(Jamaica Observer) Janet Lawrence, a member of a Windrush generation family, won an all-inclusive north coast resort vacation for two from the Ministry of Tourism at the Jamaican High Commission in London, England, recently.
High commissioner to the United Kingdom Seth Ramocan was present as senior advisor/strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright made the presentation to Lawrence on behalf of Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, at his office in London on June 25.
Seiveright said the decision to make the presentation was based on the impressive quality of presentations made by members of the Windrush generation at a forum on the subject at the high commission last month.
Lawrence won the prize after correctly answering the question: Where is the birthplace of Jamaica’s tourism product? The answer is Port Antonio, Portland. Costs associated with the prize will be covered by members of the Jamaican private sector.
The Windrush generation is made up of Commonwealth citizens who emigrated to the United Kingdom between 1948 and 1971 from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, in response to labour shortages. However, amid the tightening of immigration rules in Britain, many of them were being denied services, losing their jobs and were facing deportation, among other problems.
The Windrush scandal is a 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases, wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office.
Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries, as members of the Windrush generation — so named after the Empire Windrush — which ship brought one of the first groups of West Indian migrants to the UK in 1948.
In addition to the treatment meted out previously mentioned, an unknown number, or were denied benefits or medical care to which they were entitled. Also a number of long-term UK residents were wrongly refused re-entry to the UK, and a larger number were threatened with immediate deportation by the Home Office.
Linked by commentators to the “hostile environment policy” instituted by Theresa May during her time as home secretary, the scandal led to the resignation of Amber Rudd as home secretary in April 2018 and the appointment of Sajid Javid as her successor. It also prompted a wider debate about British immigration policy and Home Office practice.
It came to public attention as a result of a campaign mounted by Caribbean diplomats to the UK — including the Jamaican high commissioner — British parliamentarians and charities, and an extended series of articles in The Guardiannewspaper.