MEDIA-CARIBBEAN: Expulsion Casts Pall Over Freedom of Movement

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Peter Richards

PORT OF SPAIN, Feb 8 2002 (IPS) - Antigua and Barbuda authorities’ decision to expel a Barbadian journalist on a legal technicality has cast a shadow over efforts by Caribbean governments to encourage freedom of movement among their nationals.

Authorities last week gave Julius Gittens, 34, less than 24 hours to leave the country after labour officials concluded the journalist, who had been employed by a local radio station since last year, had shown “contempt for the labour and immigration laws of the land.”

In a detailed explanation on the issue, the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Department said that while it had sought to accommodate Gittens during his stay on the island, it was clear that the Barbadian journalist was not prepared to uphold the laws of the country.

“As the appointed administrator of the Labour Laws, and as the facilitator between Mr. Gittens and the Chief Immigration Officer, the recommendation for Mr. Gittens to leave the Country, until he would have believed it fit and wise for him to respect these laws, is fair, just, accountable and right! He needs further to apologize to these officers and the Nation for his crass behavior,” the statement said.

But Barbados’ Attorney General Mia Mottley, who is also responsible for information in her native Caribbean island, expressed shock and dismay over the issue.

She told reporters Wednesday, “In the circumstances for Mr Gittens to be asked to leave Antigua on what appears to be a technicality is a most unfortunate action and one which the Government of Barbados condemns”.

Mottley, who was in Antigua last week attending an urgent Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers of Information Meeting to discuss the demise of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) said that she saw both her counterpart and Gittens and that nothing had been raised about any problems with his working there as a journalist.

She pointed out that Barbados had registered 573 skilled CARICOM nationals to work, including Antiguans.

Mottley said without wanting to get involved in the internal affairs of another country “we cannot help but be reminded of the fact that in the spirit of the establishment of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy ..that these matters really do nothing but blemish our record and our efforts to go further for the freedom of movement of all Caribbean people.”

Caribbean Governments in their efforts to forge a single market and economy have so far agreed on a number of measures that would allow nationals of individual countries to live and work in other territories. Media workers were among the first group of skilled Caribbean nationals who are to benefit from the freedom of movement within the region.

But while some Governments have adhered to the spirit of the accord, others have been slow in implementing the decision.

In its detailed statement, the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Department authorities said that while no “application for the work permit has been made to date” by Gittens or his employers, Observer Radio, during 2001, preliminary figures show that nearly 6000 work permits had been approved, including 38 from Barbados.

The statement by the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Department said that the Caricom freedom of movement of skilled workers was an avenue Gittens had sought to circumvent the laws of the island.

“The Labour Commissioner was not prepared to accept that! Acceptance of this position is the beginning of institutional anarchy! Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign State with its Sovereign Laws,” the statement added.

But Gittens has said that the decision to expel him from the country had nothing to do with his immigration status on the island, but rather an attempt by the Lester Bird administration to muzzle the media.

Gittens, who function also included training employees at the one year old Observer Radio, was also host of the station most popular current affairs programme “Big Issues” that provided an avenue for nationals to comment on issues mainly involving the government.

“Some of the issues raised by the people and investigated by the station made the government uncomfortable,” Gittens said.

Mottley said that if the explanation put out by the Antigua and Barbuda authorities was true and that a qualified Antiguan was available for the job “then one would have thought that Mr Gittens would have been refused his application for a work permit initially, right off from the start”.

“But in the absence of such a refusal, and in the context of his being asked to pay a 3,000 dollar fee, which could only be payable upon approval of a work permit.then in those circumstances, it is really distressing that we should reduce his being asked to leave on a technicality on his failure to produce a 10 dollar receipt, which in any event should properly be available to the Antiguan government in terms of their records.”

In a statement Thursday, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM) said it disapproved of the manner in which “Antiguan officials exercised their prerogative in the matter of Barbadian journalist, Julius Gittens.”

The Trinidad-based regional media organisation said ” while there are valid issues associated with the letter of the law, the spirit of a decision endorsed by Antigua and Barbuda and its CARICOM partners to eventually facilitate the free movement of media workers in the region has obviously been ignored.”

“We sincerely hope this action does not mark a shift in the government’s stated position on the issue of the free movement of media workers in the region especially since discussions on this matter have recently been revived at the official level,” the statement added.