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The Alliance For Change-the AFC today laid the following motion in Parliament.
MOTION ON PROTECTION OF GUYANESE IN THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY
WHEREAS the Government and people of Guyana are disturbed about the situation regarding the fate of Guyanese nationals who reside and work in Caricom States (“The Community”);
AND WHEREAS the Government and people of Guyana are mindful of the conditions and realities that affect the security and well being of Guyanese citizens in the Community, and mindful that the Government of Guyana has received expressions of concerns from Guyanese resident in Barbados and elsewhere in the Community and from Guyanese who travel within the Community;
AND WHEREAS the Treaty of Chagaramus and the Caricom Charter of Civil Liberties (The “Instruments”) to which Guyana, Barbados and the other Caricom State Parties are signatories, declare that inter alia that the Community is moving to become one customs and economic Union (CSME) which requires that all of us as a united Community share and benefit from the region’s resources, including human resources, collective expertise and skills;
AND WHEREAS the Government and people of Guyana recognise the right of the Government of Barbados and other Community States to enforce their national laws, Guyana reminds our sister States that collectively we all operate and exist in a community framework evolving from harmonized approaches and law
AND WHEREAS the members of the National Assembly of Guyana are deeply concerned about the well being, welfare, human rights and dignity of Guyanese citizens resident and who travel to Barbados and the wider Community,
AND WHEREAS we Guyanese are cognizant that we as a people have a reputation of the utmost hospitality towards our Caribbean brothers and sisters, clearly manifested by giving the Caricom Secretariat its home at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.
BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS:
- That this National Assembly calls on all sister Community Governments, and in particular, the Government of Barbados, to ensure that due process and protection under the Constitution and laws of Barbados and that the letter and spirit of the aforesaid Community Instruments that have been ratified is extended to our citizens who are resident in, or travel to Barbados and the wider Community;
- That the Government of Guyana seeks clarification from the Government of Barbados and other Community States, as to the well being, welfare, legal protection, due process and preservation of the human rights and dignities of our Guyanese brothers and sisters.
- That the Government of Guyana intercedes with its sister States through diplomatic and any other means, with regard to representing the rights and protection on of the Guyanese nationals residing in and travelling to our sister State of Barbados and the wider Community, so as to ensure that there is no real or perceived discrimination against Guyanese nationals residing in, or travelling to Barbados or the wider Community, on the basis of their nationality which treatment may be repugnant to the spirit and letter of the said Instruments to which we are all State Parties.
- That the Government of Guyana must exhaust all diplomatic and or legal efforts to guarantee the protection of our people, by providing the aforementioned assistance for the dignified repatriation of those Guyanese where unavoidably are returned to their homeland from Barbados or the wider Community, and to make preparation for their social and economic re-integration into Guyanese society and national life.
Submitted By: ______________________
Mr. Raphael G.C. Trotman, M.P.
Seconded By: _______________________
Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, M.P.
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