THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) says it has received 20 complaints so far this year from Jamaicans who are claiming harassment while visiting other Caribbean Community (Caricom) states.

Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Ambassador Paul Robotham made the disclosure at Wednesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), in response to questions raised by Opposition member Mike Henry on the treatment of Jamaicans in neighbouring countries and the need for them to have visas to visit some countries.

“The ministry does try to defend and protect the interest of all Jamaicans overseas, and this includes problems at points of entry, which have happened occasionally in Caricom,” Robotham said.

“I believe so far this year we have had about 20 complaints from persons travelling in the Caricom region,” he added. He said that the Jamaican mission in Trinidad and Tobago is actively pursuing the complaints.

“We require an explanation from the country that presents the obstacle and we try to ensure that, while the person is detained, if it is that they’re detained, that they are properly treated and that their needs are attended to,” he explained.

In June, the manager of the CSME (Caribbean Single Market and Economy Unit in Barbados, Ivor Carryl stated that the outcome of a case involving Shanique Myrie, a Jamaican woman who has taken legal action against the Barbados government for sexual assault, could be a landmark that would govern immigration practices in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.

Myrie, 24, was allegedly sexually assaulted by a female immigration officer at the airport in Bridgetown, insulted, and then denied entry into the country last year.