditional Caribbean Women Potters and runs from February 18- March 19 2010. The Gallery will host a Talk on Thursday February 18th from 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm, followed by the Opening Reception from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.


"…Caribbean artists are using the gallery space not so much as hallowed ground for the awed contemplation of power objects and other sacred paraphernalia on which artness has been conferred but as an arena for deploying images that raise questions or attempt to stimulate a debate about our mutual experiences as citizens of a postcolonial Caribbean."
Annie Paul, in Small Axe, Number 6, 1999

For more information, read here.

Special OAS Committee Analyzes Return of Migrants in America February 4, 2010

The Special Committee on Migration Issues of the Organization of American States (OAS) today conducted a workshop titled, “The Return of Migrants: Challenges and Opportunities.” The meeting, which took place at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., was presided by the Permanent Representative of Haiti to the Organization, Ambassador Duly Brutus, and featured experts on migration from various American countries.

During the event the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, said that the phenomenon of migration is one of the organization’s priorities because it affects, almost without exception, all of the hemisphere’s countries. He recalled that people in the Americas migrate much more within the region than outside and added that “the problems caused by migration can only be solved through dialogue, never through confrontation.” He also said that “this dialogue is essential in developing an effectively fruitful cooperation to solve any negative situations that current migratory trends may be generating.”

The meeting sought to share and promote regional initiatives and programs to help migrants that come back to their countries of origin to easily reintegrate the labor market and their communities, with special attention to programs that focus on involuntary deportation and those that include a gender perspective.

Among the speakers were Keisha Livermore, Head of the Representative Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Jamaica; Hernán Holguín, Under Secretary of Citizenship and Solidarity of the National Secretariat for Migrants (SENAMI) within the Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador; Pedro Valenzuela, Chief of the Office of Return and Welcome of the Ministry of External Relations of Uruguay; Margarita de Lourdes Guerra Guerrero, Assistant Director General of Social Programs of the Unit on Migration of the Social Development Secretariat of the Government of Mexico; Sonia Lokki of La Cimade, France; and Richard Scott, Regional Representative of IOM for North America and the Caribbean.

At the workshop’s conclusion, Ambassador Brutus said: “The reason for our presence here at this Special Committee on Migration is to share our experiences on subjects as important as that of migration and make mutual decisions on best practices and to agree on how to make progress on common initiatives, all of this with a spirit of solidarity and unity, always with respect to human rights. Today’s debate is located in that context and I hope it will continue in this way in the future.”

The workshops was carried out from 10:00 to 17:30 EST (15:00 to 22:30 GMT), in the Simón Bolívar Hall at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was transmitted live on the OAS website.

For more information visit http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/videos.asp

Haiti - CARICOM missing in Action- by Andy Johnson

THE Caricom Secretariat, reeling under the impact of the poverty of concrete action from its representative member governments on the question of assistance to Haiti, issued a statement six days ago, announcing a decision to establish a small Haiti unit.

It is to be headed by Colin Granderson, the Trinidad and Tobago diplomat who is the most experienced hand on Haiti now at the Secretariat, but who is substantively the Assistant Secretary General, with responsibility for international relations.

Establishment of the unit was decided upon on January 29, by members of the Caricom Bureau, meeting in the Surinamese capital Paramaribo, on the margins of a Caricom Youth Forum.

From what the statement said, the decision was taken on the basis of reports presented to those Bureau members, from Granderson and Jeremy Collymore, the executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). Both men visited Haiti two weeks ago, and then attended the one-day meeting on Haiti in Montreal, Canada, on January 25. At that meeting, the Caricom statement said, ’groundwork’ was laid for the convening of a full fledged ’international conference on the reconstruction of Haiti’.

Read full article here.

The Caribbean mourns the death of an unapologetic regionalist

Jamaica lost one of its most revered cultural figures last night when Professor Rex Nettleford, vice-chancellor emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and founder of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), died, just hours before he would have celebrated his 77th birthday.

Nettleford passed away at George Washington Hospital in Washington, DC, one week after suffering a heart attack at a hotel in the United States capital.

Last night, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said he was deeply saddened at the news of Nettleford's death.

"Jamaica and the entire world have lost an intellectual and creative genius, a man whose contribution to shaping and projecting the cultural landscape of the entire Caribbean region is unquestionable," Golding said.

"Rex Nettleford was an international icon, a quintessential Caribbean man, the professor, writer, dancer, manager, orator, critic and mentor. He has left a void in our world that will be a challenge to fill."

Read full article here.

Marketing migration to St. Vincent...

In defence of Vincentian citizenship


Published on: 2/2/2010 in the Barbados Nation newspaper


THE FIRM declaration this past weekend by Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves against bartering his country's passport under a so-called "economic citizenship" scheme to attract foreign investment, deserves commendation.

As he told the St Vincent and Grenadines parliament last Friday, his administration had set its face against continuation of any such scheme and urged the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to also make abundantly clear its stand against the sale of Vincentian passports as a form of economic citizenship.

At this period of quite challenging financial and economic problems for countries of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM), it is very important that strenuous efforts be made to guard against any kind of bartering with external forces and elements that could prove injurious to national sovereignty and dignity.

Starting in the decade of the 1980s a number of CARICOM countries located within the subregion of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) had become susceptible to an externally-influenced programme of awarding citizenship and passports to foreigners in exchange for economic investment.

As it was, at the outset, so was it to largely prove - a project of doubtful value as a means of attracting serious investment for meaningful economic development in ANY country of this region.

That so-called "economic citizenship" programme had coincided, in some Eastern Caribbean islands, with increasing activities by Taiwan - the breakaway island of the People's Republic of China - to win "recognition" support among political parties that, in turn, became beneficiaries of funding from Taipei, particularly at times of national elections.

However, with passing years the bartering of "citizenship" for "investment" were to significantly diminish and, separately, Taiwan kept losing to China as a preferred partner by countries in this region, with St Lucia to prove a strange case of ditching Beijing for a return to Taipei, and currently the focus of national controversy over recurring instances of chronicled distasteful diplomatic behaviour by its resident representative.

