-will be a main issue on Caricom agenda
The treatment of Guyanese immigrants in other countries continues to be of great concern to President Bharrat Jagdeo and he is urging that they be treated with “respect” and “dignity” wherever they go.
The President said that this is one of the main issues that he would be plugging at the upcoming Caricom Heads of Government Meeting which will be held in Guyana from July 2.
Jagdeo was at the time speaking at a press conference held yesterday at the Office of the President.
When asked specifically about the treatment of Guyanese immigrants in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, President Jagdeo said that “one thing I will insist on is that our people be treated with respect wherever they go”. He said that if these persons “break another country’s law, he cannot do anything about that” but added that “even if this happens, they must be treated with dignity and not in a demeaning fashion”, even as they face legal action or action by law enforcement authorities.
Jagdeo also said that persons in Guyana had an important role to play because whatever they say or do here tended to feed back into other societies. He said that persons from other countries would read the newspapers and would focus only on the negative issues such as crime, even in the cases when crime rates in their countries are higher than that of Guyana. He said that situations like these created a kind of “xenophobia” against Guyanese.
President Jagdeo also criticized recent statements made by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, during which he outlined his willingness to help the region. While emphasizing that he did not wish to make disparaging remarks about his fellow Caricom leaders, Jagdeo opined that Manning’s statements sounded “a bit condescending”.
The Head of State said that while Trinidad and Tobago was a rich country, especially because it possessed oil and gas, these two industries could decline, especially as a result of climate change and the likely spinoffs that this would have.
Nevertheless, he hoped that the entire immigration issue will be thoroughly discussed at the upcoming meeting where he expects several perspectives will be brought to the table.
He expressed his hope that the issue will be dealt with sensibly where all parties are taken into consideration.
According to him, in these discussions the obligations as outlined in the Treaty of Chaguaramas will have to be addressed. He also pointed out that apart from the Treaty, there are standard protocols which outline how immigrants are treated.
While each country has its own sovereign rights, he opined that if they voluntarily subscribed to a multi-lateral agreement, some of these rights would have been ceded to this agreement.
He said that this had to be respected.
Additionally, President Jagdeo said that attention needed to be paid towards the strengthening of the regulatory and supervisory framework of the financial sector in the region.
He stated that this was needed to prevent and minimise the risk of future financial sector problems. He said that there needed to be a Caribbean-wide position which may even require changes in the legislative framework. He added there are some areas which are new to regulators which need to be discussed.
He declared that he was disappointed that months have elapsed, but that the group put together to look at this issue has not come up with a clear and definitive pathway for others to follow. Consequently, Jagdeo opined that the leaders of the region will have to show this pathway because of the urgency of the situation.
