St Kitts-Nevis Diplomatic Week 2019: High commissioner Dr Isaac and Ambassador Dr Doyal awarded

His Excellency Dr. Kevin Isaac, St. Kitts and Nevis’ High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and His Excellency Dr. David Doyle, St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) were awarded for their exceptional diplomatic service at a Welcome Reception and Cultural Delights at Government House on Monday, April 08, as a part of the activities for Diplomatic Week 2019, which runs from April 7-12.

Ambassador Doyle upon receiving the award from Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Honourable Mark Brantley, said, “I am delighted and humbled to receive this award in my role as Honorary Consul to France, recognizing my efforts in representing the diplomatic interests of your beautiful country, together with my role as Ambassador to UNESCO”.

In presenting the award to Ambassador Doyle, Minister Brantley noted his success in securing a seat on two occasions in the past 12 years for St. Kitts and Nevis on the Executive Board at UNESCO, and more recently, in winning a seat on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Ambassador Dr. David P. Doyle was appointed Honorary Consul of St. Kitts and Nevis to France in April 2006, and shortly after that he was made the Federation’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, based in Paris, France. He was raised to the rank of Ambassador to UNESCO in 2013.

Being based in Paris, he also covers discussions at the OECD exchange of information on tax affairs working group on behalf of the Federation.

Ambassador Doyle works closely with Mr. Antonio Maynard, Secretary General of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Commission for UNESCO.

Additionally, High Commissioner Isaac has been a career diplomat for 27 years. In 1992, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Kitts and Nevis after a stint in teaching. He has been St. Kitts and Nevis’ High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland for eight years. He’s also St. Kitts and Nevis’ Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), St. Kitts and Nevis’ Non-Resident Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and St. Kitts and Nevis’ Governor on the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth.

Dr. Isaac has been very instrumental in championing the cause of the Windrush Generation in the UK.

“I was very surprised to receive the award and it made me think of what people always say that you have no honour in your own country, and to receive the award said to me again that that is not true, because here was St. Kitts and Nevis saying we see the work that you have been doing in London and we here in St. Kitts and Nevis, we support you, we are proud of you, and we recognize you for that. It’s an invaluable gesture and I really appreciate it,” High Commissioner Isaac said.

On commenting on the issue of the Windrush Generation scandal he said: “Over the years, so many of our citizens of the Caribbean had suffered such indignity, such losses, and so on, and it’s something I’ve been championing since 2012 and I had the momentum last year and we really pushed for it and got some recognition from the UK Prime Minister.

The Windrush scandal is a 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases, wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries as members of the "Windrush generation".

On commenting on his career, High Commissioner Isaac said, “It still feels new; it is still fun; it’s still joy.”