INSTEAD OF INSULTING CARICOM, PRIME MINISTER THOMPSON
Jamaica Observer Editorial

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 -- How Prime Minister David Thompson relates to his counterparts when they sit at the same table at the Caricom Heads of Government Summit in Guyana next week will be very interesting.

For in effect, what Prime Minister Thompson really told those Caribbean leaders who, dare we say, had the effrontery to comment on Barbados' new immigration policy is to shut their damn mouths and mind their own business.

The Caribbean Media Corporation last week reported Prime Minister Thompson as saying: "There seems to be a mad rush now for everybody to say something new. I have announced a domestic immigration policy that is not a matter for other Caribbean prime ministers to comment on."

Prime Minister Thompson was, of course, referring to a six-month amnesty his administration has enforced on Caricom nationals living in Barbados illegally to regularise their status or face deportation.

Frankly, he's within his right to do so, as he has a duty to protect his country and its citizens. He therefore cannot allow Barbados to become overrun with illegal immigrants.  However, news reports - and they have not been denied by Prime Minister Thompson or anyone in his administration - have informed us of the inhumane treatment accorded by the Barbadian authorities to Caribbean nationals deemed to be living in that Caricom member country illegally.

In fact, the treatment has been so hostile that the Barbadian opposition leader, Ms Mia Mottley, was forced to call on the Government to "correct the unfortunate reputation that Barbados is rapidly developing" because of the new immigration policy.

"The focus must be simply those who have arrived and who have never been documented," Ms Mottley said. She went further, arguing that when people are asked to leave they should be "given the time to pack up their belongings and leave in a manner that does not reduce them to feeling like criminals."

We couldn't agree with her more. Just as we share the concerns raised by Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

President Jagdeo spoke out about the roughing up before deportation of Guyanese by Barbadian immigration authorities, while Prime Minister Gonsalves said the policy flies in the face of the spirit of Caricom.

Under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, Caricom member states had pledged to honour the unrestricted movement of capital, labour and technology throughout the region. The agreement also requires member states committed to the full implementation of the Caricom Single Market and Economy to establish conditions to facilitate access by their nationals to the collective resources of the region on a non-discriminatory basis.

It seems to us that instead of insulting his Caricom colleagues because they expressed concern about the inhospitable treatment their countrymen received in Barbados, Prime Minister Thompson should have instructed his police and immigration officers to treat the people they have apprehended with a level of decency and respect for the fact that they are human beings and not beasts.

The Gestapo-like rounding up and deportation of Caricom nationals is, we believe, more damaging to the objectives of Caricom rather than, according to Prime Minister Thompson, "a scenario where everybody is seeking to say something".

Prime Minister Thompson therefore needs to tell us whether Barbados is committed to Caricom and the agreements forged between member states.