The persistent setbacks in Caribbean integration and a growing immigration debate dominated the opening of the heads of government conference here yesterday as leaders grappled with the pressing issues threatening a unified CARICOM.
Finding common ground on everything from the free movement of CARICOM nationals to a consolidated agenda on climate change was the recurring theme, but the region is still clearly focused on its sustainability in a challenging economic climate.
But as expected it was the issue of movement in the region that emerged as the prickly topic and the one that is likely to be heavily discussed when the talks officially open here today.
The question of whether CARICOM is united or fractious was exhibited subtly as leaders taking the podium at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) last evening offered opening remarks.
Guyana’s President and new CARICOM Chairman, Bharrat Jagdeo led the discussion on where the region is going in terms of consolidating the integration process, but it was his definitive statements on the issue of migrants that set the tone for the evening.
Jagdeo, firm and riding on the supportive sentiments of a home crowd, declared last evening that 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. This, he said, must be roundly deplored. It was a direct reference to the new Barbadian immigration policy which has seen illegal CARICOM nationals being rounded up in the wee hours and either deported or removed from the island.
Jagdeo restated his position on the issue saying that if nationals are treated in such a manner by their own people then the region cannot expect a third country to receive its citizens in any better way. He said too that the region’s work will remain incomplete until the day a child born anywhere in the Caribbean can wake up to a Caribbean minus boundaries and nationalities.
“We as leaders can set the example for such a glorious day”, Jagdeo said and he made the point that the average Caribbean traveller will assess the integration movement based on the ease with which he/she can travel from one member state to another within the single space.
“…if he sees himself as encountering more hurdles in traversing this space than the visitor from overseas his faith in integration is shaken, sometime permanently… the average Caribbean manufacturing company will form their conclusion on regional integration by the ease with which their product can enter the market of another state”, the President stated.
As he spoke in the presence of Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson, Jagdeo not only had the full support of a crowded NCC, but St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves endorsed his comments on immigration by vigorously applauding the points as he raised them. Vincentians have also been the subject of the new Barbados immigration policy.
The Guyanese Head of State was also firm on another point. He said that there is no alternative to the integration process regardless of how it might be viewed today and urged regional leaders to continue the journey in building a single community.
Further, he spoke of the limited ability of the region to influence global power structures and relations saying that its progress will continued to be stymied until a multilateral system is in place that allows greater participation in the decision making process.
Earlier in the day, Jagdeo had told reporters at the Guyana International Conference Centre at Liliendaal that no country has the right to treat Guyanese in a disparaging manner.
He was speaking at the end of a caucus of the few Caricom Heads who were already present for the 30th Regular Meeting of Heads of Government. Referring to the contentious immigration policy which Barbados has recently implemented, Jagdeo said he recognised the concerns and that every country had a sovereign right to deal with its immigration policy. “The excesses that sometimes we observe concern us greatly,” he said.
Barbados Prime Minister Thompson at a press conference on Wednesday in Georgetown said his country remained fully committed to regional integration. Thompson also said he was confident that the authorities handling the implementation of the policy were affording all undocumented persons their full rights. He said his government did not condone the abuse of power or inappropriate behaviour on the part of its public officials. Asked about reports of ill-treatment meted out to Guyanese by such officials, Thompson said evidence of such action would be needed before any investigations could be carried out.
Indicating that he did not wish to respond to any assertions Thompson made at his press conference since he had not yet studied them, Jagdeo said too that he did not want to pre-empt bilateral talks which the two are to still have on the issue.
However, Jagdeo restated his desire to see Guyanese treated with dignity, adding that to do otherwise was to set back the integration movement.
“If we can treat people who come to our region sometimes with a little backpack, slippers and short pants better than we treat people who live in this region and share the region and are making a contribution to the country they are going to, it undermines the integration process,” he insisted.
Jagdeo agreed that he had a responsibility to create an environment for Guyanese to remain at home and be comfortable here. But he told reporters that migration was a fact of life and people would leave one country for greater economic opportunities they think they could find in another. He noted that there was a time when Barbadians came to Guyana and found a welcoming environment.
According to him, Guyana had a difficult time for 30 years, with no democracy and “Caricom didn’t do much about it.”
Jagdeo also told reporters that when his friend and former colleague, former Barbadian prime minister Owen Arthur came to Guyana in 2007, he acknowledged that Guyana used to be the “Singapore of the Caribbean”.
“We had a bad patch; a rundown economy, huge debt and lots of our people migrated. Until now we are still reeling. We can’t generate high-paid jobs to keep all our people, but that doesn’t mean that any country has the right to treat our people in a disparaging fashion,” Jagdeo insisted.
He said he was sure that Barbadians migrated too, adding that this was the reality.
