NOT just small states with quite limited resources – like most of those within our Caribbean Community — that must be overwhelmed by the challenges posed at the international level by the pathetic scenes of thousands of men and women, risking their lives as well as their children’s, to find refuge in Europe, or wherever, from the horrific tragedies in their own homelands.
We are persuaded that the Guyanese people too – across ethnicities, politics and cultural norms — are deeply disturbed over the recurring heart-wrenching televised scenes of the thousands being rescued at sea but with no place of certain refuge. Worse, the hundreds of bodies of men, women and little children, who did not survive the disasters being washed up at sea.
However, our Governments and institutions must not be overwhelmed by the scale of these recurring horrific human tragedies. We must take initiatives, preferably collectively under the umbrella of CARICOM, to respond to the varying pleas of United Nations agencies, consistent with the spirit of sharing the burden of fellow citizens of ‘one world’.

Currently, the awful destruction in loss of lives and “missing persons” as well as damages to crops and infrastructure, suffered by Dominica, a fellow CARICOM member state, this past week from ‘killer’ storm Erika, is understandably engaging practical responses from the Caribbean Community.
However, it seems incumbent upon CARICOM Governments, the Region’s private sector and leading regional institutions and organisations to reach out, in practical ways, to the spreading humanitarian challenges currently creating havoc, almost daily, with the lives of thousands fleeing from the political barbarism being inflicted upon them in their own countries.
It may be useful to have an informed overview from CARICOM on the current wave of unfolding human disasters. This view could perhaps also inform the Region’s people of initiatives already taken, or currently being pursued, to demonstrate our region’s concerns for the victims of political persecution and sheer terrorism, as well as resources, however limited, that are being made available.