British MPs have joined campaigners calling for more aid and humanitarian visas for Jamaicans to enter the UK after Hurricane Melissa demolished parts of the country, plunging hundreds of thousands of people into a humanitarian crisis.
The UK has pledged £7.5m emergency funds to Jamaica and other islands affected by the hurricane, but many argue that the country has a moral obligation to do more for former Caribbean colonies.
Dawn Butler, the Labour MP for Brent East and chair of the UK’s all-party parliamentary group on Jamaica, posted on X a letter she had written to the home secretary requesting temporary humanitarian visas and fee waivers for vulnerable relatives of UK nationals affected by the storm.
Butler said that at an emergency meeting in her constituency, which has one of the UK’s largest Jamaican populations, there were calls to ease visa restrictions for children and elderly people affected by the hurricane who could stay with relatives in the UK.
“The UK has a long and enduring relationship with Jamaica and I am confident that, with compassion and collaboration, we can play a vital role in supporting those most in need during the difficult period,” the letter says.
Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, supported Butler’s calls and said Jamaica needed long-term assistance.
Dawn Butler has called for greater support for Jamaicans affected by Hurricane Melissa. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
“I think when the hurricane first hit, the immediate anxiety over here was to bring back the tourists. And once the tourists had come back, it kind of fell away from the public eye. And there was a sense as well that it was essentially a short-term project.
“People need to understand the gravity of the situation. And that it’s going to take a long time and a lot of resources to [rebuild] Black River and [other affected] districts,” she said.
The Windrush activist Euen Herbert-Small said the UK should offer humanitarian protection similar to that given to Ukrainians affected by war, which allowed Ukraine nationals and their immediate family members to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme.
“Jamaica is a Commonwealth country. The king is head of state. Ukraine doesn’t have those same historical and present links. And so there is a greater responsibility to support Jamaica, which has strong historical ties with this country and has made this country wealthy over the years. We did it for Ukraine. We can definitely do it for Jamaica,” said Herbert-Small, who has launched a petition calling for humanitarian visas for Jamaicans affected by Melissa.
Before-and-after views show Hurricane Melissa damage to Jamaican town – video
Rosalea Hamilton, the chief executive of the nonprofit Lasco Chin foundation, which has been assisting hurricane-hit communities in Jamaica, echoed Herbert-Small’s sentiments, as she described the staggering need for support on the ground.
“The king is our head of state and there is an expectation on the part of ordinary Jamaicans that … it ought to mean that in a time of crisis, there is at least some kind of a special consideration or something that would flow from the fact that he’s still head of state,” she said.
She added that the comparatively small contribution from the UK “further erodes the idea that we need and should still hold on to” King Charles as head of state.
According to recent reports, nearly 1 million of Jamaica’s roughly 2.8 million people were affected by the hurricane, and about 150,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. The prime minister, Andrew Holness, has estimated losses at about US$8bn (£6bn).
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Pearnel Charles, Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security, said the government had been trying to get aid to the hundreds of thousands of people in need. It was also assessing the damage to homes as well as longer-term needs, including psychological support.
“Our social workers are consistently on the ground, and we continue to open up our hotlines to ensure that if we get that information we attend to it as quickly as possible,” he said.
About 150,000 homes in Jamaica were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane. Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP
The country is also battling a deadly outbreak of leptospirosis, with 91 suspected cases and 11 confirmed deaths. Jamaica’s health minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, said: “We had to declare an outbreak because of the spike in the number of cases when compared to usual times.” He added that hospitals were equipped to detect and treat the disease.
In Britain, the Green party also called for more support for Jamaica, linking climate justice to the legacy of enslavement. The party’s foreign affairs spokesperson said the UK had a “huge historical responsibility in relation to the legacy of slavery”.
Ellie Chowns said: “We, as a country, have got to go further and faster to meet our obligations under our international climate targets, but also recognising that wider moral responsibility for the effects of hundreds of years of burning fossil fuels and the warming that that has led to now.
“That, coupled with the legacy of slavery, simply can’t be ignored as part of the context of Hurricane Melissa and similar disasters affecting the Caribbean.”
The Global Afro-Descendant Climate Justice Collaborative has argued that Melissa’s devastation in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica is a stark example of how African-descended people are disproportionately affected by centuries of environmental degradation.
It said: “Global warming began with the Industrial Revolutions that were made possible by the resources provided by imperialism, colonialism and enslavement.”
