In The Diaspora

Alissa Trotz is editor of the In the Diaspora column For the past two weeks the Caricom Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (Impacs) has been featured in the Diaspora column, in which Arif Bulkan brought to public attention the organisation’s requirement that prospective employees undergo HIV tests in clear contravention of international best practices.

Dr Arif Bulkan teaches human rights law at the University of the West Indies in Barbados The purpose of my diaspora column of Monday, September 6 was to highlight the current practice of Caricom Impacs, in which HIV screening is carried out at the recruitment stage of its employment process.

Arif Bulkan lectures in the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies The following story was brought to my attention almost two years ago, involving a CARICOM national who was offered employment within a CARICOM agency, but which offer was subsequently withdrawn.

Selma James, who celebrated her 80th birthday two weeks ago, has  been campaigning against sexism, racism and capitalism for more than six decades. 

Aaron Kamugisha is a Caribbean citizen and a lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.

Iman Khan is a recent graduate of the York University BA (Hons) program in Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

In The Diaspora Terry Roopnaraine is a Guyanese social anthropologist with research interests in Amazonian ethnology.

As Caribbean nationals (a group of women and men) whose stays in Guyana have in the past ranged from two decades to two years, we are constantly surprised by how differently Guyana sees itself compared to how the rest of the Caribbean sees it, yet how similar we all are in a wider sense.