THE recent incident in which a pregnant woman and her child were held at the Grantley Adams Airport in Barbados, and the reported treatment meted out to them by that country’s immigration authorities, has raised the ire of the Guyanese community.This is not the first such occurrence under the current Government or the previous one, and it remains one that continues to dog the Guyanese community. Detention and deportation of Guyanese have been prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. In the case of Barbados, when the immigration matter flared up in 2009, rather than seek to engage the Barbados Government, the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration encouraged prominent Guyanese to use the issue of race as a major factor in widening the discord between the two countries.

Guyana lost an important opportunity, in the presence of a challenge presented to the integration movement, to find solutions that could reduce the embarrassment to Guyanese entering Barbados for whatever legal reason.

In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyanese constitute the highest percentage of deportees, and according to reports, the treatment our citizens endure there is less than civil.

In every instance — whether moving from one country to another or moving around countries within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) — rights and responsibilities attend the traveller, and these ought to be known by the travelling and non-travelling public.

Guyanese must be commended for rallying around their countrymen anytime a wrong is perceived to have been committed by external forces against one of us. This camaraderie is absolutely important as Guyanese seek to build and weld a nation that may be divided internally by political and other issues.

Where the region has seen increased deportation of Jamaicans from Trinidad and Tobago, rather than allowing the issue to fester among and between the peoples of their two countries, the respective heads of government had, in July, thought it fitting to have official engagement to resolve this and other issues.

As Guyana is confronted with the deportation of its citizens, Guyanese cannot lose sight that efforts are made internally to have citizens of CARICOM respect the Laws of Guyana. Recently, four Haitians were placed before our court and were fined $30,000 each, with an alternative of six months’ imprisonment if the fine cannot be paid; they are to be deported after serving the sentence or paying the fine.

French-speaking Haiti is a member of CARICOM, and while many may not be reading the Haitian newspapers, it may be possible that the Haitian community is giving its nationals the same support Guyanese give each other in matters of this nature.

There evidently exists a problem with Guyanese entering countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, and Haitians entering Guyana without satisfying immigration requirements, perceived or real. It may be to our national interest that the Guyana Government treats this matter as priority and engage the governments that are involved with a view to removing the animosity that has developed through this issue.

When taken into consideration, the intent of CARICOM in regard to free movement has to be tackled head on. When travel and migration are linked to other facets of the society, these influence the behaviours of Immigration officers in dealing with persons entering a country outside of enforcing laws. And this is where CARICOM is put to the test. Early in the integration process, the people of the Caribbean embraced the Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta), which speaks to harnessing our cultural, economic and political values to be used as a consolidated force for the benefit of all the people of the region. It may be opportune, in the presence of immigration challenges, to remember that the experiences gathered from Carifesta can be used to weld the people of the region together.

Problems at the various ports of entry require a two-pronged approach, bilateral and regional. The idea of a single economic space needs to be pursued, not only by putting laws in place, but by working with stakeholders in determining what a single economy means and what it must physically look like. Free movement in CARICOM means that every citizen and government needs to operate within the confines of existing laws, be it at the time when a country is receiving a person from another country, or a citizen is going to another country. The laws are important and need to be respected by everyone.