Chief Technical Director of Jamaica's Ministry of National Security, Ann Marie Barnes, is pleading with the United States, United Kingdom and Canada to assist with the barrage of deportees flooding the country. Over the past 15 years more than 33,000 deportees have been shipped back to Jamaica.
Already the United Kingdom and United States have already offered financial assistance, but Canada has not. This is a change of pace for Jamaica who previously lobbied the same countries unsuccessfully to end the practice completely.
According to the World Bank and United Nations, Jamaica between 2001 and 2004 received 2,700 deportees with a prison population of 4,744. The United Nations do acknowledge the right of the USA, UK and Canada to deport foreign criminals but do think that these countries have a moral responsibility, "especially those who were raised in the ghettos of three of the richest countries in the world."
In the same UN/World Bank report another alarming figure surfaces. Over 85% of Jamaica's skilled labour leaves the country. Most emigrate to the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. According to Barnes, these three countries "benefit from Jamaica's best while deporting those who have gone wrong, saddling the island with a high concentration of the unskilled and less employable."
"In a global world there should be a duty of care that is imposed on countries that are richer, that have much more material things at their disposal," says Barnes. Barnes continued on the debate of rehabilitation versus deportation. "The notion that individuals can be rehabilitated – deportation almost flies in the face of that because it's the modern equivalent of banishment," says Barnes, who received a PhD in criminology from the University of Toronto.
"It's saying, you have done wrong therefore we don't want you to live among us. Is that something that goes with modern notions of justice?" In addition, deportees have a hard time getting their leg up in a country that they did not grow up in or even understand. They are also labeled and stigmatized to their and the home country's detriment.
The murder rate in Jamaica is also spiraling continually, as is the case in other larger Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago. Jamaica has an annual rate of 50 to 60 homicides for every 100,000 people. The rate in Canada for 2006 was 1.9 murders per 100,000.
Most people believe that deportees have a high contribution to this rate but this myth was recently debunked by the Jamaica Ministry Of National Security. It found that one of every 18 deportees to Jamaica was convicted of a crime here – the same proportion as the general population.
So, should these first world countries, United States, United Kingdom and Canada assist with the support, development and rehabilitation of deportees to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other deportee landing areas?
