On The Map

Athens, Greece, 4 November 2009 - Remarks to the Third Meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (as delivered)

2009-11-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

On behalf of the United Nations and all of its Member States here, I would like to thank the Government of Greece for hosting this third Global Forum on Migration and Development.

What a fitting place for us to meet. Greece is a crossroads. One of the most beautiful words in the Greek lexicon is philoxenia -- friendship towards strangers. For thousands of years, the sons and daughters of Greece have been venturing to all reaches of our planet. Today, Hellenes can be found almost everywhere in the world contributing in countless ways to the societies of which they are now an integral part.

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Smart ID card coming

2009-11-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

Published on: 11/5/2009.

by TREVOR YEARWOOD

A single, multi-purpose, “high-security” ID card is to replace the three major ones issued by Government.
It will simplify transactions for people who have had to show their National Identification Card, driver’s licence and National Insurance & Social Security card to access goods and services.

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Caribbean leaders gear up for immigration showdown

2009-11-05T04:52:00.000-08:00

(Trinidad Guardian) - The fight for undocumented workers in the US has moved from the pulpit to the streets, and finally to Capitol Hill.

Taking a page form the African American churches that were at the forefront of the 1960s civil rights movement, the Caribbean clergy has emerged as the key player in the struggle for comprehensive immigration reform.

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Chinese construction workers in Trinidad protest

2009-11-04T08:30:00.001-08:00

They haven't been paid in months, they were seen eating "dry bread", cannot speak a word of English and would rather return to the crowded streets of Fujian Province than stay to work as labourers in Trinidad.

However, they want the money that they claim is owed to them before they leave.

This is what about 85 Chinese nationals say they were protesting when they gathered on the South-bound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway, near Guayamare, early yesterday morning.

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Here for some time - from the Guardian

2009-11-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

Here for some time

While 25,000 immigrants passed through eight detainee centres, photographer Melanie Friend captured a take on their lives

* Marc Leverton
* Society Guardian, Friday 7 November 2008 00.05 GMT
* Article history

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Barbados' New Immigration Policy is Online

2009-11-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

If you're interested in reading the Green Paper - A Comprehensive Review of Immigration Policy and Proposals for Legislative Reform, you may visit four websites: (i) barbadosparliament.com (ii) gisbarbados.gov.bb (iii) investbarbados.org (iv) foreign.gov.bb You may share your views by emailing gapplewhaite@barbados.gov.bb

Oneika Russell of ART:Jamaica speaks to Annalee about On the Map

2009-10-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

Annalee Davis, experienced visual artist, activist, designer tells us about a recent project, ON THE MAP, a documentary video project. For artists who are interested in venturing into making documentaries and some activist projects, Davis sets an example.

What is 'On the Map' about and what does it seek to achieve?

ON THE MAP is a thirty minute video project airing intimate discussions with undocumented Caribbean migrants who speak of life between the cracks. More specifically, it looks at the movement of people from Guyana to Barbados, revealing gaps between the official stand on Caribbean integration & the experience of unskilled Caribbean migrants, within the context of the CSME (The CARICOM Single Market & Economy).

The goals of ON THE MAP are:

1.To give a voice to the numerous voiceless and tell a contemporary story of intra-Caribbean migration.

2. To sensitise the public and policy makers to key social issues.

3. To contribute to conflict resolution at the community level while promoting tolerance, understanding & respectful coexistence.

4. To foster policy debates and political attention to the development of sound socio-economic policies under the integrative sheme.

5. To use my voice as a visual artist as a legitimate language to back chat to the state and engage in debate.

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On the Map to be screened at Real Art Ways Gallery, USA

2009-10-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

click images to enlarge

Region can't turn back, says Carrington

2009-10-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

HEADS MEET.From left, Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General of Barbados Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Antigua, Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, Barbados’ Prime Minister David Thompson, Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmons, and CARICOM Secretary General Dr Edwin Carrington at yesterday’s opening of the convocation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

Published on: 10/10/2009.

THE REGION HAS COME too far to turn back now from CARICOM integration.

CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington said at the opening ceremony of the Convocation of the CARICOM Single Market And Economy (CSME) yesterday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael, that it is time to get on with the business of building of a community which is 36 years old.