In St Vincent and the Grenadines both Gonsalves' governing Unity Labour Party (ULP) and Arnhim Eustace's NDP (which he inherited from Sir James Mitchell), are known to have close ties with Taiwan.

But though not linked, the economic citizenship programme was suspended by Gonsalves as relations with Taipei continued. He has now disclosed to his parliament receipt of a letter from an unnamed company, dated December 14, 2009, involved in marketing a migration programme representing some 3 500 persons and involving an investment of US$313.8 million (BDS$626.6 million)

Prime Minister Gonsalves has revealed that his written response to the company's offer was that "the highest office in our land is that of citizen and it is NOT for SALE . . .".

A commendable stand, indeed, in defence of the meaning citizenship and sovereignty - a definition that should be applicable not ONLY for Vincentians.

CARICOM Youth Ambassador appeals for help to rebuild the education system in Haiti

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, February 1, 2010 – Haiti’s CARICOM Youth Ambassador Leticia Cadet has made an impassioned plea to the Caribbean Community to help re-build, as a matter of priority, the education system in Haiti. In particular, she wants the regional grouping to provide scholarships for Haitians to attend the University of the West Indies (UWI).

At a special meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in Paramaribo, Suriname, she recalled the devastation caused by the earthquake, which crippled Port-au-Prince on January 12th, leaving in its wake a climbing death toll of more than 200, 000.

Cadet said Haiti needed the support of its partners, including members of the CARICOM Community, to continue providing education to its current students “to avoid creating a potentially detrimental gap in qualified human resources.”

Read full article here.

CARICOM: Haiti looks to CARICOM to rebuild shattered education system

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – Haiti has used the inaugural Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit on Youth Development to make an impassioned plea for assistance in rebuilding its shattered education system following the destruction caused by the powerful earthquake on January 12.

Haiti’s CARICOM Youth Ambassador (CYA), Leticia Cadet, said rebuilding the education system is a matter of priority for her country still reeling from the effects of the earthquake that left an estimated 200, 000 people dead and more than one million homeless.

She presented a petition to a special meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), one of several conferences leading to the two-day summit that ends here on Saturday.

In the petition, Haiti is calling for a “recovery relief effort to support youth development through tertiary education and business development in Haiti …in partnership with CARICOM”.

Read full article here.

Bajans can help Haiti's orphans

Published on: 1/30/2010. Barbados Nation


ALL THOSE WHO GAVE unselfishly to the Help Haiti Now Radiothon and the other ongoing initiatives to assist our brethren in that earthquake ravaged country must be commended.

A people's humanity can be measured in part by their willingness to share their property to help someone in distress without seeking anything in return. On this test, many Barbadians have scored highly.

So as the first shipment of relief supplies leaves these shores today for Haiti via Jamaica, we should be proud that we tried to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Likewise, those of us who flock to the Farley Hill National Park today to patronise the Haiti - Barbados Loves You Concert should be mindful of the unfortunate circumstances which led to the holding of this historic musical extravaganza and give willingly to this worthy effort.

Laudable as these initiatives are, more needs to be done, and can be done, by Barbadians to assist in alleviating the plight of the Haitian people. Here, we speak specifically of the thousands of orphans - little innocent children - who have nowhere or no one to turn to. These children need food, shelter, clothing, schooling and loving care; they need to be off the streets.

Before the earthquake, 15 per cent of Haiti's children were orphaned or abandoned. In the capital Port-au-Prince alone, there were an estimated 380 000 orphans. Since the earthquake, reports suggest that number could have doubled.

The quake has been equally devastating on the orphanages that existed as well. Most are now inhabitable or severely damaged, as well as understaffed. There are now fears that a second wave of casualties will ravage this vulnerable group if they are not evacuated as soon as possible.

The United States government is making it easier for Haitian orphans being adopted by Americans to enter that country. On a case-by-case basis the adoption of orphaned children by US citizens, or who have been matched to prospective adoptive parents who are US citizens is being expedited.

This move has expedited the process for adoption of Haitian orphans and has resulted in several hundred children leaving Haiti for the United States.

What can Barbados do to ease the suffering of these children? Plenty!

We feel Government should mount an initiative to identify and match at least 500 orphans to families here who would want to accommodate them and have the love and adequate financial resources to take care of them.

The children should be able to remain here for up three years in the first instance to give the Haitian government sufficient time to get their orphanages rebuilt and functioning. Local families should then be given the option of adopting the child living with them, if they so desire.

The urgency of this matter demands that Government swiftly pursue such an avenue to help the youngest victims of this tragedy in a visible and tangible manner.

If this action is taken, people would not have to wonder if and how their donations are assisting the Haiti earthquake survivors. Instead, on a daily basis they would be able to contribute to the cause by raising a Haitian child.

Haitian boat people come ashore in Jamaica

Published on: 1/29/2010. Barbados Nation


ST MARY, JAMAICA - The Jamaica Gleaner is reporting that five Haitians came ashore at Stewart Town in St Mary yesterday.

Superintendent in charge of the parish, Dudley Scott, could not initially confirm the story and had said shortly after 3:30 p.m. yesterday a man was picked up in the parish after reports began circulating that Haitians had come ashore.

Scott said the man had not been communicating with the police and appeared to be mute.

He said efforts were being made to have a major from the army communicate with him.

But rumours were already swirling in the parish that a boat with Haitians had come ashore at Stewart Town, near Oracabessa, around 2 p.m. and that the group was taken to the Port Maria Hospital. A police source later confirmed this, but said the police did not, at the time, know where the men would be taken after leaving hospital.

Up to late evening Scott was still contending the police could not confirm the arrival of Haitians. In fact, according to Scott, the mute man had been identified by a caller as a Portland resident.

Jamaica has been making preparations to accept Haitians to the island following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in that country on January 12.

Digicel had donated US$500,000 (J$45 million) to help refurbish buildings to house Haitians who came to Jamaica's shores but there was still some uncertainty about where exactly they would stay. (Jamaica Gleaner)

13 Barbadian doctors going to Haiti

Published on: 1/30/2010.


