And we also asked the Minister whether he believes concerns will be raised within Caricom after the restrictions placed on Haitians and the possibility of the same being done to Jamaicans. He explained that it isn't illegal for Belize to take these measures, especially when the purpose is to try to mitigate human smuggling through the country.
Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration
"If in relation to the Haitians, the revised treaty those authorize a government to do what we have done, that's the first point so we are in compliance with the treaty. Secondly, a number of other Caricom countries have restrictions in place in relation to Haitians. Thirdly, I just read in the media today, this morning, about the repatriation of Haitians from the Bahamas. Listen, Haiti is in a very terrible political, economical, social state and condition right now. Criminals are taking advantage of that situation to smuggle people into Central America, into the Caribbean, and to use countries like Belize as transit country to the United States. Human smuggling is a criminal act and we cannot allow our country to be use, whether it be Haitians or any other nationality to use Belize as a transit point so we have to deal with that aggressively in the case of the Haitians, the numbers are huge. In the case of Jamaicans and we are monitoring as I said the flow of other migrants, we are careful looking at that and we have to consult and decide what we have to do. Let me be clear going back to the Treaty of Chaguaramas, the treaty allows for member states to put restrictions where the public order is of concern and what we see happening on the ground here is of concern to us when it comes to the movement of some people through Belize. I go further, the heads of government also took a decision and the Caribbean Court of Justice confirmed that member states can opt out of obligation that they have undertaken within the CSME within the revised treaty space so what we are doing is legal is provided for and is in the interest of Belize."
