Fifty-three Guyanese deported from Barbados

– Since amnesty announced, foreign minister says

Fifty-three Guyanese were deported from Barbados since the announcement of that country’s immigration policy, according to local immigration records, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has disclosed.

Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson, at the weekend, had blasted reports on the various criticisms being levelled against his government’s new policy. And for the first time, he gave statistics to support his side. However the figure he gave – four Guyanese deported — contrasts sharply with immigration figures here... Read more

June 30th, 2009

PM scolds leaders

PRIME MINISTER DAVID THOMPSON is disheartened by the responses to his domestic immigration policy coming from regional leaders.

Speaking to reporters after opening a play park in Gall Hill, St John, yesterday, he said it had never been his approach to get involved in the internal politics of another country.

He was responding to criticism from some regional leaders about his stance on immigration.... Read more

June 30th, 2009

Bourne: Let due process prevail

GEORGETOWN - Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) president Dr Compton Bourne says the issue of undocumented immigrants in Barbados should be handled with much more sensitivity, adding that there are too many stories of people being rounded up.

Bourne, who is in Guyana as guest speaker at the 27th Annual Caribbean Conference of Chartered Accountants, said in an exclusive interview.... Read more at Nation News

June 29th, 2009

GHRA SECOND QUARTERLY MEETING 2009

The second Quarterly Meeting for 2009 of the Executive Committee of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) was held on Saturday, June 27, 2009. The following concerns dominated discussions. Read full article

Note: See # 2 Expulsion of Guyanese from Barbados 

PM stands firm

by MARIA BRADSHAW

PRIME MINISTER David Thompson has no intention of shouting across the Caribbean Sea at, or with colleague Prime Ministers, or other high ranking government officials regarding the issue of immigration.

Yesterday, Thompson in a statement to the Press, said he would be holding a Press conference with journalists when he visits Guyana next week to reiterate Barbados' policy position on immigration and the free movement of CARICOM nationals in and out of the country.

"I have said before and I repeat today that I have no intention of shouting across the Caribbean Sea....Read full article at Nation News

June 28th, 2009

'Lucky' escape

"Ryan”, a Guyanese national living in Barbados since May 2005, escaped capture by immigration authorities.

In the wee hours one morning this month, an apartment on the South Coast was raided by immigration and police officers.
“Ryan” (not his real name),  a Guyanese national living in Barbados since May 2005, was not at home at the time and thus escaped capture and deportation. The officers had been looking  for illegal aliens.
“I slept out that night and when I came home the landlord said I was lucky because  about 15 others had been  dragged up earlier....Continue reading at Nation News

June 25th, 2009

Only four Guyanese deported since June 1- PM Thompson

By Stabroek staff

-Acknowledges early-morning raids

Amid a furore over the treatment of illegals, Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson says only four Guyanese have been deported since June 1 but he acknowledged that there have been early morning raids against the undocumented.

Speaking at a press conference in Barbados on Saturday, the PM said he is bewildered and disgusted at the... Continue reading

In the Dispora..

A section of the audience at the Caricom Diaspora Forum meeting in Toronto. (Photo by Gerald Paul)

Caribbean Unity at a Crossroads

By Alissa Trotz (Editor of the In the Diaspora Column)

A capacity Caribbean audience, over 400 strong, gathered at the University of Toronto on May 8th to attend a Caricom Diaspora Public Forum, described by Michael Lashley, Consul General of Trinidad and Tobago as the “first event of its kind in all the decades since the countries of the Caribbean have moved into independence” (not entirely accurate, since if memory serves me correctly the West Indian Commission held public meetings in several diasporic cities). Inside the auditorium, the Caricom standard, the flag of the integration movement, was projected on a massive screen, surrounded by smaller flags of all the member states. Read more at Stabroek News

June 29th, 2009

No crackdown on Guyanese

By Shawn Cumberbatch

THERE has been no Immigration crackdown against Guyanese and other non-nationals in Barbados and Prime Minister David Thompson has the proof.

Eight non-nationals, including four Guyanese, have been deported from Barbados this month, but 177, including 71 from Guyana have had their stays extended, Thompson revealed yesterday. Read more at the Barbados Advocate

June 28th, 2009

HEALTH DRAIN Illegal immigrants now a burden, says minister

by WADE GIBBONS

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS in Barbados have started to affect the country's social services adversely and Government cannot ignore that situation.