THIRTEEN DOCTORS with the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) have to date volunteered their services to help Haiti.

This was confirmed yesterday by BAMP president, Dr Carlos Chase. He said the association was now awaiting word from the Chief Medical Officer and the Ministry of Health as regards transportation, where the doctors will be staying, security and other related matters.

The 13 include three each in emergency medicine, general surgery and general practice, and one anaesthetist, ophthalmologist and surgical registrar.

Meanwhile, in Haiti today, reports are that doctors and aid workers are running dangerously low on medical supplies, complicating efforts to treat 200 000 people in need of post-surgery care following the January 12 earthquake and increasing the potential of many more deaths due to infection and disease.

And as days turn to weeks, doctors are warning of a looming public health calamity as earthquake survivors with untreated injuries fail to get proper attention. They're concerned too that poor sanitation can also kill tens of thousands of Haitians living in squalid camps. (SP/AP)

Price of illegal immigrants "too high"

Published on: 1/30/2010. Nation Newspaper


THE COST of illegal immigrants is too high for Barbados to continue to bear.

"I can let you now that [at] one Government school . . . there are quite a few children that have not paid their school fees, and you could look at that right across the spectrum . . . there are school children that cannot pay those fees," said former chief immigration officer Gilbert Greaves.

He was speaking at the first public discussion on the Green Paper On Immigration, held on Thursday evening at the Christ Church Parish Centre.

Greaves also gave an example of how taxpayers are being burdened.

"Right now, in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital there is a gentleman who fell off a ladder working where he should not be working and he was paralysed. He doesn't have a cent to pay for the medical attention he is seeking . . . . Now he has been in the hospital for about six weeks or so and we can find out from the hospital how much the taxpayer is paying [for the treatment] . . . ."

Earlier, in the first public discussion on immigration, Minister of State responsible for Labour and Immigration, Arni Walters defended the proposal for a tougher penalty on employers that flout immigration law. (LW)

Carrington urges regional youth to help build the Community they want

CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington on Wednesday challenged the youth of the Community to look not merely for the benefits that may be coming to them but also to use their “energy, creativity and skill” to help in building the Community that they want.

Secretary General Carrington in an address at the opening of the Regional Youth Forum in Paramaribo, Suriname, noted that “the young people of today will surely be the main beneficiaries, not only of the CSME (CARICOM Single Market and Economy), but also of all the integration arrangements, as we seek to create a ‘Community For All’,” a news release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen stated.

“It is vital therefore,” he added, “that you be among the main builders as well.”

Read full article here.

CARICOM trio to pledge US$1m

Published on: 1/29/2010. Nation newspaper, Barbados


GUYANA, SURINAME and Trinidad and Tobago have pledged the most money in the Caribbean to the Haiti relief effort.

Acting deputy executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, Liz Riley, said each of those countries' governments had pledged US$1 million.

Speaking to the WEEKEND NATION on Tuesday, she said the other countries that pledged money were: St Lucia, US$184 000; Grenada, US$100 000; St Vincent and the Grenadines, US$100 000; Virgin Islands, US$80 000, and Antigua and Barbuda, US$37 000.

Riley said there was no pledge made by the Barbados Government but there was a national relief effort ongoing.

In addition to the pledges, Riley said there were 224 relief workers from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Grenada, The Bahamas, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the Virgin Islands currently in Haiti.

She said it had been agreed that Jamaica was the transit point to get goods to Haiti, adding there was also a medical team in Haiti from Jamaica as well as the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit. (CA)

OUR CARIBBEAN: Thoughts of Thompson for CARICOM

Published on: 1/29/2010.


by RICKEY SINGH

APPARENTLY INSPIRED by the spirit of that great elder statesman and one of the primary architects of the Caribbean Community, Errol Walton Barrow, on Errol Barrow Day a week ago yesterday, Prime Minister David Thompson was to reveal a rather expansive mood on matters of regional integration.

He even ventured as far as to suggest constitutional changes in CARICOM member states that would make it possible for nationals of one country to be eligible to hold political office in another.

Whether this would be by appointment (as senators?) or election on a party ticket is one of the questions that must await answers, when "talk" is translated into "policy" and "implementation" processes take shape.

Read full article here.

Guyana open to short term care for Haitians

Guyana would be prepared to support a regional initiative to relocate survivors of the Haitian earthquake, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo, who also says the country’s homes and hospitals would be open to children that need care.

On Tuesday, Jagdeo told a news conference that his administration would work with Caricom to establish a framework for the migration of Haitians to different parts of the Caribbean. He said that Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington had noted the need for a cautious approach to the issue. Already, the Bahamas has ordered the release of illegal Haitian immigrants and suspended their repatriation, while Jamaica has reported that its government has been putting in place strategies to deal with an influx of refugees from Haiti.

While emphasising that there is yet to be clarity about a common framework to approach the issue, Jagdeo assured that Guyana would do its part. “Ultimately, in the long run, we can’t empty the country of Haitians,” he noted, saying rebuilding efforts need support. “…I would be prepared to work with Caricom to establish a framework that will bring-at least in the short term-temporary relief to those people who may have needs outside of Haiti, including children,” he added.

Jagdeo said he had heard of a move to send child survivors to countries where they could receive care. “We are very interested in that sort of thing and if the region decides on that approach and the Haitian people decided that that is also in their best interest… our homes and hospitals would be open to those children,” he declared. He also said Haitians living in Guyana could bring their family to live with them, while government would fund the cost of bringing Guyanese in Haiti home.

He added that the administration would continue working with Caricom to coordinate the health response, and it is waiting for the cost of the initiative.

According to Jagdeo, the local coordinating committee has been working extremely well and he commended donors for their support, which has mounted to around $250M.

He alluded to horrific images of women and children looking for assistance and receiving none and reiterated the need to do everything possible to help them, since the disaster could have happened anywhere.

He also dismissed “fringe” criticism that Guyana, as a poor country, should not be sending money to Haiti. He called it unbelievably narrow-minded in the face of such a tragedy.

