Barbados will not discriminate against anyone who wants to come to the country under the 12-Month Welcome Stamp initiative.
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday during debate on the Remote Employment Bill, 2020, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said all would be welcomed as long as she held that post.
She said Barbados was “forged regrettably in the bowels of discrimination” and could not now discriminate against anybody for any reason.
Mottley said there were difficult discussions we must have as a country and now was not the time, but Minister of Labour and Member of Parliament for St Peter, Colin Jordan, has a bill which will address discrimination in the workplace.
“No discrimination on the grounds of race, no discrimination on the grounds of age, no discrimination on the grounds of colour, no discrimination on the grounds of gender, no discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation,” the Prime Minister itemised in her address.
“And the people that want to put us in a box that would allow people to be discriminated against for any reason, Mr Speaker, that is not who we are. We are not that person.
“We are not that person,” she reiterated. “And we have never been.”
Mottley said Barbados welcomed people for centuries, for decades and made them feel comfortable and she would not be part of any communication that the country was “sponsoring discrimination or phobias of any type”.
On her personal Twitter account, the Prime Minister also referred those who were debating the issue to her speech in Parliament.
Bajan Twitter was buzzing earlier this week that same-sex couples were being discriminated against under the Barbados 12-Month Welcome Stamp which invited people earning at least US$50 000 annually to live and work here. Children and can also get an education here.
Under the definition of terms, spouse is defined as “the relationship that subsists between a man and a woman” who are legally married, have cohabited continuously for five years or at least 12 months prior to applying. Dependants include a child or step-child under 26 years, any other person wholly dependent on that person for his/her subsistence and any administrative staff.
An individual fee of US $2 000 and a family fee of US $3 000 – both non-refundable – are applicable after applications are approved.
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