Minister of Health Donville Inniss disclosed that public health facilities were under mounting pressure as a result of having to deal with the high number of undocumented immigrants. Read more at Nation News

June 29th, 2009

Migration linked to 'problems' at home

by GERCINE CARTER

CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES must unite to tackle the political, social and economic problems which affect their citizens and lead to them migrating to other nations. 

Anglican priest Canon Wayne Isaacs has suggested this as the answer to immigration woes that have become the subject of contention in some regional countries. 

Read more at Nation News

June 29th, 2009

CARICOM: An Eloquent Plea from a Regional Elder Statesman

June 25th, 2009

We would confirm the myopia of which lawyers are often accused if we did not recognize that our Community faces dangers on other fronts - dangers which are apposite to all Caribbean judiciaries. The basic premise of our regional lives is that West Indians are one people; and like all comingled people are of many varieties. In our case, the varieties have enriched the composite oneness, yielding now a characteristic mosaic identity of which we all tend to be proud and often boast. Read more

Caricom's make or break summit

Less talk, more action in Guyana

By Rickey Singh

THIS WEEK'S 30th Summit of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in Georgetown could well determine whether the region's economic integration movement goes forward with its strategy for a single economic space, or flounder on a sea of troubles for which the political directorate cannot escape blame.

The apparent "marking time" syndrome on critical issues affecting progress in a Community now 36 years in existence should, it is felt, be brought to an end. Read more at the Trinidad & Tobago Express

Sunday, June 28th 2009

A SOLUTION TO THE IMMIGRATION CRISIS

25 June 2009

PEOPLES   EMPOWERMENT   PARTY

MEMORANDUM

A SOLUTION TO THE IMMIGRATION CRISIS

The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) would like to respectfully suggest that the government of Barbados should respond to the ‘Immigration Crisis’ by modifying the new Immigration policy enunciated by Prime Minister David Thompson in Parliament, and should instead implement the following measures: Read full article here

Bourne decries wee-hours raids

By Heppilena Ferguson

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) President Dr Compton Bourne says the issue of undocumented immigrants in Barbados should be handled with much more sensitivity than it has been so far, adding that there are too many stories of people being rounded-up during raids and deported.

Bourne, who is currently in Guyana, as guest speaker at the 27th Annual Caribbean Conference of Chartered Accountants said... Continue reading at Stabroek News

June 27th, 2009

Sir Shridath: 'We forget our oneness at our peril'

By Stabroek staff - June 27th, 2009

“‘The knock on the door at night’ is not within our regional culture; still less are intimations of  ‘ethnic cleansing’”

Senior regional integrationist, Sir Shridath Ramphal says that it is sad that the Caribbean is experiencing a period  when both policies and practices are deepening divisions and he cautioned that “we forget our oneness at our peril.”

In an apparent reference to the targeting of illegal CARICOM nationals in Barbados, some of whom have been rounded up in early morning raids, the Guyanese-born former Commonwealth secretary general said, “It is always a sadness when, however propelled, our societies are caught in a downward spiral of separateness with fellow West Indians cast as ‘outsiders’”.

Read full article 

Political integration of willing leaders

“The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.”

History and the volatility of West Indian politics promise equally that our ambition driven Prime Minister will die a frustrated man when his time comes.

Surely he does not expect that whimsical profligacy is the solution to our many exponential problems born of studied neglect?

The resurrection of a modified federation of separately inconsequential states buoyed up a mini petro State’s avuncular Head, promises far more than he imagines.

Read full article here

June 27th, 2009

WATCH THE LANGUAGE, MR MANNING

By RICKEY SINGH

Reprinted from the Barbados Weekend Nation

IN AN environment of escalating criminality in Trinidad and Tobago, which has now acquired the dubious reputation from Jamaica as the "murder capital" of the world (on a per capita basis), Prime Minister Patrick Manning needs to keep cool on his public utterances in relation to sensitive political issues... Read full article here

Manning was condesending

EDITORIAL - The unravelling of logic

Published: Tuesday | June 23, 2009

Put a politician before a crowd of his own supporters and his capacity for thoughtful clarity seems to evaporate into intoxicated fervour.