Meanwhile, addressing the US involvement in Haiti, Jagdeo said there is need for more involvement. “What we don’t need in Haiti is less American involvement,” he explained, “we need more American involvement because frankly speaking America has the capacity to deal with this catastrophe that very few countries in our part of the world have.” At the same time, he said the US needs to understand that it needs to work in partnership with the region, and not to shut people out.

Last Thursday, while in a meeting with Iran’s Vice-President Veep Rahimi, Jagdeo accused the US of acting in its own interest around the world and of blocking a visit of regional leaders to the quake-devastated Haiti. A delegation of Caricom leaders, including Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit-the chairman of Caricom-was turned back twice by US officials manning the airport in Port-au-Prince.

Jagdeo said the situation has since improved tremendously with closer collaboration in coordinating efforts. “I recognise the role of the US,” he said, adding that there is no other country in the hemisphere that could take charge of the situation. Jagdeo also said: “The scale of the devastation is too great for any other country, so we are very pleased and what we called for-when I was critical of this-is not less American involvement but more American involvement, more money, more resources, but that it should be done in a collaborative fashion”.

Sr Lanka's boat people: Dying to strike it rich

For 50 young Sri Lankans who had paid up to 1,500 dollars each for the chance of a new life, a five-week voyage in the hold of a fishing boat ended in an Australian camp for illegal migrants.


Sri Lankan youth Saman Nishantha, who spent six months in jail for illegally trying to leave for Italy by fishing boat in 2003, speaks with AFP at the fishing village of Negombo from where many have used similar craft to leave the island illegally and travel to Europe, Australia or New Zealand in search of jobs.

Their families had sold property and whatever other assets they had to fund the journey which was to have taken the men to New Zealand but nearly cost them their lives after their boat ran aground at Horn Island off the northern tip of Queensland.

After being rescued, they were held for five months at Australia's main immigrant clearing centre on Christmas Island.

Among them were two brothers, Buddhi and Kumar, who were sent back to Sri Lanka in August with the horror of their 35 days on the open seas still very fresh in their minds.

"I thought we would die when we ran out of food and water, but we got help from Indonesian fishermen," Kumar, a 25-year-old mechanic, told AFP. But if I get a chance, I'd still like to try again.

The brothers, who declined to give their full names, had each made a down payment of 1,500 dollars for the journey and were expected to pay another 2,000 dollars each on arrival in Ne mechanic, told AFP. "But if I get a chance, I'd still like to try again."

Read full article here.

CARICOM's false start in Haiti relief efforts

By CCN senior journalist Andy Johnson

(Trinidad Express) CCN senior journalist Andy Johnson spent five days last week in Haiti, embedded with a contingent of the members of the Jamaica Defence Force. This is the first part of a series on his journey into Haiti.

Port-au-prince, Veldia V Coleby, is the Second Secretary and Vice Consul at the Bahamas Embassy in Haiti. The Bahamas is one of a few of the Member States of Caricom with diplomatic missions resident in Haiti. Barbados is another one of those few.

At dusk on Friday, Ms Coleby was not clear about what was the Caribbean Community’s effective res-ponse to the latest tragedy in Haiti caused by the earthquake on January 12, which registered 7.0 on the Richter scale.

Read full article here.

17 migrants killed by Egyptian police since May

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Monday, January 11, 2010, 16:25

Israel to build wall on Egypt border

Israel's plans to build a security fence along its border with Egypt is of no concern to the Egyptian government as long as it remains on Israeli territory, Egypt's foreign minister said today.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday approved plans to erect the barrier along part of the border and install advanced surveillance equipment to keep out illegal migrants and militants.

"This issue does not concern us at all," Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister said today.

"Israel is building something on its own soil and there is no link between that security fence and our construction along the border with Gaza."

Egypt is constructing an underground barrier to stem Palestinian arms smuggling into Gaza and has played down the scope of the dig on the 14km long frontier.

Hossam Zaki, the ministry's spokesman said Israel had informed Egypt of its plan for the new fence within the past month.

Security sources in North Sinai yesterday said that Israel had not informed the Egyptian authorities.

Egyptian police say the smugglers who ferry migrants to the border region sometimes fire on security forces.

Egyptian police have stepped up efforts to control the frontier following an increase in human trafficking. At least 17 migrants have been killed by Egyptian police since May.

Reuters

Israel’s plan to stem African immigration: Wall on Egypt’s border

Israel says the wall, a $270 million project unveiled Sunday aimed at stemming immigration from Africa, will ensure its Jewish and democratic character.

On Sunday, Israel announced it would build a wall along its southern border with Egypt in a move to secure an area through which thousands of African asylum seekers cross illegally each year.

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Map: Israel's border with Egypt
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Crossing into Israel, African migrants dodge Egyptian bullets, Israeli jail threat
''This is a strategic decision to ensure the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel,'' said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement. ''Israel will remain open to war refugees but we cannot allow thousands of illegal workers to infiltrate into Israel via the southern border and flood our country.”

The construction of two walls – one beginning in Rafah and the other near Israel’s resort town of Eilat – is expected to take two years and will cost an estimated $270 million. Although a start date for building has yet to be announced, the barriers are expected to put a stop to what has become a thorny issue for Israel, namely what to do with thousands of Africans streaming in each year with hopes of finding a better life.

Read full article here.

Drone scheme intended to monitor shipping and detect immigrants

Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the "routine" monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance.

The arms manufacturer BAE Systems, which produces a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for war zones, is adapting the military-style planes for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent police.

Documents from the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office-backed project in which Kent police and others are developing a national drone plan with BAE, have been obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.

They reveal the partnership intends to begin using the drones in time for the 2012 Olympics. They also indicate that police claims that the technology will be used for maritime surveillance fall well short of their intended use – which could span a range of police activity – and that officers have talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies. A prototype drone equipped with high-powered cameras and sensors is set to take to the skies for test flights later this year.

Read full article here.

