Myrtha Desulme | CARICOM apartheid

On May 24, Mia Mottley's Barbados Labour Party stunned the region, when it swept the general election in a historic and crushing victory. Three weeks later, the new administration made history again when it declared that it had abolished the illegal visa requirement for Haitian nationals entering Barbados.

Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson declared that he was shocked when he learned that such a requirement was in place, because with Haiti being a member of CARICOM, there was no logical reason to impose visa requirements on its citizens. With that one bold and pioneering move, Barbados had awoken the elephant in the room, which CARICOM members had been tiptoeing around for the last 16 years, pretending that it was OK to blatantly discriminate against one of their members.

Another Bajan politician also deserves credit, as on March 1, speaking at the end of the 29th CARICOM Intersessional summit chaired by Haiti, then Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had expressed concern that Haitian citizens had to obtain visas in order to travel to CARICOM member states, and called for an end to the discrimination being shown to Haitian nationals. He announced that the Legal Affairs Committee was being commissioned to advise the July Heads of Government Conference as to whether there is any legal basis for denying Haitians rights that all other CARICOM members enjoy.

Haiti became a provisional member of CARICOM on July 4, 1998, and a full member on July 2, 2002. During the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, a single domestic space was created from February 1 to May 15, to ensure hassle-free movement for visitors. Guess which CARICOM member state was crudely excluded? In a Gleaner article dated March 25, 2007, titled 'CARICOM's decision was 'not cricket'', I was forced to ask how long Haiti was expected to accept being treated as a second-class citizen?

Golding commission

In June 2016, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the formation of the Golding Commission to review Jamaica's relations within the CARICOM and CARIFORUM frameworks. On February 6, 2018, the PM tabled a copy of the commission's report in Parliament.

On the subject of Haiti, the report stated: "We are not unmindful of the fears held, especially by smaller member states that their population might be overwhelmed by intraregional migration as people instinctively move toward poles of opportunity. These fears are heightened by the expected full participation of Haiti in the CSME.

"The commission must assume that the possibility of migration from Haiti to other member states was contemplated when it was admitted, in 2002, to full membership of CARICOM, which had the free movement of people as a stated goal.

"The fact that Haiti is the only member state whose citizens are required to obtain visas in order to enter another CARICOM country is an affront to not only its membership but, as well, to the CARICOM decision of 2007 that 'all CARICOM nationals should be allowed an automatic six months stay on arrival in another CARICOM member state', and to the CCJ's decision in the Shanique Myrie case.

"As regards Haiti, the commission sees it as less of a burden and more of an opportunity for CARICOM to grow in a way that is beneficial both to Haiti and the region, constituting as Haiti does 60 per cent of CARICOM's population.

"It is the view of the commission that to maintain barriers to free movement of people in a single market and economy is like establishing border control at Ferry to determine whether persons from other parishes will be allowed to enter the Corporate Area to visit, live, seek employment or do their shopping. Simply put, it does not square with a single market and economy."

With Jamaica having assumed chairmanship of the CARICOM conference on July 1, it will be interesting to see whether the Golding report and Barbados' courageous stand will be a wake-up call to the Community, or if glib platitudes will continue to mask CARICOM's apartheid system.

- Myrtha Desulme is president of the Haiti-Jamaica Society, and a business and investment consultant for Haiti. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and myrtha1804@gmail.com.