Barbados breached Jamaican right to enter country

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Friday ruled that Barbados had breached the right of a Jamaican national when she sought entry into the country in 2011, but stopped short of awarding the one million Barbados dollars in compensation she had sought.“In all circumstances the Court made a declaration that Barbados had breached Miss Myrie’s right to enter Barbados. The court ordered Barbados to compensate Ms Myrie in pecuniary damages in the sum of BDS2, 240 (One Barbados dollar = US$0.50 cents) and non-pecuniary damages to the tune of BDS$75,000. The Court also ordered Barbados to pay Ms Myrie’s reasonable costs. The Court refused all other declarations and orders sought by Ms Myrie and Jamaica,” the CCJ ruled. Shanique Myrie, 25, had been granted leave by the CCJ to file the action, alleged that when she travelled to Barbados on March 14, 2011 she was discriminated against because of her nationality, subjected to a body cavity search, detained overnight in a cell and deported to Jamaica the following day. Myrie also claimed that she was subjected to derogatory remarks by a Barbadian Immigration officer and asked the CCJ to determine the minimum standard of treatment applicable to CARICOM citizens moving around the region. On September 27 last year, Jamaica was granted leave to intervene in the matter. Myrie, through her attorneys, informed the CCJ that she could not afford to bring her witnesses to Port- of-Spain for the hearing and therefore she was unable to adequately present her case to the Court. The CCJ said that it had explored the use of videoconferencing technology to take the evidence of the witnesses, but after consulting with attorneys it was decided that the evidence should be given in person and for this purpose the Court.

Courtesy: www.cananewsonline.com