HEAD of the recently formed Returning Residents Task Force, Pearnel Charles Jr — state minister for foreign affairs and foreign trade — has emphasised that security is not the only major concern for returned residents.

In July the foreign ministry announced that it was setting up a task force to address the safety and security concerns of returning Jamaicans seeking to live, work, and conduct business here.

That body, comprising representatives of the various returning residents associations in the island, the Ministry of National Security, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA), has now begun its work, the foreign ministry said in a release Wednesday.

Charles told the Jamaica Observer Wednesday that: “It is not just about national security, it is about engaging them and involving them in the processes and helping them to transition. A lot of returning residents have been here for years, so they are not new. But they still have existing concerns.”

He noted that some of the other major concerns involved processes and service delivery in their transactions and everyday lives. “What I hear is we have a serious difficulty with how service is delivered in Jamaica, whether it is at the banks, the hospitals…we have a concern with security, and with how some returning residents, especially the elderly ones may be placed in vulnerable positions that cause them to be exposed to unusual risks based on circumstances. They also sometimes express some concerns with how much they are involved in the process of national development — many of them come home with significant knowledge and experience…these are persons who are coming home with 40 years of teaching experience, 30 years of military experience (etc), so they want to participate. They want platforms for them to be able to be a part of the process of building their communities, and they want that to be something that is not hampered by the system,” he outlined.

The state minister said the relevant stakeholders are therefore being brought to the table to hear and respond to these concerns. “Sometimes the problem is not with Jamaica. Sometimes the problem has to do with international issues, but it’s good to listen to them because sometimes they have solutions which you can try to implement,” he pointed out.

He explained that the purpose of the task force is to engage the returning residents associations and to have all of the relevant stakeholders, based on the priorities of the associations.

He said this is in order to better assist potential returning residents in the transition home, as well as those who are already here, to have a direct connection to the police, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other authorities that can guide and support them in their transactions and activities.

On the issue of security, Charles said some returned residents have found themselves in vulnerable situations for a number of reasons. “Returning residents are not going to get any different level of security than everybody else — but returning residents have been over the years are placing themselves or placed by their families friends (etc) in vulnerable positions and exposed to risk because of certain patterns of conduct that we have seen,” he said.

“We are hoping with this Returning Residents Task Force, which is not only about security, will be able to assist persons to make themselves more aware, so that they will be safer. We will be able to take their recommendations on how to enhance delivery of service to returning residents and other people. We will be able to listen to them. It’s a mechanism to engage and hear them and also to be able to respond directly to their issues,” he stated.

He said that while there are three umbrella groups for returned residents, there are also several other community groups, and that meetings have been held with the associations which are acknowledged by the ministry.

The state minister said that so far the associations have responded positively to the efforts of the task force, and particularly the police. The plan is to continue to these consultations.

“I want it to be a continuum of consultations so that we can continue to engage them as part of diaspora engagement because many of them are back and forth between the two places. What we also doing simultaneously is finalising the Jamaica Diaspora Policy (which) is going to be the ratified framework on how we engage and involve the diaspora and part and parcel of that will treat with how we deal with those residents who are returning home,” he said.

In the meantime, the foreign ministry said the police, through an islandwide network of territorial officers and coordinators of the Community Safety and Security Branch, have ramped up their interaction with the returning residents’ community by hosting more than 70 meetings.