Human rights advocate renews concerns about rejection of Haitian asylum seekers

By Nakinskie Robinson    

 

Attorney and founder of human rights lobby group Freedom Imaginaries, Malene Alleyne, has welcomed the government's decision allow 59 Haitian orphans into Jamaica but says the move contradicts its rapid return of those who previously sought asylum.

 

Ms. Alleyne says the need to move the children out of Haiti as well as others fleeing the island highlights the urgency and severity of the situation in the French speaking CARICOM nation. 

 

"Amidst all of this, we have to have a serious conversation about the Haitian asylum seekers who are currently in Jamaica and whose application was recently rejected because the two [decisions] are inconsistent," she argued. 

 

She pointed out that the UN Refugee Agency recently issued protection guidance about Haiti, noting that "it does so in very rare circumstances for countries that are facing exceptional crises". 

 

"Haiti just made the list of countries that are now the subject of official guidance from the United Nations Refugee Agency, which says that the situation in Haiti is catastrophic. It's not conducive to forced returns, and the UN Refugee Agency has explicitly now called for a moratorium on the forced return of Haitians to Haiti," the attorney highlighted. 

 

The more than 100-page landmark guidance for Haiti outlines the situation in the CARICOM nation and the reasons why repatriating Haitians would be life threatening.

 

On that basis the United Nations Refugee Agency is instructing countries to desist from rejecting those seeking asylum amid ongoing devastation in their homeland.

 

Prior to the protection guidance, several advisories against the rapid return of Haitians were issued. 

 

Meanwhile, Ms. Alleyne said the more than 30 Haitians whose asylum applications were rejected by the Jamaican government are awaiting the outcome of their appeal. 

 

"They haven't been repatriated. They're in Jamaica. And so what they're waiting on now is by determination of that appeal. Of course, you know, it is hard to accept why the applications would have been rejected on the one hand when you have CARICOM rushing to Jamaica to meet urgently on the crisis in Haiti. You have the UN Security Council issuing a statement as well, just this month, too, saying that the turn of events in February have established a new level of urgency and crisis."

 

She continued to urge the government to engage with the human rights group in good faith and to "do the right thing" by finding the best possible solution.