Dear Editor,
In his address to the 30th Caricom Heads of Government Conference in Georgetown, Guyana, President Bharrat Jagdeo appealed for the human rights of Guyanese to be respected by Barbadian Immigration authorities. He said, “While countries have a sovereign right to determine their own immigration policies, the maltreatment of Caricom citizens is repugnant to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas as well as to basic human decency.”
I agree in principle with the President on this singular issue. I am happy that his view is in harmony with CGID’s position as out outlined in our July 1 statement. Caricom is plagued by illiberalness. Some Caricom leaders agree to decisions, but as implementation progresses and ramifications become real they demonstrate ambivalence and insularity. Barbados’s new immigration policy of deporting undocumented Caricom nationals who entered Barbados after December 2005, is a prime example of such insularity.
Such barren commitment to Caricom has caused Caribbean integration to morph into more of a concept rather than reality. We must reject this and demand that member states honour the spirit and letter of the Caricom treaty and agreements to which they have assented.
Guyanese constitute the largest immigrant block in Barbados and are therefore bound to be most impacted by its controversial new immigration policy. About 80% of the deportees have been Guyanese. The early morning raids on the homes of some suspected undocumented Caricom nationals, and consequently “deporting” or “removing” them from Barbados, is despicable. It has undermined regional unity and must be rightly condemned.
Nevertheless, Barbados is not the chief abuser of the human rights of Guyanese. In my view, the Jagdeo government is. Therefore, President Jagdeo has no honour on the subject of human rights. In fact, he must heed his own counsel.
The lack of respect his government demonstrates for its own citizens, coupled with its mediocre, despotic governance, is a dynamic in the intolerable mistreatment of Guyanese in the region.
I understand that defending the human rights of Guyanese citizens is a fiduciary duty of the presidency. However, President Jagdeo has no credibility to make this case. The United Nations has established, and the Guyanese people know, that his government is the biggest violator of Guyanese human rights. In my opinion, President Jagdeo presides over an ethnocracy, and under this government there has been ethnic and racial discrimination, cases of torture and human rights violations. Sections 34, 35, 65 and 70 of the February 23, 2009 Report by the United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Ms Gay McDougall, establishes this.
Amidst such atrocities by the Jagdeo administration as well as complaints about torture and other human rights violations, Caricom leaders claimed that they did not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of Guyana.
I find the double standard with regard to Guyana worrisome. Clearly, they are interfering in Barbados’s domestic policy, and maybe rightly so. But what has been happening in Guyana is far more egregious. Their silence on Guyana is therefore hypocritical and is in and of itself repugnant to Caricom and its Charter of Civil Society.
Barbados’s sovereignty and domestic laws must be respected. I expect that violators may be brought to justice. However, raiding the homes of individuals, violating their human rights and deporting or removing them, without due process, exclusively for overstaying their time, is indeed also repugnant to the spirit of Caricom and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
The region as a whole and must demand that it stop immediately.
CGID has written the Prime Minister of Barbados, David Thompson, and has urged that Guyanese fleeing Guyana be treated humanely, as discrimination is pervasive and political and economic conditions perilous. We reminded him that extant international law strictly prohibits deporting an individual back to a country of origin where that individual could be subjected to torture or political and other forms of persecution.
Individuals who have been deported or removed from Barbados have allegedly not been accorded fundamental due process to assure conformity with international law. This should be unacceptable to the Caricom citizenry, including Barbadians, who have a long tradition in the region of upholding civil and human rights.
I acknowledge that immigration policy throughout the region needs to be reformed and rationalized. However, unilateral, singular and uncoordinated action by one government, as in the case of Barbados, is counterproductive to a desired harmonized regional policy approach that is compatible with deeper integration, which we all seek. Caricom leaders must therefore stop wasting time and develop a Caricom approach to migration across the region.
Finally, I deplore the interjection of race into the discussion. The reference to “ethnic cleansing,” by some as well as the mention of race by individuals in both Guyana and Barbados, while apparently addressing the deportation issue, is unfortunate. There is no evidence that the Barbadian policy is tinged with ethnic considerations. I therefore reject this ugly tactic, and call on President Jagdeo to do the same. It does nothing but create deeper divisions and colours the real issues under debate.
Let us debate the detrimental consequences of Barbados’s immigration policy to the region based on its factual circumstance and demerits, and leave race out of it.
Yours faithfully,
Rickford Burke
President of the Caribbean Guyana
institute for Democracy (CGID)
Burke, yuh too late wid this beating dead horse nonsense. Yaaaawan…
Reddy you yaaaawaning. Hope you complete the assignment given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Where are the reports? Have you submitted them to Guyana. SN when will you publish the documented cases of bad treatment of Guyanese in Barbados. Reddy remember no lying. Barbados reputation is beter than ours in statistics and record keeping.
Late is better than “it is being worked on” at least burke is not the man who failed to deliver the business plan to the EU and lied to parliament that he had delivered it in feb.
Giddy up dere Red rover Giddy the hell up!
You know why this is happening? Here is a simple multiple choice for you folks true or false.
A) is the pee hen cee fault (28 years) ow laud.
