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'Treatment of other nationals by some states could wreck region'
BY RICKEY SINGH Observer Caribbean Correspondent
Friday, May 15, 2009
VINCENTIAN Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has warned that the future of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) could be jeopardised by displays of "immigrant bashing" in the region.
Without naming any country, a three-page statement read by Gonsalves in the Vincentian parliament clearly pointed to recent developments in Barbados where a six-month amnesty is to precede deportation of all illegal Caricom nationals.
Gonsalves' statement was followed by the reading of a letter recently sent to Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson by the Vincentian mother of a five-year-old girl, who was staying with Barbadians, complaining how the child was suddenly removed from a primary school and deported to St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Gonsalves said he would be communicating separately with Prime Minister Thompson on the circumstances of the child's removal as well as express his own deep concerns in relation to growing problems Caricom nationals were facing in attempts to take advantage of intra-regional freedom of movement.
The Vincentian leader's concerns have been forwarded to the secretary general of the Caricom Secretariat and director general of the OECS Secretariat.
Gonsalves said that his government currently "goes beyond the requisites of the revised Caricom Treaty to accommodate Community nationals not yet entitled to the right of employment under the Treaty".
But he was concerned that it was not the same in "one or two member countries" where immigration authorities have been dismissive of their counterparts' Treaty commitments.
"My office receives heart-rending stories of Vincentian nationals who have been subjected to unfair, unlawful, unreasonable and discriminatory treatment by some immigration authorities within member states of Caricom," said Prime Minister Gonsalves.
He said that he recently established a special unit within the Office of the Prime Minister to receive complaints from Vincentians who have been 'victims of bad treatment' by immigration authorities within the region.
"My government is being patient with Caricom and we will never lightly abandon the CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy). But the discriminatory antics against our nationals by some immigration authorities must stop," Gonsalves said.
St Vincent and the Grenadines, he added, remained committed to Caricom, even though it continued to suffer from expected benefits like the free movement of nationals and the Caricom Development Fund (CDF).
He was adamant, however, that the Caricom Development Fund must become fully operational. "The administrative dragon's dance on the CDF must come to an end; and it must be open for business soonest," said Gonsalves.
BY RICKEY SINGH Observer Caribbean Correspondent
Friday, May 15, 2009
VINCENTIAN Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has warned that the future of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) could be jeopardised by displays of "immigrant bashing" in the region.
Without naming any country, a three-page statement read by Gonsalves in the Vincentian parliament clearly pointed to recent developments in Barbados where a six-month amnesty is to precede deportation of all illegal Caricom nationals.
Gonsalves' statement was followed by the reading of a letter recently sent to Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson by the Vincentian mother of a five-year-old girl, who was staying with Barbadians, complaining how the child was suddenly removed from a primary school and deported to St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Gonsalves said he would be communicating separately with Prime Minister Thompson on the circumstances of the child's removal as well as express his own deep concerns in relation to growing problems Caricom nationals were facing in attempts to take advantage of intra-regional freedom of movement.
The Vincentian leader's concerns have been forwarded to the secretary general of the Caricom Secretariat and director general of the OECS Secretariat.
Gonsalves said that his government currently "goes beyond the requisites of the revised Caricom Treaty to accommodate Community nationals not yet entitled to the right of employment under the Treaty".
But he was concerned that it was not the same in "one or two member countries" where immigration authorities have been dismissive of their counterparts' Treaty commitments.
"My office receives heart-rending stories of Vincentian nationals who have been subjected to unfair, unlawful, unreasonable and discriminatory treatment by some immigration authorities within member states of Caricom," said Prime Minister Gonsalves.
He said that he recently established a special unit within the Office of the Prime Minister to receive complaints from Vincentians who have been 'victims of bad treatment' by immigration authorities within the region.
"My government is being patient with Caricom and we will never lightly abandon the CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy). But the discriminatory antics against our nationals by some immigration authorities must stop," Gonsalves said.
St Vincent and the Grenadines, he added, remained committed to Caricom, even though it continued to suffer from expected benefits like the free movement of nationals and the Caricom Development Fund (CDF).
He was adamant, however, that the Caricom Development Fund must become fully operational. "The administrative dragon's dance on the CDF must come to an end; and it must be open for business soonest," said Gonsalves.