Deportees’ issue on front burner for CCC in 2011

TIMES INT'L

By Natasha Waldron Anthony 

The CARICOM Consular Corps (CCC) in New York held its Christmas get-together at the Jamaican Consul General’s office last Friday.

This is since Jamaica is the current chair of the body. Jamaica Consul General, Dr. Geneive Brown Metzger, told Guyana Times International that, high on its agenda for the New Year, the corps plans to address the issue of deportation. 

“We already started a conversation with the agencies that service deportees, and we strongly believe there’s significant benefit addressing the issue as a corps”, she said. She added that the support to deportees will include access to, and distribution of, information to help the deportees reintegrate into society.

 “Unfortunately, so many people are being repatriated to countries in the region, and we already have financial constraints in our individual countries,” Dr. Brown Metzger pointed out. 

In the meantime, CCC remains committed to continue strengthening collaboration and addressing the major issues within CARICOM, such as regional integration, trade and investment, and energy.

Jamaica’s tenure as CCC chairman expires at the end of this year, since each member state holds the chairmanship for three months. Antigua and Barbuda is slated to chair the corps from January through March 2012. Guyana’s tenure at the chair is expected to be sometime next year.

The CCC is a member of the greater New York Consular Corps. 

Present at the Christmas event were members of CCC, including Guyana’s Consul General Brentnold Evans, Antigua and Barbuda Consul General Dr McChesney Emanual; and Derrick James, Consul General of Grenada.

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