Annex 1
[Letter to Commonwealth Secretariat]
Dear Sirs,
I attended the Human Rights Symposium in Gibraltar
in September 2004, representing the Cayman Islands Human Rights
Committee. There I met the representatives of several Commonwealth
Agencies, all of whom were naturally concerned with the advancement
of international human-rights standards throughout the Commonwealth.
I was encouraged to turn to the Commonwealth for help with Cayman's
human-rights problems, if necessary, and this I now do.
Every few weeks, tiny boats (some of them jerrybuilt),
containing refugees from Cuba, have been arriving in Cayman's
territorial waters. Our shore-based Immigration Officers wade
out and intercept the vessels and offer their passengers a straight
choice: 1) land and be repatriated, or 2) stay on board and head
for the Central American mainland.
Thus far, so simple. But there are some complicating
factors, and we in Cayman are in need of advice on how to deal
with those factors. Our Committee is being asked by members of
the public why we are not monitoring the situation and giving
our opinion on the alleged abuses committed by our Officials.
Our inaction is based on the almost total ignorance
in Cayman of how to judge and to stop the abuses.
— Our Immigration and Police Officers
are completely unaware of what they may and may not do, and have
no access to responsible local advice. They act under Official
Guidelines drawn up with the approval of the British FCO and in
accordance with a reported Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between
the governments of Cayman and Cuba. As a colony, and according
to our Constitution (a series of UK Orders-in-Council) Cayman
does not have the standing to negotiate independently with any
foreign nation; only the FCO has that power. The MOU (if it exists)
has not been published, and the FCO's local deputies will not
say who signed it.
— The Guidelines (which I can send
you if you want) require the Immigration and Police Officers to
allow no food, water or petrol to be given to the refugees on
the boats, and civilians are threatened with arrest for offering
those things. The boats may not be repaired under any circumstances.
Now, at any point a boatload may opt for repatriation, but our
officials (reportedly) insist that each boatload decide as a unit.
There have been reports of panic-stricken women and their babies
defying Officers by jumping out of boats being pushed out to sea
(or towed) by the Officers.
— Some boats are barely seaworthy.
No officials in Cayman monitor the fate of the boats once they
are out of sight. Nobody knows how many (if any) refugees die
at sea. Each death is self-inflicted, no doubt, but our Immigration
and Police Officers' practice of pushing the boats out to sea
might be a contributing factor. Might our government officials
be contributing by banning humanitarian assistance? Might the
FCO officials in London be contributing by assenting to their
local deputies' actions, and the actions of wholly untrained officers
on the ground, as it were? Are our Committee members culpably
negligent in remaining silent in the face of possible breaches
of international Conventions?
— The FCO's local deputies have delegated
to our Immigration and Police Officers the power to impose restrictions
on newspaper reporters and photographers, and have threatened
arrests in the event of any encroachment into forbidden areas.
I/we simply don't know the answers to all the
questions, and don't know how legitimate all the orders are. We
don't know who can legitimately claim "the Nuremberg excuse"
and who can't.
Can the Commonwealth Secretariat help us find
answers? I will also ask the EU and UN Human Rights sections—and
any others I can think of—but the Commonwealth would always
be my first point of reference because of its strong involvement
in the Gibraltar Symposium.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Barlow
Member, Cayman Islands Human Rights Committee
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