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)