US Government allows illegal Haitians to stay 18 months

See this BBC link to hear how adoption processes for Haitian babies is being speeded up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8469343.stm

al-Faisal deported from Kenya and sent to Jamaica

CONTROVERSIAL Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, who was deported from Kenya yesterday, is likely to arrive in Jamaica today. He reportedly left the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, aboard a chartered Gulfstream jet flight ZSJGC312.
It is not clear what route the jet would take, but it was reported in Kenya yesterday that South Africa and Qatar both offered to allow the jet carrying the controversial Muslim to refuel.
Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal on arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on May 25, 2007. Al-Faisal was deported from the United Kingdom after serving a seven-year prison term for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
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It was Kenya's second attempt to deport al-Faisal, who had to return to custody in the African country after the failure to secure an intransit visa, as well as refusal of carriers to transport him to Kingston.
Jamaican Government chief spokesman Daryl Vaz, who indicated yesterday that Kingston had been officially informed by Nairobi of al-Faisal's deportation, said the police were prepared for his arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport. "He will be taken in for de-briefing when he arrives," Vaz said.
Added Vaz: "There were still some deportation complications to be worked out, but I know the police are aware and are awaiting his arrival."
Vaz, the minister without portfolio with responsibility for information, told the Observer that the police would be meeting with the local Muslim community to discuss the monitoring of al-Faisal when he returns to Jamaica.
The constabulary's head of operations, Acting Deputy Commissioner Glenmore Hinds, has however made it clear that al-Faisal had not broken any laws in Jamaica.
"We are concerned about anyone who incites the murder of anybody but to the best of our knowledge he did not break any of our laws," Hinds told the Observer on Wednesday.
Local Muslim leaders have, in the meantime, distanced themselves from al-Faisal and have banned him from preaching here.
al-Faisal was arrested on New Year's Eve in Mombassa, Kenya as he left a mosque. Kenyan officials said he was not allowed to preach. He had allegedly encouraged Kenyan Muslims to join al-Shabab, an extremist Islamic group linked to al-Qaida which is based in neighbouring Somalia.
The Jamaican-born Muslim was deported from Britain in 2007 after spending four years in jail for hate preaching and immediately placed on an international terrorist watch list.
He has reportedly called for the murder of Americans, Jews and Hindus.

Haitian migrant asks Trinidad government to let her family in.

A Haitian woman who came to Trinidad 20 years ago to escape political and economic upheaval, is asking Government to allow her daughters who survived last week’s earthquake, to come here on humanitarian grounds.

Marie Helen Bruce said her family survived the quake in the town of Carrefour, where half the buildings collapsed, including theirs.

The family, living on the streets since, also survived Wednesday’s 5.9 magnitude aftershock.

Bruce is among the more than two million Haitians who left Haiti in past decades.

Read full article here.

Without Borders

Published on: 1/22/2010.


CITIZENSHIP of one Caribbean country should not disqualify someone from serving in high political office in another.

That's the view of Prime Minister David Thompson, who said yesterday that such people should not be "disqualified" from serving as legislators in another island.

He was addressing thousands gathered at Bath, St John, to celebrate the birthday of National Hero and former Prime Minister Errol Barrow.

"I find it somewhat flawed that we send . . . our children abroad for education and to gain valuable insight and experience in other lands, but then tell them the legal status they would have acquired while residing in those developed countries would prevent them from serving in and helping to build their own countries as legislators.

"It gets even worse," Thompson added.

Read full article here.

Green Paper Community Meetings to be held over the next three weeks

Community meetings will take place across the island to discuss the Barbados government's Green Paper on Immigration.
Below are the dates and locations of the proposed meetings. The meeting schedule for last Thursday, January 14th, was postponed because PM Thompson was traveling to Jamaica to discuss the earthquake in Haiti.

The next three meetings will take place on:

Thursday January 28th - Christ Church Parish Church Hall 7.30pm

Thursday February 4th - The Alexandra School Auditorium 7.30pm

Thursday February 11th, The Princess Margaret Secondary School Auditorium 7.30pm

The Green Paper proposes a number of changes to the Immigration laws. At UWI, Cave Hill, last evening, as part of the Research Day there, a panel spoke to some of the issues surrounding the debate. Panelists included Retired Judge, Mr. Leroy Inniss, Prof. Rose Marie Antoine, Faculty of Law, and Mr. Elsworth Young, Former PS in Ministry of Labour and Education. The panel was chaired by Dr. Don Marshall.

Come out to these meetings and make your contribution!

Will CARICOM officially include Cuba as a partner in Haiti?

PRIME MINISTER DAVID THOMPSON is quite right in asserting, as he did last week, that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has a "greater obligation" than most other regions of the world in reaching out to Haiti to cope with its horrific earthquake devastation.

Lest, however, CARICOM comes to be unfairly perceived like rich and powerful nations reaching out of a guilt complex in rushing emergency humanitarian aid to a country and people accustomed to being neglected, then there needs to be some creative initiatives for a collective response by the Greater Caribbean.
That means, for example, moving to involve Cuba, and to a lesser extent the Dominican Republic, in practical responses such as the announced plan for CARICOM to establish a field hospital as a priority aid option to care for survivors of the cataclysmic disaster.

The reality of Cuba's proven capacity to deliver doctors and medical supplies at times of natural disasters is recognised well beyond the Caribbean region.

On the other hand, with all the expressed commitment and goodwill being shown for the suffering Haitians, while the dead are being buried in mass graves, and countless injured are crying out for help, CARICOM would be well aware of its own limitations in seeking to respond to the scale of medical personnel, facilities and supplies desperately required.

Before the United States authorities took control of Haiti's international airport last Friday, it was reported that 30 Cuban doctors had already departed to join an estimated 300 of their colleagues in that disaster-plagued nation who have been providing medical aid to Haitian communities within the past two years.

Question is whether CARICOM will now seize this moment to officially request Cuba's involvement in the proposed field hospital and other medical initiatives in Haiti, within the context of the community's functional cooperation agreement with the Cuban government?

Such an opportunity will present itself today at a meeting scheduled for the Dominican Republic, called for by Spain as current chair of the European Union, and at which some CARICOM states are to be represented at heads and ministerial level.

CARICOM, and much moreso the rich and powerful nations, have an obligation to Haiti, to go well beyond short and medium-term humanitarian relief. They must be involved also in sustained social and economic aid for at least a reasonable state of recovery from the country's worst natural disaster since independence in 1804.