“We have a very large Brazilian community here too and Brazil has one of the largest economies. Migration is a fact of life,” Jagdeo reiterated. But he stressed that this did not give anyone the right to wake people up and ship them off to the airport without any process.
He said this is what government had learnt but could not investigate. “We can’t do that… How can we investigate in Barbados? Barbados seems not to know… Even the figures are wrong.
Rhetoric
Meanwhile, Jagdeo dismissed claims that Guyana’s figure of deportees from Barbados since the announcement of the migration policy was incorrect. “We have a number of the persons who came back, deported,” he said. “This is what was given by our immigration. When I looked at what Thompson said it’s a totally different number… Someone has to be lying.”
The persons who have been sent home by the Barbadian authorities have had to retrieve their passports from Police Headquarters Eve Leary, since their passports are handed to immigration here upon their arrival.
About the line being drawn between those who are deported and those who were asked to leave, resulting in the smaller Barbadian deportee figure, Jagdeo said there was much rhetoric being applied.
He argued that if persons had an option to leave or stay, they had a choice. However, once they are being asked to leave and had no option, they are being deported.
“If you don’t have an option and the immigration authorities say leave now. You are being deported. Whether they will treat it as that you can return later in their books that’s a different matter… But you are being deported at that time. You don’t have a choice,” Jagdeo reiterated.
Among the recommendations proposed by Prime Minister Thompson at his press briefing, was for a high commission to be set up in Barbados to cater for the needs of the Guyanese population there. Jagdeo said this was something that would have to be examined as it was a sovereign matter.
Jagdeo said the whole issue of Guyanese and the treatment they receive on Bajan soil goes back into history. “I have never [wanted] to demonise anyone in Barbados but in spite of the assurances I have received at the highest political level from time to time, the situation on the ground differs substantially,” the President said.
He recounted a personal experience he had as Minister of Finance, saying he was treated in a stereotypical fashion during a visit to Barbados when he served as a director on the board of the Caribbean Development Bank. He said he skipped the line for diplomats on entry in Barbados and the questions posed to him by immigration authorities there were all irrelevant until they realised that he was a minister of the Government of Guyana.
Jagdeo said while he has been assured that the mandate for this kind of treatment did come from the political directorate, “somewhere this exists and the political authorities must deal with this.”
Meanwhile the call for Guyanese who encountered difficult treatment from Barbadian officials is reaping some response, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues –Birkett said.
She told reporters yesterday that the consular office in Barbados and her ministry had interviewed quite a few persons.
Watershed
Antigua’s Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer preceded Jagdeo in the discussion on immigration last evening and his focus was on how the once liberal policy on the island has impacted on the socio-economic infrastructure.
Spencer observed that the region is meeting at watershed moment in history where the challenges of the current global crisis has placed the Caribbean at the “crossroads of survive or perish”.
His statements on regional immigration effectively noted that Antigua could not sustain a liberal policy amidst the growing threats posed by cross border criminal activity and the challenges of the global financial crisis. According to him, continuing such an arrangement is counter-productive to his government’s policy of providing the greatest good for its citizens.
“While Antigua and Barbuda will continue to welcome our brothers and sisters to our shores, our current immigration practices must be re-evaluated. A closer examination is warranted in respect of the capacity of the socio-economic institutions and infrastructure to adequately manage the continued inflow of persons desirous of taking up residency …” Spencer stated.
He disclosed that the Ministry of National Security and Labour on the island convened an open consultation on the issue on Wednesday to “a packed auditorium” to receive input from stakeholders while outlining the facts as they relate to work permits and the immigration policy in general. This, he said, is the beginning of a conversation which will eventually lead to a re-designing of “our immigration policies, procedures, facilitative processes and an amendment of the relevant legislation”.
Spencer said further that the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) had given an undertaking two years ago at the conference of regional heads to execute a study to assess the socio-economic impact of the free movement of individuals in Antigua and Barbuda. He added that regrettably, the study is yet to be undertaken.
Over the next two days Caribbean leaders will discuss a plethora of issues facing the region including the decline in regional capital and the region’s space within a global setting. Agriculture and climate change is also expected to feature prominently.
Leaders are expected to plug Caribbean cooperation and to define where the region goes from here in terms of its commitment to the Single Market and Economy.
Prime Minister Spencer sought to clear the air on his country joining the Venezuelan-inspired Bolivarian Alternative to the Americas (ALBA) saying that the move has no implications with respect to it commitment to CARICOM.
“I wish to categorically state that Antigua and Barbuda’s accession to ALBA does not in any way signal a wavering of our commitments at the level of CARICOM or the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States”, Spencer said. (Additional reporting by Heppilena Ferguson)
President Bharrat Jagdeo (left) conferring the Order of the Caribbean Community on former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson. (Jules Gibson photo)