No let-up on immigration laws

– but Venezuelan refugees will not be criminalised

GUYANA is not looking to relax its immigration laws in light of the economic crisis in Venezuela, but at the same time it will not criminalise those crossing its borders in search of refuge.

That’s the word from Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge during a press conference here on Monday where the matter was raised.

His reaction was in response to a recent BBC report saying that eleven Latin America countries have agreed to allow Venezuelans leaving their homeland to enter their countries with expired travel documents. Those countries are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

As Minister Greenidge told reporters, the Guyana Government is not considering joining the bandwaggon, but will instead facilitate fleeing Venezuelan migrants, given their current circumstance.

“We’ve decided that what the law requires of persons when that happens is that you apprehend the person; that they’re persecuted and deported, unless they have a good excuse,” he said, adding:

“Given the circumstances and the numbers involved, there is a certain empathy with those who are forced to move by the [effects] of difficulty on their side, and so we decided that we will not criminalise those who have crossed without any ulterior motive.

“What we do is when we find them, we require that they go and get their health checked, and that they formally register so that we can take them to the nearest point and go through the formalities.”

HEALTH FEARS
Just last month, PAHO (Pan American Health Organisation) member states were urged to rapidly increase their vaccination coverage, as the measles virus has resurfaced in Venezuela, with 3,545 confirmed cases and 62 deaths.

Said the minister: “We’re ensuring that we can identify the movers and their health status, because unless people move in numbers that constitute a strategic threat, the significance of the movement lies in our ability to identify their health status.

“So, if we get 12 or 15 people moving, and they are [carrying] malaria, measles and these types of issues, then there is a danger it poses especially to Indigenous People by possible pandemics. So, that is one area in which we need special help to monitor and ensure we have vaccinations.”

This special of which Minister Greenidge speaks has been coming from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Citizenship, Home Affairs, Health and Communities which are all closely monitoring the situation.

Additional assistance is also coming through collaborations with regional health agencies and Guyana’s southern neighbour, Brazil.

However, due to the vastness of Guyana’s borders, and the fact that persons don’t always utilise the official crossing points, the challenge has been to locate those migrants and determine their health status.

UNOFFICIAL CROSSING
Touching on the issue of migrants’ preference for unofficial crossing points, Minister Greenidge explained: “The reason why that makes it difficult is that traditionally, they have traversed these borders without regarding them as physical barriers. So, for a number of them, the movements that you see are normal movements, whereas for others, they might have been having difficulty arising from disturbances from, or arising from the shortage of materials…

“If the [migrants are] 50 miles away from that established crossing point or 100 miles away from the nearest village or town, they often don’t believe it’s worth it to do that great diversion, only to register. Especially if you believe that this is a traditional route where you’ve been crossing from time to time and so they just cross where it’s convenient. “

On the numbers that have been fleeing to Guyana, Minister Greenidge said that while it’s difficult to give an exact figure on those who have relocated, he does not believe that it exceeds 500.

“We try to ensure that those who arrive on this side are accommodated in circumstances that are acceptable to us and acceptable internationally,” he said, adding:
“But at the border areas, I doubt we’re looking at 500 persons. I can’t give you a number, but what I can say is: Yes, we are discussing the matter with the International Organisation for Migrants (IOM); the IOM has its own numbers, as has other agencies, many of which are far in excess of ours…

“But I don’t have any reason to believe that the numbers that we are giving are inaccurate; because the numbers are really estimates, projections rather than accurate figure.”
On the subject of immigration laws, Minister Greenidged said that where that is concerned, the primary matter being discussed by Guyana, in conjunction with other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads, has to do more with Haiti than anything else.

“At this point in time, we are not looking at the relaxation of immigration laws,” he said. “In the Caribbean as a whole, we are looking at ensuring that we apply those laws correctly; the discussions amongst the CARICOM Heads about Haiti in particular, those are discussions triggered by a concern that we were illegally preventing Haitians from entering the rest of the CARICOM space, given that they are full members of CARICOM, and that they pay their dues. So that has been more the concern.”

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