Wyclef Jean suggests the migration of people from Port-au-Prince

NEW YORK — Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean defended his charity on Monday in the wake of questions about its practices while calling on the international community to enable the evacuation of his homeland’s earthquake-ravaged capital.

“Port-au-Prince is a morgue,” Jean said at a Manhattan press conference, recounting how he collected the corpses of small children and adults from the festering streets on his recent trip. Tears streamed down his face as he looked into the camera, speaking to his countrymen.

Residents should be evacuated to tent cities outside Port-au-Prince to allow for aid to reach them and so cleanup can begin in earnest, Jean said, asking for help from around the world in building encampments.

Read full article here.

Rudder's Haiti

HAITI
By David Rudder

(You can listen here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PDuOxwAS3I )
Please spread the power of music in this LAMENTATION.

Toussaint was a mighty man
And to make matters worse he was black
Black and back in the days when black men knew
Their place was in the back
But this rebel, he walked through Napoleon
Who thought it wasn't very nice
And so today my brothers in Haiti
They still pay the price...yeah, yeah...

Chorus:
Haiti, I'm sorry
We misunderstood you
One day we'll turn our heads
And look inside you
Haiti, I'm sorry. Haiti, I'm sorry
One day we'll turn our heads
Restore your glory.

Many hands reach out to St. George's
And are still reaching out
To those frightened,
Foolish men of Pretoria
We still scream and shout
We came together in song
To steady the Horn of Africa
But the papaloa come and the babyloa go
And still, we don't seem to care...No, no...

Chorus:
Haiti, I'm sorry
We misunderstood you
But one day we'll turn our heads
And look inside you
Haiti, I'm sorry. Haiti, I'm sorry
One day we'll turn our heads
Restore your glory.

When there is anguish in Port au Prince
It's still Africa crying
We are outing fires in far away places
When our neighbours are just burning.
They say the Middle Passage is gone
So how come overcrowded boats still haunt our lives
I refuse to believe that we good people Will forever turn our hearts
And our eyes...away...

Chorus:
Haiti, I'm sorry
We misunderstood you
One day we'll turn our heads
And look inside you
Haiti, I'm sorry. Haiti, I'm sorry
One day we'll turn our heads
Restore your glory.
Haiti, I'm sorry, sorry...

All of us in the Caribbean and in the world, must offer solidarity to Haiti, not help

By Alissa Trotz

Alissa Trotz is Editor of the In the Diaspora Column

It is now nearly one endless week since the earthquake that devastated Haiti, shattering lives and communities. In Toronto, where I am based, the Haitian diaspora (one of the largest outside of Haiti) has come out en masse, organizing support while mourning and searching for missing or dead relatives and friends. One event planned in Ottawa will be called “AYITI VIVAN” (Haiti is ALIVE!). These initiatives are part of a longer Haitian tradition known as konbit (collective work), and they continue on the ground and in the diaspora. Haitians are engaged and are mobilizing as they always have, taking the lead even as they must be overwhelmed with sorrow and loss. We must demonstrate our solidarity, and not just in the short-term, when the emergency requirements are so crucial. We can all ask ourselves what might be the best ways that we can each offer meaningful support, now and in the longer-term. For example I have received distressing messages about Haitian colleagues dead or missing. One e-mail said simply and heartbreakingly that “University Quisqueya, the Université d’État d’Haïti and many high schools have collapsed, some with teachers and students.” As a teacher, one of the meaningful commitments I can make is to organize with others at our places of work and professional associations to offer support for the rebuilding of Haiti’s educational infrastructure.

Read full article here.

Barbados' Green paper to be discussed at Cave Hill

Dr. Don Marshall, Senior Fellow at SALISES will speak at UWI, Cave Hill campus Monday, January 18th, 5.30pm
at the LT1 in the Roy Marshall Teaching Complex on "Freedom of Movement within the CSME: Barbados Green Paper on Migration" - as part of the Inaugural Research Dat, supporting national and Regional development.

'Radiothon' yields US$.5m in pledges

MORE than US$500,000 in pledges were raised by radio stations within the One Caribbean Media (OCM) network in support of the ’Help Haiti Now’ fund.

From 8 o’clock yesterday morning, seven OCM network stations heard in Grenada, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Kitts, Montserrat and Trinidad and Tobago held a five-hour-long ’radiothon’ to collect the money.

And despite the telephone hiccups experienced by the Hott 93 studios in Trinidad, ’Big George’ Wayne LeBlanc, Warren P, along with other radio personalities, successfully managed to raise more than US$540,000.

Children as young as two years old came into the studios of the various radio stations and gave all they had; others even brought in their piggy banks while one woman collected change from around her house and brought it in a garbage bag, which the announcers claimed weighed more than 50 pounds.

In addition to the stores, factories and food places offering pledges, Government ministers and soca artistes also played their part.

Over in Barbados, reports were that RPB (Red Plastic Bag) was waving a flag in front of the Nation newspaper, urging people to donate while artistes like H2O Phlo visited Hott 93 and made significant contributions. -AA

Walcott and Haiti

Derek Walcott, the Carib-bean’s foremost poet and playwright, who was born in Castries, St Lucia on January 23, 1930, turns 80 this weekend. The distinguished writer, who is also a painter as well as critic of the arts and literature, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. In Trinidad, where he lived for 17 years between 1959 and 1977, a lavish birthday celebration put up by the UWI, St Augustine Campus was completed only yesterday, built around an academic conference titled Interlocking Basins of the Globe.

Among the many topics being discussed was Walcott’s artistic and intellectual engagement with Haiti, which dates back to 1949 when he was writing his earliest plays. That engagement continued through other plays and a film. It was therefore one of the key discussion points and subjects of analysis during the celebrations.

Read full article here.

