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The 37 Haitians who arrived in Portland on July 10 have requested asylum in Jamaica.
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Professor Rosalea Hamilton and attorney Marcus Goffe
By Kimone Witter
The Advocates Network says the government should anticipate and make arrangements for an influx of Haitian migrants into the island.
Professor Rosalea Hamilton, co-chair of the organisation, has dismissed the government's argument that without a request for asylum, the treatment of migrants fleeing the humanitarian crisis in Haiti becomes a legal matter.
Speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Professor Hamilton said the group is disappointed that there is not enough sensitivity to the plight of Haitians, especially with Prime Minister Andrew Holness leading the charge to garner international support for humanitarian efforts in Haiti.
Professor Hamilton said Jamaica should lead by example and lend a helping hand, as was shown by the residents of Portland who assisted the group of 37 Haitian migrants earlier this month.
She noted that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has "made very clear that if these individuals are not eligible for refugee protection, that given the dire situation and Haiti, other arrangements must be put in place".
These arrangements, she said, include humanitarian admission, at least until the security challenges in Haiti have ended.
International human rights lawyer and founder of Freedom Imaginaires, Malene Alleyne, on Friday applied for asylum on behalf of the 37 Haitians.
Marcus Goffe, one of the attorneys representing the Haitians migrants, said they had no intended destination when they fled Haiti.
Mr. Goffe said the migrants have indicated that they want to remain in Jamaica and have expressed relief that Freedom Imaginaires has intervened on their behalf.
"Independently, we were able to go and verify this information from them, and then to also thereafter, put forward the request to government on their behalf. And that is what changed their status, as being treated as just any other illegal entrant to persons now who are seeking asylum, and therefore international law clearly kicks in," said Mr. Goffe, who was also speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda.
Professor Hamilton said advocacy groups in the Caribbean have a role to play in finding solutions to the humanitarian crisis that has seized Haiti.
She expressed disappointment that a recent meeting in Kingston of the Eminent Persons Group established by CARICOM to engage with Haitian stakeholders on ways towards restoring political stability in that country, did not yield the desired results.
"But we have to keep trying, and if this solution that has been tried didn't work, we have to put others on the table," she proposed. "But I think the obligation is there. And I think while the government does their work, civil society ought to forge the kinds of relationships and, you know, put our heads on the table with respect to the solutions, certainly with respect to the refugee crisis that is upon us."
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