'Immigration crisis could strike T&T'

2009-10-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Aretha Welch awelch@trinidadexpress.com

Friday, October 9th 2009

Chief economist and director of research at the Central Bank Alvin Hilaire has warned that the immigration situation in Trinidad and Tobago could face some serious challenges, given the fact that this country's economy was still doing better than others in the region, and as such, workers from all over the region could begin flocking here.

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Few Caricom heads confirm attendance at CSME forum

2009-10-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Rickey Singh Bridgetown

Friday, October 9th 2009

JUST five Caribbean Community Heads of Government had confirmed, by yesterday, their participation in the two-day forum on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) that gets under way today in Barbados.

Among the confirmed, apart from Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson-host for the event-are the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago (Patrick Manning), Antigua and Barbuda (Baldwin Spencer), St Vincent and the Grenadines (Ralph Gonsalves) and Dominica (Roosevelt Skerrit).

PEP COLUMEN: Time to go beyond CSME

2009-10-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

Published on: 10/9/2009.

THE People's Empowerment Party (PEP) extends a warm welcome to all Heads of Government, civil society leaders and technocrats of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) who are in Barbados attending this weekend's Convocation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

These regional leaders are expected to give careful consideration to the findings of an 'audit' which was recently carried out in all CARICOM states on the workings of the CSME. It is also anticipated that they will propose strategies for advancing the process of constructing a 'single economy'.

OUR CARIBBEAN: CARICOM CSME 'audit' forum on today

2009-10-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

by RICKEY SINGH

SO, HOW MUCH PROGRESS has really been achieved by the member governments of the Caribbean Community to transform it into a fully integrated CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) by a much revised target date of 2015?

A better understanding, if not a precise answer, should be forthcoming by tomorrow before the curtains are drawn on a two-day "CSME Convocation" that gets under way this morning at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael.

Carrington tells Mexicans: CARICOM ripe for investments

2009-10-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington told a business forum in Mexico last Friday that Mexicans establishing a business in any CARICOM Single Market and Economy member state would benefit from some key elements of the CSME.
He noted that with a functioning single market and a population of approximately 15 million, the region stands ready to welcome business enterprises.

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Bolivarian alliance for the peoples of Latin America (ALBA): South-South co-operation?

2009-10-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

In the Diaspora

(This is one of a series of weekly columns from Guyanese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related to Guyana and the Caribbean)

D. Alissa Trotz

Alissa Trotz is editor of the Weekly In the Diaspora Column

Last week, I participated in a discussion in Toronto on the Venezuelan-led PetroCaribe and ALBA initiatives. PetroCaribe is a concessionary oil facility where a portion of the receipts from crude oil imports goes into a special fund to be used for social investment, and is available to 16 countries in the greater Caribbean. ALBA, created in 2004, is an integration arrangement that describes itself as a people-centred alternative to free trade integration models. St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda have signed statements of support while Dominica has acceded to ALBA. The 2008 summit was also attended by St Kitts-Nevis and Haiti.

Finally, the big CSME event

2009-10-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

The Caribbean Community Secretariat has announced, at last, the dates for a long expected and overdue special consultation on the status of its flagship project, the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The announcement on Monday said that it will take the form of a two-day "Convocation on the CSME" in Barbados on October 9-10 and will involve leading stakeholder representatives.

Crane clamps down on illegals

2009-10-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

THE CRANE RESORT will conduct daily checks on all sub-contracted workers to ensure that they are legally documented to work in this country.

The new policy came into immediate effect yesterday after 20 workers were reportedly rounded up, interviewed and removed from the St Philip hotel by the Immigration Department last Friday.

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Split views on airport policy

2009-09-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

TWO TRAVELLERS who returned to Barbados last Wednesday said they were told they had no choice but to be fingerprinted or else be put back on the plane.

The two, who live in Barbados and were returning from business in Trinidad, said they believed their human rights were violated when they were forced to be fingerprinted on arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Need for 'Obama spirit' in Caricom

2009-09-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Analysis by RICKEY SINGH

AS WE FOLLOW United States President Barack Obama's inspiring, relentless efforts to win decisive congressional support for his imaginative plan for health care reform, I wonder if, with humility, Caribbean Community leaders could also summon some of that "Obama-like spirit" in the interest of advancing the major goals of CARICOM.

If they could summon at least half of Obama's passion - if not eloquence - to inspire public confidence, then we would probably witness pessimism giving way to a new hope for the transformation of CARICOM into a seamless regional economy, despite today's worsening economic gloom.