Jamaican's rally to Haiti's cause

JAMAICANS continue to rally support for Haiti, offering assistance in cash, kind and service to the millions of people left displaced by last Tuesday's powerful earthquake which killed hundreds of thousands and crumbled the majority of the buildings in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

Jamaicans have, in the past three days, contributed more than $6 million in cash to the Haiti Crisis Fund established by the RJR Communication Group, using account number 822317 at the Cross Roads branch of Scotiabank.
RJR started the fund with a quarter of a million dollars on Wednesday and has received large deposits as well as deposits as small as $40. Hundreds of people, RJR said, also took thousands of items to its 32 Lyndhurst Road offices and several others joined its staff in the evaluation, packing and handing over process to aid agencies.
Courts Jamaica staff also joined the RJR workers in the evaluation and packing process.

Read full article here.

CARICOM blocked from landing at Haitian airport ...USA takes control of Haitian airport

THE CARIBBEAN Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devasted country’s aiport, now under the control of the United States.

Consequently, the Caricom ’assessment mission’, that was to determine priority humanitarian needs resulting from the mind-boggling earthquake disaster of Haiti last Tuesday, had to travel back from Jamaica to their respective home destinations..

On Friday afternoon the US State Department confirmed signing two ’Memoranda of Understanding’ with the Government of Haiti that made ’official that the United Stateas is in charge of all inbound and outbound flights and aid off-loading...’

Read full article here.

Today, we are all Haitian," says Caribbean Communications Body

Dr. Basil Springer, founder and Director of the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx), declared "Haiti's crisis provides an opportunity to lay a strong foundation on which to reduce the wealth divide; the regional and international travel and tourism community must also help to restore the glory of a nation to which we as Caribbean people will always be indebted in the struggle for independence.We must all urgently rally around and support the Haitian people in their thrust for socio-economic independence. Today, we are all Haitian."
"And, this is not a new nation - Haiti is the first independent black republic and indeed the second independent state in the Americas," he asserted.

While scanning the region's papers this morning, it is apparent that the Caribbean is unified with Haiti in its moment of tragedy. We are one Caribbean. We are one people.

Artists in Trinidad are coordinating an art auction to raise funds through the sale of their work - banks, restaurants, government and civil society are all united in one effort to respond to our brothers and sisters in need. There is no talk of difference. "Today, we are all Haitian." Hopefully the Haitian people will begin to receive the water and medical attention today, while the region and the world pour into that country to offer their assistance.

RELIEF CHAOS - CONFUSION AFFECTING HAITI AID EFFORTS

BY ERICA VIRTUE Observer writer ?virtue@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, January 15, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two days after a magnitude-7 earthquake devastated the capital of the Western Hemisphere’s most impoverished nation — Haiti — the injured and dying remained in need of aid yesterday, while chaos, confusion and congestion reigned throughout much of Port-au-Prince, even as the death toll stood at 7,000 and counting.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding headed a team yesterday to the country to get a first-hand assessment of the situation on the ground, as well as offer Jamaica’s condolences, friendship and assistance to its neighbour and fellow Caribbean Community (Caricom) member

Read full article here.

One Caribbean Media to broadcast 4-hr radiothon on Saturday January 16th

HELP is on the way for quake-stricken Haiti.

This was the assurance given by several local businesses and non-governmental organisations who have been working around the clock, searching for a way to get food and other basic necessities to the island since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit on Tuesday.

Among them are Scotiabank, First Citizens, One Caribbean Media, Blue Waters, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations (Fitun), Royal Bank of Canada (parent company of RBTT Financial Group), Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Trinidad Chapter, Congress of the People and the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (Doma).

Read full article here.

CARICOM heads for Haiti today

CARICOM Chairman Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica will lead a fact-finding mission to Haiti today following the catastrophic earthquake on Tuesday.

In a statement yesterday, the first since the quake, the regional grouping – of which Haiti is a member – said it has been collaborating with the United States Office of Disaster Assistance (OFDA) based in Miami, Florida.

Further, it has accepted an offer from the Government of Australia for immediate assistance to help with the rapid response effort.

Accompanying Prime Minister Skerrit to Haiti today will be Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson, Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding and CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington, the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen said.

The Dominican Prime Minister held consultations throughout Wednesday with his colleague Heads of Government as well as with other leaders in the hemisphere.

Read full article here.

After residing in Barbados for 10 years, CARICOM national being deported & leaving behind husband and children

by MARIA BRADSHAW

HEARTBROKEN!

That is how a Guyanese woman who has been living in Barbados for ten years is feeling today as she prepares to leave and head back to her homeland.

Melissa (she does not want her surname revealed) will be leaving her husband, who is also Guyanese but has a permit to work here, her nine-year-old daughter who was born here and her 15-year-old son behind because immigration officials did not grant her immigrant status, even under the just-ended amnesty for illegal immigrants.

In 2001 she was denied a work permit and in 2007 she went before a review committee after applying for immigrant status and was turned down. She appealed and went before a second review committee in June 2009. In November she received the news from the committee that her application for immigrant status was denied again and that she had three weeks to leave the island.

Read full article here.

Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Green Paper on Immigration

If you have not yet read the Green paper on Immigration, go to this link and access it here.

http://www.gisbarbados.gov.bb/Green_Paper_On_Immigration_Policy.pdf

On Thursday, January 14th, 2009, Prime Minister David Thomspon and members of the Immigration Department will be hosting a town hall meeting to discuss the contents of the Green Paper. The event is free and open to the public and will begin at 7.30pm at Solidarity House in the city.

"MY NAVEL STRING BURIED RIGHT HERE"

"I am charged with landing improperly (in Barbados) and for giving a false statement relative to my place of birth........ I don’t know where the hell I was born, but I was told Barbados......."

Rt. Excellent Clement Payne (1937)

"The celebrated national poet of Guyana, Martin Carter, reminds us..... that we represent the expectations of five million human beings, and that what we achieve or betray concerns not only the living but those who are not yet born........ There is a fundamental theme on which I should like to think there can be no difference. And that is the absolute necessity to promote the solidarity and the soverignty of this regional Caribbean family, and also the absolute obligation to discover those strategies and mechanisms which will ultimately lead to unity of action in all major areas of our economic, social and political life"

Rt. Excellent Errol Barrow (1986)

As the current Government of Barbados prepares itself to amend the Constitution in order to deny citizenship to the children of certain categories of Caribbean migrants who are born in Barbados, we have to seriously ask ourselves whether, just as the late Errol Barrow forewarned, we are not on the verge of betraying not only the existing 5 million people of our Caribbean Community, but also the countless generations that are "not yet born".

