Says Secretary-General Dr Edwin Carrington
CARICOM Secretary-General Dr Edwin Carrington has supported the view of Assistant Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, who recently declared that CARICOM needs to revisit its objectives as regards to the integration process.

Speaking from the CARICOM headquarters in Georgetown recently, Dr Carrington said that his office has already set up a task force to look at issues presently popping up in the Caribbean Community in terms of the integration of regional people.

Dr Carrington remarked that CARICOM needs to revisit the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas with a view to see where adjustments can be made, adding that a task force was set up sometime back to review this and it has so far produced a draft of recommendations.

“We have to be aware that already steps have been taken to have this done; we have set up a task force which is charged with looking at the integration process”, he stated.

Questioned on his position as regards to statements made to the media by Ambassador Ramdin during a recent official visit to Guyana, the CARICOM Secretary-General said that the OAS Ambassador is “very much in line” in his assessment of the situation.

Ramdin had, at the time, been speaking on the Barbados situation which has caused some furore around the region and which was sparked by that country’s Prime Minister, David Thompson’s announcement that Guyanese and other illegal Caribbean immigrants in his country will have six months to get themselves documented or face deportation.

The Ambassador had underscored the importance of CARICOM revisiting its strategic objectives when it comes to the integration process, particularly in light of media reports of the treatment meted out to Guyanese immigrants in Barbados.

He had also outlined the challenges that exist in the implementation of already agreed objectives within the integration process with regard to the free movement of people, as well as the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), among other issues.

He also pointed out that while Caribbean leaders agree to general principles and objectives, it is not the same with the implementation of these commitments.

The OAS Ambassador has posited that governments within the region become leery when they see the impact and commitment they have to make when it comes to overcoming issues regarding implementation, and as such it becomes difficult for them to agree.

Honest dialogue among leaders with a view to looking back at what was agreed, why, and how best these can be implemented, can be one of the ways to resolving this problem, Ambassador Ramdin had put forth.

He had also urged that the challenges which the Caribbean integration process face should not become a total obstacle to the movement of the process as it is important for CARICOM to act as one.

President Bharrat Jagdeo had also spoken out quite vociferously on the Barbados issue, and Ramdin had expressed confidence that the President will address these issues facing Guyanese in particular within the region when he assumes the Chairmanship of the Caribbean Community this July.

A number of other leaders within the region had also voiced their concerns about this tactic being employed by the Barbadian Government to rid their country of illegal immigrants.

Two other countries which media reports have specifically mentioned that will be targeted for deportation by the Barbadians are the Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, had earlier this week blasted the treatment meted out to his countrymen in other Caribbean territories, citing harassment by immigrations officials, similar to those experienced by Guyanese nationals with Barbados immigration officials in particular