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Free movement in CCJ spotlight

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The judgment in a case now proceeding through the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) could prove to be a landmark in the movement of West Indians through each other's countries. Shanique Myrie, a Jamaican, alleges that on March 14, 2011 (then 22 years old), she was originally allowed entry into Barbados at Grantley Adams International Airport for a month when her passport was stamped, and that two hours later she was taken by a female immigration officer to a bathroom where she was allegedly “finger raped”, abused with foul language, threatened and then denied entry. The government of Barbados is the defendant in the case. It has been accused of violating its obligations under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (the Caricom Treaty) and a Caribbean Community (Caricom) Heads of Government decision in 2007. According to Myrie's lawyers, denial of her right of entry was “unjustifiable, arbitrary and thus led to discrimination”.

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