Last year, the Barbados Government issued a so-called "Green Paper" on a "Comprehensive Review of Immigration Policy and Proposals for Legislative Reform". And the most significant proposal contained in the Green Paper was the suggestion that the existing constitutional scheme of according citizenship to all children born in Barbados should be discontinued, and replaced with a system in which children born to undocumented migrants, to persons who are on work permits, or to persons who merely have permission to "reside and work" in Barbados, should not acquire Barbadian citizenship.

What makes this proposal all the more reprehensible is the widespread knowledge that it was motivated by a desire to specifically target the children of our Guyanese, Vincentian, St Lucian, Dominican and Jamaican brothers and sisters! As virtually all Barbadians know, and as has been confirmed by authoritative spokespersons of the government, the current Administration is not concerned about European, American, Chinese or Indian migration to Barbados: rather, their fundamental objective is to clamp down upon the migration to Barbados of our fellow Caribbean people.

The system of according citizenship to all babies born on Barbadian soil has been in place since the birth of our nation, and has served us well over the years. Why do we wish to change it now?

Why do we want to follow the path of some of the most racist and xenophobic countries in denying citizenship to certain categories of babies born on our soil? Why do we wish to give comfort and support to racists in the U.K and U.S.A who have urged their governments to adopt this type of policy against Barbadian and other Caribbean migrants to those countries?

Intelligent Barbadians need to ask themselves where this new policy is taking us, for the current Government seems to want to take us in the direction of a small, narrow, insular Barbadian nation, rather than towards the future of an expansive, multi-territory Caribbean economy and nation. Can we really envisage our children being satisfied to be confined indefinitely to a little 166 square mile nation and an economy of tourism and off-shore services? Is this really all that we aspire to?

And by the way, our national hero Clement Payne was born in Trinidad.

DAVID A. COMISSIONG - President

Nurses' exit leaving a void

Published on: 1/13/2010.


KINGSTON - With the resignation
of 77 of the hospital's nurses last year, most of whom left for greener pastures overseas, the University Hospital

of the West Indies (UHWI) is
facing the daunting challenge
of finding senior nurses to fill managerial positions at the institution and to mentor younger nurses.

The problem was highlighted
by senior director of nursing at the UHWI, Beverly Atkinson, who was responding to questions at the weekly Monday exchange meeting
of editors and reporters at the Observer's Kingston offices.

Read full article here.

Oranges and Hand prints used in demonstration in support of immigrants

Mock blood hand prints and oranges are seen in central Rome during a demonstration in support of immigrants, Tuesday Jan. 12, 2010. U.N. human rights officials said Tuesday that they were deeply worried about Italy's deep-rooted racism against migrants following clashes in a southern town between African farm workers, residents and police. Hundreds of Africans fled the farm town of Rosarno in the underdeveloped southern region of Calabria in trains, cars and caravans of buses arranged by authorities after two days of violence last week that erupted when two migrants were shot with a pellet gun in an attack they blamed on racism. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

No Place to Settle

Published on: 1/12/2010 in the Barbados nation newspaper


NAIROBI - The radical Jamaican cleric who was deported to Gambia last week has been returned to Kenya, Kenyan news media reported late on Sunday.

It was the second time Kenya had tried unsuccessfully to deport the cleric, Abdullah el-Faisal, who was arrested a week ago in Mombasa.

The Kenyan authorities said Faisal's history of radical statements and connections with convicted terrorists made him a threat to Kenya's security.

Kenya had flown him to Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, according to news reports. From there, he was scheduled to fly to Gambia and then to Jamaica. But airlines in Nigeria refused to fly him to Gambia, news media reported.

Kenya's efforts have been hampered by the refusal of several countries to allow Faisal to pass through their borders or travel on their airlines.

Last Tuesday, the Kenyan authorities reportedly drove him to the border of Tanzania because he had entered Kenya from there, but Tanzania refused him entry.

Last Thursday, Gambia offered to help get him to Jamaica, but now it is unclear how he can travel to Gambia.

Muslim leaders and human rights activists said on Sunday that they had spotted Faisal at a Nairobi prison.

"He is being held at the Industrial Area Prison and we don't understand why he is there because he has never been charged in court," local news outlets quoted a Muslim human rights official as saying.

Faisal was convicted in Britain in 2003 of inciting racial hatred for urging his followers to kill Hindus, Christians, Jews and Americans, and he was accused of influencing one of the bombers who struck the London transit system in July 2005.

Britain deported him to Jamaica in 2007, but it is n

Deportee aid programme now open

The US$3m ($615m) United States project, which aims to provide tailored assistance to deportees returning to Guyana as part of a pilot project to support their reintegration into the society, has begun operations and is inviting remigrants experiencing difficulties to contact it.

According to an advertisement in the newspapers yesterday the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which signed an agreement with the government in June of last year, is asking persons who know someone who has been deported to Guyana or those who would have found it difficult to resettle in Guyana to dial telephone number 226-4732. Those who find it difficult to secure a job or are considering opening their own businesses can also dial the number.

It was revealed last year at the signing that the project has budgeted for some 250 returnees here. Funds were also earmarked for a similar regional programme in The Bahamas. The US had previously implemented the project in Haiti.

Read full article here.

Pope Benedict XVI urges Italy to respect migrants

Pope Benedict XVI has called on Italians to respect the rights of immigrants.
It comes after a wave of violence against African farm workers in southern Italy which left some 70 people injured.
Police have evacuated hundreds of Africans by bus from the town of Rosarno, in Calabria.
Correspondents say the problem is closely related to organised crime in the region.
Pope Benedict XVI spoke out strongly in favour of the rights of poor African farm workers, who have been the target of violence in recent days.
About 70 people have been injured, including migrants, local residents and police officers trying to restore order.

Read full article here.