So, Sunday's speech by Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, Patrick Manning at a conference of his People's National Movement (PNM) does not, for us, provide an adequate basis from which to assess the philosophy that undergirds Mr Manning's promotion of deeper integration, possibly a political union, between Trinidad and Tobago and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Indeed, Mr Manning's remarks give added credence to Prime Minister Bruce Golding's call for this matter, and the future of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) generally, to be debated, fully and frankly, by the heads of government when they meet in Guyana next month... Click here to read more

RAMPHAL CALLS FOR 'INSPIRED' CARICOM LEADERSHIP

By Rickey Singh

THE Caribbean Community "is at risk" and requires focused and ‘inspired leadership’ to make it more "secure and habitable" to ensure our survival together…"

That was the stirring plea yesterday of Sir Shridath Ramphal, one of the key and distinguished players in the creation of CARICOM 36 years ago, as he addressed the inaugural Conference of the Association of Judicial Officers, hosted by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain.

Read full article here

Around 30 Guyanese found in Tunapuna tenement to be deported

Reprinted from Stabroek News

Close to 30 Guyanese residing in Trinidad illegally were on Wednesday rounded-up and have been given deadlines by which they must leave that country.

The move comes in the midst of heightened debate on a new immigration policy announced by the David Thompson administration in Barbados, which has since been marred by complaints of raids and unjust treatment being meted out to Guyanese in particular. The policy is intended to target undocumented Caricom nationals, spurring concerns about the profiling of nationals from these countries.

However, according to reports out of Trinidad... Read more at Stabroek News

June 26th, 2009

Caribbean Judiciaries in an Era of Globalisation, Sir Shridath Ramphal

“The Paradox of Heritage and Hesitancy”

The President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Rt Hon. Michael de la Bastide, Judges of the CCJ, Chief Justices and other Judicial Officers of the wider Caribbean, members of the Caribbean’s legal fraternity, distinguished friends:

How can I start, Mr. President, save by thanking the Caribbean Court of Justice for inviting me to be here and to give this

address? From the time we lost the Federal Supreme Court in 1962, I had dreamed of the creation of this Court as the Court of final jurisdiction in our Region, the fountain head of our jurisprudence, Thirty years later, as Chairman of the West Indian Commission, I was proud to be associated in our 1992 Report Time for Action with the conclusion that the case for the Court “with both a general appellate jurisdiction and an original regional one is now overwhelming – indeed it is fundamental to the process of integration itself”. To be invited now to give this Address in the company of the Court‟s judicial pioneers and other members of the judicia

ries of the Caribbean all of whom I know have shared the vision of its establishment- and some of whom have worked tirelessly to secure it- is a very special honour. I thank you, Mr President, and your colleagues on the Court, from a full heart... Read more

Note

Address at the Inauguration of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers, Port of Spain, June 25, 2009.

'Guyanese are being raided in Barbados'

Deportee says he was woken up at 6 am, taken to airport.
The Guyanese man who was asleep when Barbadian immigration authorities knocked on his door on Friday last is back in Guyana and says he has “no regrets”, and he is already working on a business investment.

He was deported along with eight other Guyanese on Sunday morning, some 48 hours after they were picked up by the authorities- many believed to have been rounded up from an area populated with locals within the Christ Church parish. Before his departure from the island, he recalled that another batch of Guyanese was sent home on an earlier flight, among them a woman who was six months pregnant.

read full article at stabroek news
June 17th, 2009

Consulate instructed to follow-up reports of Barbados raids

Guyana has instructed its Consulate in Barbados to compile reported cases of early morning raids on the homes of Guyanese resident on the island and to follow-up on the offer made by Prime Minister David Thompson to investigate such allegations.

Thompson had made the offer to President Bharrat Jagdeo during discussions on the matter.

At that time the Barbadian prime minister had denied any knowledge that the homes of Guyanese were being raided while implementing his government’s immigration policy. 

Read full article from Stabroek News

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Strange ways of 2 leaders

ON two separate issues the Prime Ministers of Barbados (David Thompson) and Trinidad and Tobago (Patrick Manning) are adopting public postures that could result in more misunderstandings than harmony within Caricom.

Thompson, evidently angered by region-wide criticisms to the reported crackdowns against "illegal" immigrants. Basically, he has told them to stay out of Barbadian domestic affairs as they relate to a "domestic immigration policy".

A week from today, Thompson is scheduled to meet with his Caricom counterparts at a special caucus in Guyana to discuss pressing and sensitive matters. High on the agenda will be challenges arising from the commitment to facilitate intra-regional free trade and free movement of Caricom nationals.

Read more at the Trinidad & Tobago Express

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Guyanese to tell of 'raids'

Reprinted from Stabroek News

GUYANESE who were deported from Barbados after being subjected to early morning raids will be able to recount their experience to authorities as [Guyana's] Ministry of Foreign Affairs is setting up a mechanism to facilitate this. 