B) we are working on solving the problem – lunchbox
C) This is nothing its just a lil roughing up.
d) all of the above answers are correct!
There is no ill-treatment of guyanese illegal immigrants in Barbados . What is despicable is that the PPP government do not look after guyanese at home causing them to flee to other countries such as small Barbados . I would ask the question , should the police and immigration officers place an add in the news papers asking all illegal immigrants to turn themselves in or leave Barbados on their own ??? These people have knowingly broke the laws of Barbados and then chose to run and hide from the authorities . Some of them commit serious crimes such as murder , robbery , etc . All over Barbados there are guyanese and most of them are illegal immigrants and bajans , like me , are getting fed-up with the lies being told via the mass media about us . Guyanese live well in Barbados , some even live better than bajans ; yet we are hearing that we should not go at a house to arrest people who have broken the laws of this country – the police and the immigration duties are not only from 8 am to 4:30pm but rather 24/7 . Dame Olga Lope-Seale is a guyanese residing in Barbados , legally , and she has received 2 national honours and she deserve them because she is loved by all bajans . President Jagdeo and his PPP administration are duty-bound to meet the needs of guyanese in Guyana , which will stop them from fleeing to other countries .
Wiggins, I am not Barbadian but have followed this story keenly and must say I agree with Barbados 100%. This is a battle Barbados must not and cannot loose. It seems as though President Jagdeo and other influential Guyanese are attempting to destroy the nationhood of the island, i.e the rule of law and the right to sovereignty which Caricom never said must be abandoned to become a member.
If Barbados looses the fight to protect and enforce its laws it will only be a matter of time before rampant coruptions, major irregularites in Auditor General Reports, death sqaud and all the anti-legal behaviour that are norm in my beloved country become a way of life in Barbados.
Keep the fight up. Don’t relent. Your victory is a victory for CARICOM and law-abiding people. Hopefully it would be a lesson and the dawn of a new era for my country. My heart bleeds for what my ocuntry has become.
What about those Bajans who are living illegally and legally in other countries like the Bronx in the USA, whose govt is to meet the needs of those people, well WIGGINS it does not matter what a govt does to meet the needs of its citizens there will be factors that will cause people to migrate, one of the main factor that is causing Guyanese to seek job in other countries is the $ exchange rate, if they are fleeing Guyana and they so love their adopted country they would not send and invest their hard earned cash in Guyana which most of then are doing
I agree totally. The govt of guyana was elected by the people of guyana to represent them and it is only fair that they carry out the job without fear or favour. I reiterate, Barbados Govt is looking out for its people. Barbados is a little two by two compare to vast guyana, why would all these people want to come here, to do what? I agree that when construction is booming they can find jobs but when the season is gone you find most of them parading the streets looking for trouble or hanging with friends making noise. Years ago credible guyanese used to come to barbados to make a living but now you find any and all sorts coming and those are the ones making trouble and giving the decent guyanese here a bad name. I totally agree with Mr. Thompson and I would advise that he stick to his guns, bajans support him totally even the credible guyanese who live here.Its time Mr. Jagdeo do his job or be pelt out. In all the commentary about illegal immigrants etc I have not yet heard from him what he intends to do for those guyanese who were sent back home or what he intends to do for the ones living there. Guyana is not a poor country, in fact, it has more food than Barbados, I think the problem is rampant racialism in all forms and people who cannot condone are fleeing.
Raj…This defending of Sovereignty is already over with, this was addressed by all heads particularly the Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding and the Former PJ Patterson at the Carocom Heads meeting in Guyana. Mr Golding called the defending of sovereignty ridiculus since it will defeat the purpose of Caribbean Integration, the CSME and the free movement of skills in and around the region. Thompson was left with no other claim but the world economic crisis that has forced him to deport immigrants from Barbados. Wiggins the purpose of Caricom and the free movement of skills and people in the region does not mean to develop your country and keep your people in it…Please understand that Thompson is defeating the purpose of Caricom and these basic princilples to go with it…
Soldier, you said, “Wiggins the purpose of Caricom and the free movement of skills and people in the region does not mean to develop your country and keep your people in it.” YES IT DOES, SOLDIER. I don’t think the architects of Caricom and CSME envisioned countries emptying their entire populations into much smaller countries, like Guyana seems hell bent on doing into Barbados and other tiny islands, when they said there should be free movement of people. Most of the people in each country are expected to stay home, with just a relatively small number moving temporarily or permanently. Free movement will not happen if Guyana and other countries do not develop well enough so that Caricom nationals will want to move to them. Free movement will not happen if Guyana and the other Caricom countries that have high crime rates do not reduce their crime rates so that people will feel comfortable moving to them. There must be reciprocity. Guyana must bring something to the table and not just take from the other countries. Nobody wants to hear about what Guyana did for people decades ago. Those favors have already been repaid. You are living in a dream world if you think free movement is going to happen as a result of that meeting that just concluded. Bajans won’t stand for the mess Guyana is planning, and Thompson knows that. For his political survival, he has to do the will of Bajans, not the will of Guyanese and Caricom.
