Barbadians were informed through a People’s Empowerment Party propaganda piece in the Nation newspaper recently that the government has agreed to a modification to the amnesty conditions announced earlier this year. It is possible BU missed the official release from government on the change or was it a backroom deal made with a group calling itself the Coalition For A Humane Amnesty?
We should remember the gist of the amnesty arrangement is any migrant residing in Barbados from before January 1, 1998 is eligible to apply. Recent reports suggest several migrants have been flooding the police department responsible for issuing police certificates of character. This administrative bump should be dealt with quickly to avoid the predictable shouts which are sure to come from Guyana Consul Norman Faria and Rickey Singh.
This recent development of government slinking behind the backs of Barbadians to negotiate and agree to new amnesty terms with David Commisong’s group leaves a bad taste in the mouth. BU is hopeful the PEP has gotten it wrong in the column.
Read the full article:
PEP COLUMN: Message to the migrants
Published on: 11/13/2009.
EARLIER THIS YEAR, undocumented CARICOM migrants residing in Barbados were sent into a state of panic when authorities started to routinely order the removal from Barbados of “illegals” who, in an effort to regularise their status, had voluntarily gone into the Immigration Department and filed applications for immigrant status.
Of course, these applicants for immigrant status were simply following a modus operandi that had developed under the previous Barbados Labour Party regime, of permitting undocumented CARICOM migrants who had resided in Barbados for five or more years to come forward and have their status regularised.
It came as a great shock therefore when, contrary to the past practice, instead of granting the applicants official permission to remain in Barbados while their applications were being processed, the authorities started to order them to leave the island.
The panic intensified in May when Prime Minister David Thompson announced that his Government would be offering an amnesty to undocumented CARICOM migrants – but only if such migrants had been residing in Barbados from before January 1, 1998.
This led to a feeling of doom and gloom in the CARICOM migrant community, for there was a perception that undocumented migrants who had come to Barbados after January 1, 1998, would be ordered to leave the island once they came to the attention of immigration authorities.
Thus, there was great apprehension and a reluctance to follow the Prime Minister’s directive that all undocumented migrants should report to the Immigration Department between June 1 and December 1, 2009.
It was at this stage that leading members of the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) joined with other citizens and residents of Barbados to establish the Coalition For A Humane Amnesty.
The coalition immediately went into action and sought to catalyse a reconsideration of the policy, with a view to making modifications that would render the policy less threatening and disruptive to qualified CARICOM migrants.
The coalition reached out to all of the relevant policymakers of Barbados, inclusive of Prime Minister Thompson, Minister Arnie Walters, the chief immigration officer, Permanent Secretary Greaves, all of the members of the House of Assembly and Senate, and the major civil society organisations of Barbados.
Out of this process, the following very important and helpful modifications emerged:
(1) Migrants who have resided in Barbados for at least five years prior to June 1, have been given a guarantee that they will not be required to leave Barbados when they lodge their applications for status at the Immigration Department.
(2) Such applicants will be permitted to remain in Barbados pending the processing of their application – and in the event their application is rejected and they exercise their right of appeal to the Immigration Review Committee, pending the determination of their appeal.
(3) Applicants who do not meet the criteria for the “amnesty” have no guarantee of being given status in Barbados, but at least they do have a guarantee that their application will be seriously considered on its individual merit.
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