THE foreign affairs ministry has intervened in the reported abuse of a group of Jamaicans who were denied entry to Trinidad and Tobago last week, even though no formal report has been made to the ministry.
At the same time, it is also understood that the twin-island republic’s national security ministry will be meeting with Caribbean Airlines as part of a probe into the incident.
The Jamaicans were refused entry and allegedly held in deplorable conditions. The travellers said they were made to sleep on the airport floor, not allowed to use the bathroom, and were mocked and insulted by the Trinidadian police.
On Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith said that immediately following a newscast about the incident, the ministry alerted the Jamaica High Commission in Trinidad, which then communicated with high-level staff at the country’s immigration department.
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“An internal investigation at the airport in T&T has also begun, and the Jamaican High Commission will be provided with a report upon completion,” a release from the ministry said Friday.
At the same time, Johnson Smith has urged Jamaicans who encounter this type of abuse while travelling abroad to make formal reports to the ministry.
“I was very upset by the accounts given in the video circulated on social media, but incidents like these must be reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade so that we can better represent your interests. We need you to give us information so we can support investigations; we can also work on preventing the recurrence of these incidents insofar as possible. The more information we have, the better,” she said.
The ministry is also reminding the public that there is a Caricom Community (Caricom) complaints procedure which can be used to ensure that nationals who have been denied entry, detained or mistreated at the ports of entry of other Caricom states file a formal complaint with the ministry on return to Jamaica.
Despite the move towards strengthening integration and removing the barriers to entry among Caricom nations through the implementation of the Caricom Single Market and Economy, Jamaican nationals and others still continue to experience some degree of difficulty when travelling to some other nations in the region, especially Trinidad and Barbados.
The T&T incident harks back to similar cases over the past several years, including last year when the foreign affairs ministry again intervened in the case of 13 Jamaicans who said they were mistreated and deported. They, too, complained of being forced to sleep on the floor and denied food and access to bathrooms. The year before that another group of Jamaicans, who were turned back from Trinidad and Tobago, also reported being treated in a similar manner.
The latest incident happened even after the Caribbean Court of Justice — in its judgement in the Shanique Myrie case — made clear the rights of Caricom nationals travelling within the region. The Government of Barbados was ordered to pay Myrie US$38,000 as the regional court ruled that the Jamaican woman’s right to free movement under the Treaty of Chaguaramas had been violated by Barbadian immigration.
Glad to here the ” alleged ” mistreatment is being investigated.
Everyone deserves a fair chance of their truth to be heard.
I know that one of the Trinidad ministers visited immigrants held at the deportation jail about a month a go because he wanted a first hand account of the conditions there and the stories of those immigrants being held in Trinidad immigration jails.
He spoke with many Jamaicans personally, including one Jamaican woman who said her relationship with her Trinidadian husband did not work out.
While most Jamaicans in the island are part of the university and business minded individuals and others willing to work especially in the security and fast food and factory jobs that most Trinidadian young people don’t want, there is a GROWING number of Jamaiacans living in Trinidad, involved in underworld crime, drugs, gangs and introducing scamming to the island.
Those are the ones that make it hard for all the hardworking, good Jamaican people who love the island and Trinidadians love and who call Trinidad their home.
In all fairness , Jamaicans cannot be blamed for all the crime and insistence of being
” profiled” on their entry to Trinidad and Tobago. THERE IS A HUGE GROWING IMMIGRATION PROBLEM OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO! Despite the so called ” recession,” the high standards of living, free health care, free universities and top free primary and secondary education, cause many to flock to the island s of Trinidad and Tobago.
Amazingly, on the Trinidad minister’s visit to the immigration jail just a month or two ago, Nationals from the following countries were piled up in the Trinidad Immigration jail, awaiting deportation:
SYRIA, CHINA, VENEZUELA, CANADA, NIGERIA, SURINAME, DOMININCAN REPUBLIC, HAITI, GUYANA, GHANA & OTHER AFRICAN NATIONS, GRENADA…. JAMAICA …. And a list of other countries of people all illegally calling Trinidad their home.
Indeed, the government has a huge and interesting problem on their hands. With the crime situation rising and the recession creeping up, I guess the government is taking measures to address this .
I don’t know why Jamaica is still a part of Caricom smh Trinidad a gwaan like a Jamaica mek dem crime rate gone up kmt a dem own citizens ova deh a rape & kill off di ppl dem so mek Trinidad move dem bbc afta dem nuh more than wi…a from slavery days di p***y dem hate wi
How a Jamaican be an illegal immigrant in Trinidad? Isn’t there a freedom of movement and right to work?
This is one of the reason why Jamaica need to get it together. What is really in Trinidad? Why should Jamaicans go over to a next island fi work. Trinis dont like Jamaicans but will copy the hell off of us.
Some even act like yardies and if you dont ask them you’ll never know they were trini. They hate when Americans mix us up with them. That goes to show you people know Jamaica more than any other island.
I don’t know WHY it is always a few set IGNORANT Jmaiacans who constantly lament and moan that ” Trinis don’t like Jamaicans.”
That is an absolute lie and misconception . It is a known face that Jamaica and Jamaican culture has always been highly respected and lived in Trindad and by Trinidadians.
Jamaiacans and Trinis get along very fine for the most pArt.
Another KNOWN fact: Jamaican men LOVE LOVE Trinidadian woman…. So unless u are a woman who lost your man to a Trini woman, it is the only reason for you to be bitter … Ooooo
Next point : Trinidadians LOVE Jmaiacn music and culture., but they are FAR form longing and wishing they were Jamaican. There is so much arts, music and culture form so many nations in that one tiny island of Trinidad, that there is a lot live, live musically and culturally.
Jamaicans and Trinidadians are intertwined with certain aspects of culture, as the first Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Craibbean, was built in Trinidad and there were ties with both islands spiritually and with the Africa movement . Trinidadians respect and honor Jamaica as well for the Rastafaraian culture, which is huge in Trindad as well