Action violates Caricom treaty
BY KARYL WALKER Editor
— Crime/Court Desk walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
IN a direct breach of
the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and a snub of a recent ruling by the
Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Trinidadian immigration officers denied 13
Jamaicans entry into that country on Tuesday night detained them and sent them
back home on the first flight yesterday morning.
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Some of the 13 Jamaicans who
were refused entry, detained and sent back home from Trinidad in direct breach
of the Revised Treaty of Chagaramas. (PHOTO: JOSEPH WELLINGTON)
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The Jamaicans were angry when the Jamaica
Observer spoke to them immediately after they were processed by immigration
officials at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston yesterday
afternoon.
They said that their passports were
confiscated by the Trinidadians and they were ordered to sit on a wooden bench
throughout the night before they were rudely bundled on a Caribbean Airlines
flight on which the majority of the Reggae Boyz football team were being flown
home after their friendly match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Among those turned away from her fellow
Caribbean Community (Caricom) state was Anne Gordon, who was given the task of
chaperoning an 11-year-old girl to see her father who resides in that country
with his Trinidadian wife. However, both Gordon and the girl were denied entry,
despite carrying Caricom passports.
"She cried all night. They just took our
passports and told us we did not meet their entry requirements. If her father
lives there why did they refuse the child the chance to see her father?"
Gordon questioned.
The child was picture of dejection. "I
don't see my father since last year," she said.
In a recent ruling in the landmark case
involving Shanique Myrie against the Barbadian Government, the CCJ ruled that
where a Caricom national is refused entry into a member state, that national
should be given the opportunity to consult an attorney or a consular official
of his or her country, or to contact a family member.
The Jamaicans said that they were not allowed
to contact anybody nor were they even allowed to use their cellular phones to
contact the persons who were waiting outside the Piarco Airport to receive
them. They also claimed they were threatened that their phones would be seized
if they attempted to use them.
"When I gave them the number of my
sister-in-law, the woman (immigration officer) pretended to make a call and
then told me that it was a man on the other end. While she did that I called my
sister-in-law, who had invited me to visit her, and got her. I tried to give
the immigration officer the phone but she said she was not talking to
anyone," Onicia Robinson, one of the Jamaicans denied entry to Trinidad,
said.
When the Observer contacted Robinson's
sister-in-law, Gillian Leben, she confirmed that she was not contacted by any
immigration official in regards to her receiving Robinson. "I was outside
the airport with a taxi to pick her up until 4:00 this morning (yesterday) and
my phone did not ring. No one contacted me," Leben said.
The CCJ had also ruled that member states
should give, promptly and in writing, reasons for refusing entry to Caricom
nationals. The receiving state is also obliged to inform the refused national
of his or her right to challenge the decision.
The Jamaicans claimed that this was not done,
saying that they were threatened to sign a refusal of entry form or spend the
night in jail.
"I did not sign any form and I saw when
the woman sign the form for me," said Cassandara Douse, who was among the
13.
For Omar Campbell the denial of entry was
particularly painful. Campbell showed stamps in his passport to show that he
had spent 10 months in that country and to compound matters he is married to a
Trinidadian woman. He showed his marriage certificate to prove his claim.
"To make matters worse, yesterday was my wife's birthday," Campbell
said with a sad look on his face.
The Jamaicans also complained that they were
verbally abused and told they were being turned back because of the recent
murder of Trinidadian national Keron Fraser, whose body was found in a shallow
grave at Duncan's Pen in Spanish Town, St Catherine, recently.
Fraser disappeared on October 18, two days
after he arrived in the island from Trinidad.
Police said that, upon arriving in the island
on October 16, Fraser, who was with a female companion, rented a motor vehicle
and headed towards an undisclosed location in Clarendon. He was reported
missing two days later.
According to the police, a few days after
Fraser's disappearance, two men were detained by the police after they were
intercepted in the motor car which he had rented. The vehicle had bloodstains,
the police said.
In addition, the Jamaicans said they were only
given two minutes to use the bathroom when they requested to do so, and
security officials followed them to the bathroom.
"They sat and watched us all night and
said we are prisoners. Dem don't like Jamaicans and say dem turn us back
because we kill Trini in our country," said June Henry, who was visiting
the twin-island republic for a three-week vacation.
The Jamaicans also complained that they were
extremely uncomfortable sitting up all night after more than eight hours of
travel.
"I had to sleep on a carpet, and we got
some raw tasting chicken about 3:00 am," Jodian Davidson said.
For years, Jamaicans have complained that they
have been subjected to sub-standard treatment at the hands of Trinidadian
airport officials and have advocated a boycott of goods from that country as
retaliation for the xenophobic behaviour of the Eastern Caribbean nationals.
Jamaica is a major market for Trinidadian
goods and a number of Trinidadians have worked and lived in the country without
hassle and in accordance with free movement within Caricom.
A passenger who travelled on the same flight
with the denied Jamaicans told the Observer that an airline official informed
him that last week 26 Jamaicans were turned back from Trinidad.
There was, however, no confirmation.
A security guard at the Norman Manley
International Airport said that he had overheard a number of Jamaicans
returning from Trinidad complaining of bad treatment at the hands of
Trinidadian officials.
Yesterday, Jamaica's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Foreign Trade raised concerns about the number of Jamaicans who
have been denied entry to the twin islands in recent times.
"The ministry is concerned at this
development and continues to interface with the relevant authorities in
Trinidad and Tobago on the matter, including in the light of the Shanique Myrie
ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice," it said in a release.
Airline tickets to Trinidad and Tobago cost
between US$520 and US$750 depending on when the ticket is purchased.
Source: Jamaica Observer