What is this CGID stuff? Is this a one-man organization?Was this is same institution that only raised $3.00 or $300bin funds to defend Bro. Benchop? At least it is better than NACTA which is still a phantom organization.
The fleeting of Guyanese for greener pasture predates Jagdeo and his boys. Some of us who are leaving comments on these forums leave Guyana for a better life when Jagdeo was still in high school.
Other observations:
1. Caricom has been quiet when previous Guyana regimes rigged elections, tear gas its citizens, and never respected the rights of its citizens. Where were CGID then? It was needed more at that time. Now that Caricom seem to display the say attititude as it did then, we are crying fowl. What is the big deal? Did our eyes just open now that the shoe seem to be on the other foot?
CGID probably wasn’t formed during Burnham times or else it would have also decried his actions. Now that the shoe is as you say “on the other foot” doesn’t make it right. I think for the most part people have been leaving Guyana voluntarily back then. Now it’s like they are being forced out because of the treatment and conditions Mr. Burke and others describe. So it should be definitely be addressed.
Rohan, foolishness! If it was wrong under previous government it still wrong under this one. It does not matter who didn’t speak before. You should respect and admire they are speaking now against the plenty wrongs of Jagdeo government. Rohan you should encourage it.
We living in the USA and know the U.S is better because it condemns wrongs and jail wrong doers. Look what happen at Madoff and Roger Khan. You must want the same thing for Guyana. Come on Rohan don’t spoil it for your country and country men and support Jagdeo wrong-doing. You know the right thing, say and do the right thing!!!!!
An eye for an eye is nerver right. I do not support any disrespect any regime have for its citizens. Howeverm, people left Guyana back then for the same reasons they are leaving now. At least I did. To seek a better life. Here are a couple of my experiences:
1. I was told “You do not have party card” in the 80’s, “therefore you cannot get this office job”; I end up working as a porter and later on a laborer with all the qualifications I had.
2. I was detained when my African brothers (much to their bewilderment) were not for an offence I never committed.
These experiences are nothing compare to the death and disappearance of others whose sacrifice were of a greater magnitude.
Care to shed some light on this?
And the present authority seem unable to be “clean.”
Well said Raj, people should not be chastised for not speaking out earlier rather they should be encouraged for finding their critical voices now to speak up against wrongs being committed by the govt and others.
Your PM might have helped make your point if while in Guyana he could have at least alluded to that need for Jagdeo and the PPP to meet the needs of their citizens to prevent the migration to Barbados. It seems to me that he completely missed a perfect opportunity to point the blame in the right direction.
The Barbados PM has said over and over and over that he has no intention of jucking his nose (my words) in other countries affairs.He was elected by the people of Barbados to govern this land, and that is what he is concentrating on.He is not going to fight your battles.
Burke letter is confusing. I don’t understand what he is saying. There is no coherent principle position.
Rickford Guyanese are running away from the country by all means necessary,when i went to Guyana last year and asked my son for some of his friends he said they all gone,some to Trinidad,Barbados,Antigua and even Suriname,not to mention French Guyana.Us here in the diaspora have to pressure the opposition parties when they come here to solicit our support and force Corbin to step down and have new leadership, so that the PNC as the largest opposition party can take a militant approach towards the government.We have seen when Desmond Hoyte took to the streets how quickly the ruling party bow to most of his demands,we also need to picket and embarrass government ministers and the president whenever he visits New York.Cheddi Jagan used these same tactics when in opposition against the PNC.Our Guyana is becoming the laughing stock of the Caribbean and the world once again.
Wiggins, I told you several times already–go down to the Labour department in Barbados and watch the crowds lining up to flee Barbados to work at farms and hotels and hospitals overseas.People all over the word are moving from one country to te next. Your’re a grown man so why you still copying down this thing about “Guyana needs to stop people fleeing” and “blame the PPP government”.Guyanese would not be in Barbados were it not for an economic need for them. Now that the Barbadian economy is on decline, wh should Guyanse be used as scapegoats and get kicked in their behinds ? No decent minded minded and democratic minded Barbadians, which Barbadian working people generally are, would want this for the thousands (probably the ame population of Barbados) Bajans living overseas. The flip side of your ill-informed position is that the Guyana shouldn’t be monitoring the interests of Guyanese in Barbados… Can’t work, my friend…
Reddy,, Wiggins is a very difficult person to convince, he is more taken up with the progress of the Guyanese over in Barbados , These Guyanese are outdoing Bajans much to his annoyance…
Wiggins, Reddy and Soldier are very difficult persons to convince, they is more taken up with the celebrating the lack of progress of the PPP un Guyyana and celebrating their mediocrity, They love to make up their own reaility by making statements such as “These Guyanese are outdoing Bajans much to his annoyance…”
Reddy, there is a big difference between MOVING and FLEEING.
yes I do agree the Government needs to do more to stop people from running from their country to another for betterment. People do not run away from good. Because there is nothing to offer our poor young people who have just finish high school and university. The only thing left for them to do is to migrate to find employment just to survive. Again we need change come 2011. Come on all young people vote for change in 2011.
Vote for change for AFC 2011.
this government is no good they can’t even represent their own people at home
Unspecified junk.