OPPOSITION spokesman on industry and commerce, Anthony Hylton, says Jamaica should take its ongoing right of entry dispute with Trinidad to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

He said that some three years after the Shanique Myrie ruling in the case against Barbados over how she was treated by immigration officials, Jamaica and other Caribbean Community (Caricom)states should not still be at loggerheads about rights of entry matters.

“We are still using the megaphone to shout to each other across the Caribbean,” he remarked in a keynote address at a Rotary Club of St Andrew meeting at Hotel Four Seasons yesterday.

Some 50 Jamaicans have been turned back by Trinidadian immigration over the past several months, with the various groups complaining of being ill-treated by immigration workers and being forced to endure inhumane conditions in airports as they wait to be returned to Jamaica.

The latest wave of complaints have incensed many in the general population and led segments of the private sector to call for a boycott of Trinidadian goods on local supermarket shelves. Hylton disagreed with what he said would be a “knee-jerk” reaction.

“I believe that that matter should appropriately be brought before the CCJ at an appropriate time,” he stated, pointing out that the Myrie case was the perfect example of how the Treaty of Chaguaramas can be used to settle the current dispute between Jamaica and Trinidad over the reported mistreatment and rejection of Jamaican nationals by Trinidadian immigration.

Under increasing pressure from the Jamaican Government, Trinidad last week said it would implement customer service training at Piarco airport next month, specifically targeting officers who interact with passengers who are denied entry; and retro-fit a dedicated facility for those who are denied entry.

The Jamaican Government had asked for concrete solutions with specific timelines for addressing the issues which continue to encumber relations between the two nations.

Hylton, a former foreign affairs minister, noted that the significant number of Jamaicans turned back from the two-island country in recent times and who complained of being treated poorly “does suggest that something extraordinary is happening [and] invites us to inquire about exactly what is happening”.

Hylton argued that, instead of just complaining, Jamaica needs to look to the Myrie case and take advantage of the legal framework provided by the CCJ to test or challenge its complaints.

He stressed that it was not enough nor productive to retaliate, and that the Government and other stakeholders should, therefore, collaborate to bring cases before the CCJ. “If you assume that the evidence exists, why are we unwilling to bring these to the CCJ?” he asked.

He suggested that although cost is an issue for some individuals, even more influential and financially stable individuals who felt they were harassed and mistreated by Trinidadian officials had stayed quiet, possibly out of embarrassment.

He said, too, that the Government could look into providing poorer potential claimants with legal assistance to take individual cases to the CCJ.