THE BAHAMAS MUST “SAY NO” TO CARICOM DECISION
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Barbados NationNews, one of that country’s leading newspapers, published a story on August 17, 2018, that requires a definite clarification by the Bahamas Government for citizens of The Bahamas.
Under the headline NO VISA RQUIRED FOR HAITIAN NATIONALS, the NationNews stated: “Nationals of the Republic of Haiti will no longer require a visa to be allowed entry into Barbados, or any other CARICOM country. This was determined at the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit which was held in Montego Bay, Jamaica on July 4 and 5, this year.”
The article went on to claim that also coming out of that summit “was a unanimous decision that Haitian nationals would be entitled to an automatic stay of six months upon their arrival in any CARICOM Member State.”
“It was noted, however, that in accordance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the Caribbean Community Law, CARICOM nationals travelling to other member states must possess sufficient financial resources to adequately maintain themselves without becoming a charge on public funds,” the article stated.
Obviously, these decisions reached at the CARICOM Heads of Government summit in Jamaica have not been fully explained to the Bahamian people, given the fact that the very serious problem of illegal Haitian migration to The Bahamas that has existed for several decades, as thousands of impoverished Haitians risk their lives on unseaworthy sloops to get to The Bahamas in search of a better way of life continues unabated. In fact, it seems to have gotten worse, despite some highly commendable new policies that have been implemented, including sending Magistrates to the islands where they land to speed up their repatriation.
Now is the time for the Government to let The Bahamian people know exactly how these CARICOM decisions affect the manner in which Haitian nationals are allowed to enter The Bahamas legally. Of course, we have an Embassy in Haiti and obviously Haitian nationals planning to visit The Bahamas legally can apply for a visa to do so, but if a visa is no longer a necessity, does this mean that Haitians can now enter The Bahamas without a visa and are “entitled to an automatic stay of six months” upon their arrival?
If this is the case, then why are they being apprehended when they choose to pack like sardines in a can on wooden sloops without a visa to get to The Bahamas? Without question, the Minister with responsibility for immigration needs to explain the current state of affairs with regard to this issue. There is no question that the dictates of these decisions are not in the best interest of The Bahamas, even though the free movement of nationals of CARICOM-member countries has long been one of CARICOM’S major goals.
This excerpt gleaned from the Internet provides a good backdrop for the current situation: “The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), originally the Caribbean Community and Common Market, was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas which came into effect on 1 August 1973. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
“CARICOM superseded the 1965-1972 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which had been organized to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962.
“A Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), was signed by the CARICOM Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on 5 July 2001 at their Twenty-Second Meeting of the Conference in Nassau the Bahamas.”
Currently, there are 15 CARICOM-member countries in the 34-member Organization of American States (OAS), which conceivably provides them with some degree of clout collectively in that organization. However, they are not always in agreement on how to vote on some issues, and each country’s representative generally votes according to what’s in the best interest of their country.
A most recent example of this was a resolution supported by the United States and Canada during a meeting of the OAS General Assembly on June 6, 2018, calling for the suspension of Venezuela from the OAS. That resolution failed to get the number of votes required for it to pass. Among the 19 countries voting in favour of it were The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica, while Dominica, Belize and St Vincent and the Grenadines were among those who voted against it. All of the other CARICOM countries — Grenada, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago – were among the 11 countries that abstained, surely because their Ambassadors were instructed by their governments to do so in the best interest of their respective countries.
The fact that The Bahamas voted in favour of the measure surely was because it was in The Bahamas’ best interest to not go on record as being opposed to a resolution vigorously supported by the United States. There are some Bahamians who may argue that as a sovereign nation, The Bahamas does not have to always agree with decisions made by the United States, and they would be right. But when it is made perfectly clear that the United States expects the support of The Bahamas on a matter as important as the resolution calling for the expulsion of Venezuela from the OAS — as was the case when Florida Senator Marco Rubio made a special trip to The Bahamas shortly before the vote in the OAS, and subsequently announced that it was one of the matters he discussed with Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis — then it unquestionably was in the best interest of The Bahamas to vote in favour of the US-backed resolution.
Given The Bahamas’ geographic proximity to the United States and the fact that the lion’s share of the tourists who have established The Bahamas as one of the top tourist destinations in the world are from that country, with tourism being the strongest pillar of our economy, it was most certainly the right decision for the The Bahamas.
A similar approach must be used by The Bahamas in dealing with CARICOM’s “no visa requirements” for Haitian nationals travelling to other CARICOM countries. In addition to Barbados, those countries that seemingly are strongly supporting that initiative are mostly Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries whose geographic position in the Southern Caribbean clearly suggests that there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that a Haitian sloop with more than 100 illegal migrants on board will ever approach their shores.
So, in my opinion, CARICOM should be told in no uncertain terms that The Bahamas has no intention of complying with its “no visa necessary” Haitian immigration policy.
