The Home Office in the United Kingdom reportedly offered to wipe ‘any alleged debts’ if Overseas Territories citizen Cherry Brown voluntarily returned to Montserrat – but that would leave her without the care she desperately needed. Photo: Internet Source

Cherry Brown has been helped by Ryan Hayman of Swanley town council, left, and Donaldson Romeo, a Montserratian MP. Photograph: Cherry Brown/ The Guardian

Cherry Brown has said, ‘If I had known all of these things [would happen to me] I would have stayed home and died in my bed in peace.’. Photo: Cherry Brown/The Guardian

The United Kingdom (UK) has long been accused of neglecting its Overseas Territories, even while not doing enough to help those territories become independent nations, as mandated by the United Nations charter. Photo: Internet Source

According to the UK publication, The Guardian, Council officials found Cherry Brown, 69, “sleeping rough” in a park in Swanley, Kent, in April. Brown had been funded by the Montserratian government – whose budget is largely subsidised by the UK – to travel to England to receive treatment from the NHS that was not available at home.

Once in the UK, according to The Guardian, Brown was unable to stay with relatives, and was told she did not have the right to housing or free medical treatment because of her status as a British overseas territory (BOT) citizen – which differs from that of British citizenship.

Brown has hypertension and needs two knee replacements, among other health issues.

'Insult to injury'

Ryan Hayman, the chief executive of Swanley town council, said he paid for a hotel for Brown and was later able to arrange temporary accommodation, but which had no access to cooking and laundry facilities.

“Cherry was stuck in limbo, hence Swanley and myself were trying to support her until Kent county council could house her,” he said. “Then, to add insult to injury, Cherry started to receive the bills [from the NHS].”

Brown is surviving on a small weekly stipend from Kent council, and said she had no way of paying the NHS for her care. Hayman told the Guardian that the Home Office had offered to wipe “any alleged debts” if Brown voluntarily returned to Montserrat – but that would leave her without the care she desperately needed.

'The injustice is stark'

Donaldson Romeo, a Montserrat MP and a former premier of the island, has travelled to the UK to try to negotiate urgent assistance for Brown and another Montserratian, Robert Baker, who is in a hospital in Jamaica and who he wants to be brought to the UK for NHS care.

In a letter to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Romeo drew a parallel to the Windrush scandal, when Caribbean people were wrongly detained and deported. He criticised the government for subsidising asylum seekers with no ties to the UK while refusing basic humanitarian support to BOT citizens.

He added: “The injustice is stark … British overseas territory citizens such as Ms Brown and Mr Baker are left in peril abroad, on UK and Commonwealth soil without … humanitarian assistance.”

Brown had been told by the Montserrat government that she had been referred for assistance to travel to the UK, and believed she had qualified under a scheme that allows up to 10 overseas citizens from each BOT to receive NHS treatment each year.

On arriving in the UK she discovered she was not on the programme, and the NHS charged her for her care.

“If I had known all of these things [would happen to me], I would have stayed home and died in my bed in peace,” Brown told the Guardian.

Home Office silent

Under the policy, the overseas territories must cover travel and accommodation costs, and Romeo argued that the arrangement did not take into account the specific challenges facing the people of Montserrat which, since the volcano eruption, has been unable to restore its health infrastructure.

“It’s time for us as Montserratians to stand up and demand that we’re treated as equal human beings, as citizens … and insist that the British government provides for us to the best of their ability … that they at least treat us with the respect given under human rights law,” he said.

Andrew Rosindell, the shadow FCDO undersecretary, said the British government needed to do more to support the people of Montserrat.

The Home Office and the FCDO declined to comment, The Guardian reported.

The UK has long been accused of neglecting its Overseas Territories, even while not doing enough to help those territories become independent nations, as mandated by the United Nations charter.