Lawyers representing the Jamaican Government served notice on Tuesday at the Shanique Myrie trial that they will present evidence to show that Barbados has engaged in a pattern of discrimination against Jamaicans visiting that Caribbean territory.
The evidence, according to lead attorney for the Jamaican government Kathy-Ann Brown, include statistics compiled over the last five years and first hand accounts from several persons who claimed they were mistreated by immigration officers upon arrival in Barbados. Â
“This evidence presents a pattern of behaviour in relation to persons with a particular group characteristic – that being their Jamaican nationality,” Brown sought to explain in her opening statement before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), sitting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on Tuesday.
“The statistical evidence submitted by both Jamaica and Barbados demonstrate a persistent and relatively constant disparity over a period of five years from 2007 in the denial of entry of Jamaican nationals compared with nationals of almost all other CARICOM countries,” Brown added.
But lawyers for the Barbados government have signalled that they will counter with their own data showing that less than two per cent of all Jamaicans who visited that country in the last five years were denied entry.
Full story in tomorrow’s MIDWEEK NATION
