By Robert A. Emmanuel
In a broad discussion about improving the immigration system and to mitigate against issues such as migrant smuggling following the Antigua Airways flights, youth parliamentarians approved a resolution calling for greater efforts to ensure the integrity of immigration systems in the Eastern Caribbean.
One of the key points raised during the Joint Youth Parliamentary Debate on Tuesday was whether a fully digitised immigration system negatively impact the elderly, or was it a necessity to increase efficiency and address weaknesses in the regional immigration system.
During his presentation Mauriel Knight, the President of the St Kitts National Youth Parliament Association (SKNYPA), said the cumbersome nature of completing paper immigration forms was a concern for many of his colleagues.
“Ours is a world of innovation, of technology and a world of efficiency, but in this same world — more so in this very region — travellers are subjected to cumbersome immigration forms that must be hurriedly completed ahead of landing,” Knight stated.
He noted that while transitioning the immigration away from a paper system and “by no means would it be cheap”, the Antiguan and Montserratian governments must look at the long-term benefits of the online system.
He posited that this could help in “saving our trees, saving our climate, improving our efficiency, allowing us to have easy retrieval of records, allowing easy processing as processing can be done even before showing up to the window once the form is completed”.
However, Montserrat Youth Parliamentarian Tianna Destouche rebutted the need for full digitisation, stating that it could have consequences for the elderly who may not be as technologically savvy as their more youthful family members.
“Fully digitising our immigration system could be a disadvantage to the elderly and other individuals who do not use the internet or modern phones. There are many elderly {people] that I know who still use tiny button phones that only make calls, but if one of them wants to travel, what will they do?
“If the government wants to fully implement digitised systems, they must provide other conditions and ways for these individuals,” Destouche argued.
The SKNYPA President, meanwhile, noted that the region continues to require a modernisation of the legislation relating to immigration, stating that there needed to be balance between “securing your sovereignty and border security while treating migrants and in particular refugees in a humane manner that preserves their rights as human beings”.
This argument came in light of a number of Cameroonian migrants who are currently in St Kitts, after they attempted to be smuggled out of Antigua to the US Virgin Islands.
The issue was discussed by members of the National Youth Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda (NYPAAB), and the President Kamalie Mannix and Youth MP for Barbuda Ezekiel Francois both called for answers regarding the situation.
“There are citizens in this state, citizens in St Kitts and Nevis, citizens in Montserrat who are asking the questions: how did these people get here; why are they there; who are the operatives … there are questions to be answered and there is nobody answering those questions,” the NYPAAB President said.
Francois argued that closer attention needed to be paid to border control, especially following what occurred between November 2022 and earlier this year.
The youth parliamentarians, however, acknowledged that the region faced great challenges with porous maritime borders and the hard work done by immigration officials with the tools that they currently have and in keeping with regional and international obligations.
However, they argued that agencies needed to be set up to provide answers to the public on their concerns about the immigration system.
SKNYPA’s Hasani McDonald spoke more about the call by the parliamentarians for an immigration tribunal which, according to the resolution, would have the power to investigate allegations of missteps within the immigration system.
“Let’s just deal with the issue head-on; let’s not go around the bush about who brought these people here and how they got here.
“Let’s deal with the issue in this tribunal and whether persons receive asylum or they are sent back to their country, regardless of what the outcome would be, we are saying that it should be fair and impartial,” McDonald argued.
He also called on harsher penalties for persons caught orchestrating or coordinating human trafficking and other illegal immigration issues.
“Anybody, regardless of your status, involvement in the government or opposition, once you are caught being a part of these activities [harsh] penalties should be meted out to you because no one above the law,” he added.