Read full article at Nation News

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Annalee Davis in "Connections"

Annalee Davis interviewed by Ian Forrest.

Notes
Ian Forrest is host of the radio programme Connections. On Monday June 22nd 2009, in his 5-6am segment called "The Here and There Look" he presented a recording of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur when he spoke to a gathering of nationals at the Fleur de Lis restaurant in NYC in 2005, He then spoke with Annalee Davis about the current immigration debate as it pertains to the Caribbean, followed by an interview with Guyanese American Labour Leader, Chuck Mohan.

Connections with Ian Forrest is now on NY Tri-State radio WBAI FM 99.5 and streaming live on the internet at www.wbai.org

GET CRACKING: King wants urgent action on free movement

PM Stephenson King (file photo): 'We have 

to continue to pursue the ideals of one Caribbean.'

By Ernie Seon

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC - Prime Minister Stephenson King says he wants his fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to take urgent action to facilitate the free movement of people throughout the region.

 

King said that as far as his government is concerned, problems related to travel through the region by Caribbean nationals continue to pose a major challenge to the dream of “One Caribbean”. Read full article here

INSTEAD OF INSULTING CARICOM, PRIME MINISTER THOMPSON.

EDITORIALS

How Prime Minister David Thompson relates to his counterparts when they sit at the same table at the Caricom Heads of Government Summit in Guyana next week will be very interesting.

For in effect, what Prime Minister Thompson really told those Caribbean leaders who, dare we say, had the effrontery to comment on Barbados' new immigration policy is to shut their damn mouths and mind their own business.

The Caribbean Media Corporation last week reported Prime Minister Thompson as saying: "There seems to be a mad rush now for everybody to say something new. I have announced a domestic immigration policy that is not a matter for other Caribbean prime ministers to comment on."

Read full article at the Jamaica Observer

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

WHAT CAN BARBADOS DO TO MANAGE ISSUES OF IMMIGRATION? A SKETCH OF SOME POSSIBILITIES

by George C. Brathwaite

The debate over Prime Minister Thompson’s declaration of an amnesty focussing on undocumented CARICOM nationals has stirred many an emotion in Barbados, Guyana, and the wider CARICOM. Since the announcement, differing views have penetrated the public sphere with mixed but petulant effects. There appears to be an escalation of underlying anxieties and fears voiced by both undocumented immigrants as well as Barbadian nationals. It is clear that the Government of Barbados is acting within the legal parameters open to it as a sovereign state.

Read full article

COALITION FOR A HUMANE AMNESTY

By David A Comissiong

There are thousands of Barbadians, who, having travelled to the U.S.A, overstayed their time, and are now in the process of working on getting their "green cards". With 6 or 7 years of residence in the U.S.A under their belts, these Bajans have evolved into ‘Bajan-Yankees’, and we would be appalled if the U.S government suddenly started deporting them.

Yet, that is precisely what our Government is doing to ‘Guyanese-Bajans’ and ‘Vincey-Bajans’ in our midst! Our Immigration officers are raiding the homes and work-places of Guyanese and Vincentians who have been living in Barbados for 7 and 8 years, arresting them and putting them on the first flight out of Barbados. And several of these persons are the parents of children born in Barbados, and the owners of bank accounts and other forms of property in Barbados...!

Read full article

POLITICAL SYMBOLISM AND THE SPIRIT OF CARICOM: IS IT FANTASY?

by George Brathwaite

There are several questions being raised in the current climate as it relates to the future of CARICOM and the future of Caribbean regional integration. In some quarters it is felt that the momentum for regionalism is being swept aside. This is due to embedded insularities and the repeated failures by governments to implement agreed policies, and for regional agencies and institutions to demonstrate the requisite convergences. Prejudices and ignorance are assuming pivotal positions once held by a bond of resilience to oppression and exploitation.

Moreover, it appears as though...  keep reading

George Brathwaite speaks to both the legal and ethical issues in terms of how we deal with undocumented CARICOM nationals.

by George C. Brathwaite


All states have a legal and sovereign right to protect their national interests, and Barbados as well as any other CARICOM Member State possesses this basic right. There is little doubt that the issue of free movement of CARICOM nationals and broader migration issues are problematic.

