‘Terrible indictment’ on children ‘born here’ of expats-Hon. Walwyn
Hon Walwyn, while noting that this argument is nothing new, was viewing the matter again with new eyes following a report from the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an organisation that protects and defends the rights of every child, that placed the Territory in a bad light concerning the rights of children being infringed upon.
His remarks were made last night, Thursday April 20, 2017 in the House of Assembly (HoA) under ‘Any other Business’.
Troubling matter
“It is a matter, Madam Speaker, that is very troubling and I raised it several times in this House of Assembly, other members raised it before me, but I don’t know if the cat has their tongue now, I don’t know. But they will have to speak for themselves. But it seems that we have a way, Madam Speaker, in this country where somebody has to come from somewhere and tell us something about ourselves,” he remarked.
According to the Minister, there was a study done by UNICEF and he quoted from pages 151 and 152 of the report, under section C, which reads that civil and political rights were the most significant gaps in the protection of human rights of migrant children and those born in the VI of non-VI parents. He said the rules of citizenship and belonger status are complex and difficult to understand and there is some level of discretion in the decision of granting or not the status or belongership.
According to the country’s laws, if a child is born in the VI and the parents are not citizens or belongers they are required to apply in writing to the Immigration Department for permission for the child to reside. The immigration laws do not automatically give any rights for such persons born in the territory.
“This is the most troubling part for me,” Hon Walwyn stated, pointing to the following excerpt of the report; “Children born in the BVI of non-BVI parents are mainly considered as temporary migrants and] face restrictions in the enjoyment of their rights and can be stateless if they cannot obtain the citizenship of the country of origin of their parents.”
Terrible indictment
The Education and Culture Minister said something has to be done now even before the review of the constitution that many are proposing, is done.
“This is a terrible indictment on the fabric of the society in the Virgin Islands and we have to do something about it. I hear the talk all the time about the constitution, and we are going to review the constitution, deal with this first… You cannot move a country forward with half of the population behind. It is the time that all of us in this Honourable house take our responsibility seriously and address this issue here,” he argued.
“This is a matter that needs to be addressed and addressed urgently. Nation building is not about concrete, nation building is about people and you cannot build a country when a significant portion are unrepresented, uncared for and required to be stateless if they cannot get their passports of where their parents are from.”
Do the right thing
Hon Walwyn ended by saying that he laid his speech on the conscience of the Members of the House of Assembly.
“One last thing my father said to me two days before he died, we were discussing politics, and he said to me, ‘you make sure that as long as you are here you do the right thing. And if you have to stand up by yourself, you stand up by yourself and do what you know is right’. And I am standing up here today.”
No other Member of the House addressed the matter or lent support to Hon Walwyn, except Premier Dr The Hon D. Orlando Smith (AL) and Deputy Premier Dr The Hon Kedrick D. Pickering (R7).
“It concerns us all”
Premier Smith said the issue raised by Hon Walwyn is a bother to all Members of the House.
“This is something that has been raised from time to time…I think it is something that concerns us all.”
Hon Pickering also said he has spoken about the matter many times before in the House of Assembly and agrees that it needs to be addressed.
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94 Responses to “‘Terrible indictment’ on children ‘born here’ of expats-Hon. Walwyn”
How fair is it to my offsprings to neglect their needs and give to another man's child. This would not be allowed in their country nor any other country whose people have basic wisdom. Observe the economic issues that has arisen in the USVI because of such immigration policies. What is needed is stricter immigration laws. This is why Mr. Hill is not employed at the immigration office at this time. He loves his county and his people too much to stand for bullying and manipulation.
Walwyn and his supporters truly think that they run things but history has shown that BVIslanders are very prone to revolts.
Word of Advise... do not take a nation's silence and kindness as stupidity. Yes we are very intelligent and wise people and yes many of us conduct our affairs with dignity but in the same light everyone on the face of this earth have a dark side and believe me no one wants to see the nature of the Virgin Islands Beast. (If the indigenous population start feeling disfranchised many in the population will have to wear bulletproof armor all the days of their lives or go live on their rich friends Islands because a mother and father will go to the grave trying to feed and protect their household against foreign invaders. )
As one blogger stated...(There are a lot of expats living here in the BVI from all around the world who don't think much of BVIslanders at all and are just here to take advantage of whatever they can have. They like that we have US currency and easy access to the US and they only see us as a pit stop on their way there. They talk negatively about the BVI and its people and think everything about us is a joke but yet still they are here. They boldfully admit they are using us and brag about all that they build back home and how much money they have in the bank and how they will be leaving soon. )
Yet they want their children to gain rights in the Virgin Islands why?? I say because of pure jealousy.