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Hatchlings - A Requiem (2009)

2009-09-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Treaty of Chaguaramas established the Caribbean Community and Market, later known as CARICOM, and was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in 1973.

In 2001, a revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, (CSME) was signed by six member countries and now has fifteen members. The treaty was expected to be fully implemented by 2008 with harmonization of economic policy, the free movement of all CARICOM nationals and possibly a single currency.

The Revised Treaty is yet to be fully implemented and the region is witnessing increased fragmentation. Many question if CARICOM is still relevant.

The Free Movement of Persons has been the most contentious issue within the Revised Treaty and has exposed xenophobia, nationalism and racism among member states.

Hatchlings - A Requiem, situates the fifteen member countries as insular national states, lying on a bed of the shredded Revised Treaty of Chaguramas.

When I look at this piece, in my head, I hear David Rudder singing, 'Rally 'round the West Indies' as a requiem.

Installation - Velvet, shredded Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, fifteen nests, acrylic on fifteen chicken eggs . Size - 13"w x 12'd x 35"h
Photo Credit - Dan Christaldi

Mormons issue could have been handled better – Jagdeo

2009-09-15T08:16:00.001-07:00

President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said the issue involving 50 Mormons here without permits could have been “better handled” as there was no need for the missionaries to be rounded up and taken into custody even though the police had a right to do so.

“I didn’t think, frankly speaking, that we needed to round people up. It is not the image of Guyana that we want to portray, particularly where it concerns religious people,” the President told reporters yesterday at the opening of the new East La Penitence Health Centre.

“But the police have to enforce the immigration laws of our country. We are an open society, we are very welcoming but we also have laws,” he added.

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SLOW PROGRESS OF CARICOM SINGLE MARKET BOTHERS PATTERSON

2009-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

By HG HELPS, Editor-at-Large helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, September 07, 2009

Retired Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson is unhappy that the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) is not yet a reality.

Patterson. it would appear that we have just abandoned things

More than three years after Caribbean heads of government held a ceremonial inauguration of the CSM and formal signing of the document for its implementation at the Mona Visitors' Lodge in Kingston, on January 30, 2006, the CSM remains virtually non-existent.

The inauguration and signing would have made the Caribbean Community and Common Market - (Caricom) only the second group to form a single market, the other being the European Union.

It is geared toward bringing the Caribbean region closer together and removing regional hurdles to trade and employment.

The process would have been completed with the implementation of the extended Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), which the heads at the time agreed to have implemented by the end of last year.

OUR CARIBBEAN: Concerns following 'a warning'

2009-09-15T08:10:00.001-07:00

by RICKEY SINGH

I RETURNED to Barbados last week from a visit abroad with my wife, to further learn of concerns by professional media colleagues, family members and others, about recent comments by Prime Minister David Thompson that have been interpreted as directed at me as a "writer" who has engaged in "unfair and unwarranted maligning of Barbados and Barbadians" over its immigration policy.

The Prime Minister was at the time delivering the feature address at the August 23 annual conference of his Democratic Labour Party (DLP) when he made references, without calling names, to criticisms pertaining to the Government's immigration policy and, in particular, what he chose to describe as "the definitive action we have taken on the issue of undocumented migration in Barbados . . .".

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‘Good job’ by immigration officers

2009-09-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

(Barbados Nation) A Bridgetown magistrate has thrown his support behind immigration officers who attend court, saying lurid stories about treatment by officers of Guyanese do not apply to them.

Magistrate Christopher Birch made the comments as he dealt with an out-of-status non-national in the Bridge-town Traffic Court on Friday.

“There have been many stories appearing about immigration officers in the press recently,” the magistrate said.
“But I can speak for these immigration officers in court. These immigration officers have taken people to the bank, allowed them to close out their accounts, and allowed them to pack their bags,” the magistrate said.

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Guyanese reporter caught up in St Maarten immigration raid

2009-09-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

A Guyanese reporter, who was reportedly working illegally in St. Maarten, was among two, who were “targeted” by that country’s immigration service.

The Saint Martin News Network reported that immigration officers raided the Today Newspaper on Friday after they were tipped off by a disgruntled employee that the management of Today had at least two persons working illegally for the company. SMN News reported that a well-known local reporter had been having problems with the management of Today who suspended her.

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