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GoToCayman.com - News from Cayman (ISSN: 1744-7690)

October 2006

The Postal Service has issues a new set of definitive stamps based on some of Cayman's birds. These stamps will replace the last definitive set - Transportation to the Millenniuam - that have been in circulations since September 2001. The new issue shows eleven endemic and one indigenous species and is based on some of the work by by Patricia E. Bradley and Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet in their book "Birds of the Cayman Islands". Two of the land birds illustrated in this series of stamps are listed internationally as threatened - the Cayman Parrot and the Vitelline Warbler.

The stamp denominations are Bananaquit .25¢, Vitelline Warbler .50¢, Grand Cayman Parrot .75¢, Caribbean Dove .80¢, Caribbean Elaenia $1, West Indian Woodpecker $1.50, Thick-billed Vireo $1.60, Northern Flicker $2, Cuban Bullfinch $4, Western Spindalis $5, Loggerhead Kingbird $10 and Red-legged Thrush $20. Self-adhesive stamps will be available in three denominations .25¢, .75¢ and .80¢.

Patricia Bradley said she was pleased about the issue. "This is a celebration of Cayman's land birds. It will focus attention on the most visible of the nation's fauna." Postmaster General Sheena Glasgow said "Cayman Islands stamps have always been known for their beauty. This issue is no different. A lot of work has gone into the design of the issue which adds to it beauty." "I would like to thank Mrs. Bradley for all her help and Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet for letting us show his beautiful photographs," she said.

Government will soon grant 'exceptional leave to stay' to the three Afghanistan nationals who have been here for six years, making it possible for them to depart the Cayman Islands. Currently the men are classified as 'unlanded immigrants.' Chief Immigration Officer Franz Manderson explained that changing their classification clears the way for them to travel off the Cayman Islands. "No country is going to take them once they remain in the 'unlanded status'," he said, and added that countries would reject them even as 'in-transit' passengers.

The men, Ali Shah Yusufy, Mohamed Raza Hussani and Nek Nazary, surfaced in Grand Cayman in 2000 and there was uncertainty about their origin. Mr Manderson told the Committee that a court established that they were Afghans, and had arrived here from Cuba on Pakistani passports. The men had applied to the Immigration Department for refugee status but this was rejected. They appealed and the Immigration Appeals Tribunal (IAT) upheld their petition in 2003 allowing them 'limited leave' to remain on the island. Further the IAT ruled that the Afghanis cannot be sent back to their homeland. Government has since appealed the IAT rulings. Mr Manderson explained that although the Afghanistan situation had changed from what it was when the country was ruled by the Taliban, conditions in the area from which the men originate, Ghanzi, continued to be oppressive. He said the three men here in Grand Cayman and other Afghanis who are from Ghanzi but currently reside elsewhere report that their relatives are still being persecuted there. He also reported that the UK government is not returning Afghanis from that area. "They cannot be returned even if we wanted to return them," he said.

Mr Manderson said this dilemma led him to the question: "Do we grant these persons 'exceptional leave to remain', which is allowed in law, or do we leave them as 'unlanded immigrants' and they remain in this position for another six years?" It has cost government just over $200,000 for their upkeep over the years. Mr Manderson said that at least two of the men wanted to leave the Cayman Islands. One of these two is studying medicine and hopes to attend university overseas. The men have been issued travel documents through the Afghan embassy in New York. Should they decide to stay here after receiving the grant of 'exceptional leave to remain', the Afghanis would be allowed to apply for work permits.

Mr Manderson explained that although they were here since 2000, measurement of the time spent on Grand Cayman for the purposes of the immigration seven-year term limit begins when the work permit is granted. This, he said, is so because throughout their time here the men have not been legally and ordinarily resident as stipulated by the Immigration Law 2003.