There is increasing attention placed on issues of migration... keep reading

CARIBBEAN XENOPHOBIA: WHERE WILL IT END?

by Norman Girvan

The thought-provoking article by Barbadian artist Annalee Davis Thoughts on the ‘Amnesty’, which first appeared in the Stabroek News of 25 May 2009, has drawn attention to the human implications of the treatment of Caricom nationals in Barbados and the alarming rise of anti-Caribbean xenophobia in our region. This must concern everyone who cares about the quality of human and social relations among members of the Caribbean ‘family’ andthe impact on Caribbean integration where it matters most–at the level of ordinary citizens... keep reading

Nationwide Radio Postcast

Friday morning, June 12th 2009.

Listen to George Brathwaite, PhD candidate at Newcastle University, on Nation Wide Radio in Kingston, Jamaica, Friday June 12 2009 ,as he contributes to the ongoing debate on regional migration.

      Wednesday morning, June 10th 2009.

Listen in to the recording of Radio Talk Show Hosts, Naomi Francis and Clyde Williamsin conversations with Dr. Norman Girvan and Annalee Davis on Jamaica Radio.
           

      Tuesday morning, June 9th 2009.

Listen to Dr. Ralph Gonzalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and hosts of the Radio Jamaica morning talk show, Tuesday June 9. 2009, speak to the issue of intra-regional Caribbean migration.
         

Video and Agriculture!

The Barbados Society of Technologists in Agriculture invites their members and guests to their first quarterly meeting on Tuesday June 16th, 2009 at the Barbados Yacht Club from 7.00pm to 9.30pm. FIrst item on the agenda is the introduction to, and screening of, On the Map. Discussion with members to follow the screening.

Tune into Jamaican radio this week!

Tune into www.nationwideradiojm.com on Tuesday morning 7.45am - 8.30am Jamaica time (add 1 hr.for Trinidad/Barbados time) and listen to the segment "Front Page" of the "This Morning" programme. Hosts Emily Crooks and Naomi Francis will interview St. Vincent Prime Minister, Ralph Gonzalves.

On Wednesday, June 10th, Norman Girvan and I will be on the programme. Ths programme will spend the week looking at issues to do with the new amnesty in Barbados, the CSME and the free movement of people in the Caribbean.

Migration tension for Caricom summit

ANALYSIS

by RICKEY SINGH

Sunday, June 07, 2009

AMID the controversies in some Caricom jurisdictions over problems facing migrants of the Community and intra-regional movement of skilled labour, the head of government with lead responsibility for "Labour and free movement", Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt, remains deafeningly silent.


RICKEY SINGH

The public silence of the Dominican prime minister stands in sharp contrast to the positions and statements of some other heads of government, among them the prime ministers of Barbados, The Bahamas, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the president of Guyana.

However, come next month, when the 30th annual Heads of Government Conference takes place in Georgetown, the leaders can hardly avoid discussing the spreading problems affecting migrants of the Community and related claims of pressures on domestic social services in some jurisdictions, foremost being Barbados, which last Tuesday enforced a six-month amnesty period for illegal migrants to regularise their status, or face deportation...

read full article

Clarification on ‘Illegal Migrants’, George Brathwaite

by George Brathwaite

On May 24 2009, I was part of a Sunday Brass Tacks panel discussing the problem of migration as it relates to Barbados. At that time, I proposed that for several reasons it was more appropriate to be clear on the terms we use when making reference to those persons normally viewed as ‘illegal migrants’. Today I stand by those arguments knowing that such arguments are in keeping with international best practices and cursory distinctions. There is increasing attention placed on issues of migration (i.e. legal and illegal) because it is a complex phenomenon that straddles several spheres of cultural, social, economic, political, and geopolitical domains among others…

Click here for full ‘Clarification’



George Brathwaite is a PhD Candidate in International Politics at the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology; Newcastle University, UK.

Caricom's migrant problem

by Rickey Singh

Wednesday, June 3rd 2009


NORMAN GIRVAN, the Caribbean scholar and former Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States, is urging Caricom governments to speedily evolve a "humane approach'' to the problem involving undocumented regional nationals.

Girvan's plea coincides with the start yesterday of a six-month amnesty in Barbados for "illegal'' Caricom nationals. If their status is not regularised by year's end they face deportation... read complete article

On the Map on Flow PPV in Trinidad

On the Map is being screened on Flow Pay Per View TV in Trinidad during the month of June. The dates and channels for the showings this month are:

3rd June – 349

6th June – 349

12th June – 348

16th June – 349

18th June – 348

20th June – 349

23rd June – 349

27th June – 348

29th June – 348