EDITORIAL
The saga of the Windrush generation has occupied media attention in the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. Since the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting forced the matter to be addressed publicly by government officials, Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd have apologised for the treatment of this group.
The Windrush generation is typical of the 20th century Caribbean story of migration from these shores to find better opportunities, given the poverty and harsh economic conditions that existed at the time. In 1948, the Empire Windrush brought the first Caribbean nationals to Britain when they were still legally British citizens. They were on invitation from the British government to help rebuild the country in the aftermath of World War II. After that initial group came, other Caribbean persons and their families emigrated, with some estimates putting the total number at 500 000 arriving between 1948 and 1971. It is some of these children, who did not have their own travelling documents or travelled on their parents’ passports, who now have to prove their status as citizens despite a 1971 Immigration Act that granted all Commonwealth citizens already in the United Kingdom indefinite leave to remain.
A 2012 immigration reform introduced by then Home Secretary Theresa May has meant that members of that generation need to prove citizenship in order to access jobs, housing, free medical services and so on. However, according to the Home Secretary, there are several new measures to help the Windrush generation get documented status, including setting up a taskforce to deal with affected persons; waiver of fees for documents; resolving all cases in two weeks; and among other things, working with other state departments to compile evidence of every year they have spent in Britain. The problem? The documentation doesn’t exist in some cases, given that it has been decades these persons have lived there. Records in the Home Office confirming their entry into the country were destroyed in 2010 despite staff concerns. To compound that, no records were kept of those who were granted leave to remain nor was there any paperwork to confirm such.
The current relation between Britain and her former colonies is largely a positive one. The English-speaking West Indies remain proud members of the Commonwealth and have largely retained the structural systems of governance, education and other aspects of national life inherited. However, the fact that this matter has reached a head during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting has added impetus to CARICOM Heads of Diplomatic Missions and Prime Ministers who attended the special meeting with Prime Minister May to keep this fight a priority, especially in light of deportations and detainment that have already occurred; after all, the disaporic and economic bonds that connect our islands to Britain and other metropolitan countries are unbreakable.
We fully support the efforts of countries to protect their borders and ensure that legal residents and citizens access the services to which they are entitled. However, to lump the Windrush generation in the same grouping as illegal immigrants is unjust. Caribbean nationals and their descendants have contributed to all aspects of national life in Britain in a way that changed the country. While Britain has often painted itself in recent times as multicultural, inspite of the Brexit vote, it needs to be acknowledged in more than just lip service. It is of utmost importance that the British government correct this ahistorical wrong.