(and this is why NDP has to go. )
Our laws are UK laws and they do not automatically give citizenship based on birth but based on decent.
this ill say where a man born thats where he is from .
Myron is pure fake news here. He knows fully well that this is a matter for the UK Parliament to decide because it would confer UK citizenship.
All he is doing is stirring the pot and looking brownie points and smoke screen from the load of self serving bullcrap that the NDP is perpetrating on the country!
...There are a lot of expats living here in the BVI from all around the world who don't think much of BVIslanders at all and are just here to take advantage of whatever they can have. They like that we have US currency and easy access to the US and they only see us as a pit stop on their way there. They talk negatively about the BVI and its people and think everything about us is a joke but yet still they are here. They boldfully admit they are using us and brag about all that they build back home and how much money they have in the bank and how they will be leaving soon. They have no interest in learning about the history or culture of the BVI people yet still the premiere and ministers keep bragging about how diverse we are while the indigenous population dwindles and constantly get disrespected. Then they wonder why young BVIslanders don't want to return home once they leave. This only further solidify some of these expats arrogance in thinking we need them so they can do whatever we want. Then when we finally get around to making laws to tighten restrictions and monitor who comes and goes, people kick up a storm in outrage to protect these same people who laugh at us behind our backs.
Take for instance the law that passed last year making it mandatory for foreign boats to clear customs. So many people, including BVIslanders made a great fuss about this saying how it's a violation of rights and the government is too strict but that standard had already been into effect for many countries all around the world. Then two weeks later a charter boat from St.Maarten was found in our waters uncleared. Furthermore, it turned out that the company from which the boat came habitually sold BVI tours and day trips without any permission from our goverment. To this day, not one red cent has been seen from this foreign tour company that sells the VI (yes, they are still selling us). It makes you wonder, how long has this been going on? How many other people have been doing it? And how many unknown, undocumented people have been moving through the BVI all this time? How could have something like that have had been happening in a post 9-11 world? Why is it people expect and approve lawlessness in the BVI?
I'm not quite sold on fingerprinting all the expats who enter the BVI but I do agree we need to do more indepth background checks. We also need to keep monitoring expats once they come to the Virgin Islands. We need to know if they changed jobs or got a raise, if they got married or had children (regardless of whether they are home or in the BVI). We need to ensure they are paying their taxes, their rent, thier kids school fees and whatever else. In the most recent article about Santo who murdered Alston Penn, Santo claimed he was estranged from his VI girlfriend and renting a place but had no fixed income. How can you be a foreigner in a country and not have a fixed income? How have you been surviving then? Had tabs been kept on him maybe..... because he would have been on a watch list for deportation. Then on top of that, this man who had a work permit but no stable job had the freedom to come and go here without being a citizen? Again, how does this happen in a post 9-11 world?
The BVI is clearly behind on survalince and need to get with the program.
'AKA' Walwyn's peps. Yet he up there with his stupidity and jealousy trying to cause our nation to fall to. He is the poster board for why the VI need stricter immigration laws as soon as possible.
Those children that this d**ce is speaking about can claim citizenship from/in the country of origin of any of their their parents. Go read the constitutions of those countries fool. This topic is old and self serving for this j*k*r who was born here to expat parents. Maybe, just maybe his being in the house of assembly might need investigating.
In addition to this I think we need to find ways to attack indigenious Virgin Islanders to VI jobs. That way we can slowly reduce the number of new work permits and renewals. I think while there will always be a level of migrants, its crucial for the culture to be preserved. Do get me wrong diversity is good. It has its place but to preserve one culture, no one can do a better job that its indigenious people.
One Love!
Lets talk some issues that our politicians actually have the power to control:
1 Registering their interests as required by law
2 Passing campaign financing legislation, human rights legislation, and whistle blower legislation
3 Actually allowing the PAC, Auditor General and other important accountability structures to function
4 STOP waiving the darn tender process for everything
5 Actually complete audits of the Pier Park and Peebles Hospital Construction
the list goes on
Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of the you.
" STOP THE HATE ".