Stand Up for Jamaica urges gov't to protect rights of Haitian refugees

   

Human rights group Stand Up for Jamaica is calling for the government to urgently intervene to protect the rights of Haitian refugees and ensure that they are treated with dignity.

 

Stand Up for Jamaica's Executive Director Carla Gullotta said the government should consider the atrocities being faced by the people of Haiti and show more empathy and properly discharge its international obligations.

 

She said the authorities must also examine the conditions in which the Haitians are being kept when they are detained.

 

Ms. Gullotta argued that it is wrong to treat Haitian refugees as criminals, adding that most of them are children and pregnant women. 

 

"I don't know why there is a dangerous perception that migrants are criminals. If there is one that is criminal, I totally agree that he should be deported, for example, human trafficking. But when you look at the numbers, especially the ones which are detained in Robin's Bay, they are women, they are children. You want to tell me that one of them is a criminal?"

 

She also raised concern that the Haitians have not been able to access attorneys. 

 

"I am concerned about the fact that the attorneys for Freedom Imaginaries, which has been trying to reach them, were denied the access to them and that is not right because they are entitled to interview and settle and assess those people," Ms. Gullotta complained. 

 

The group of Haitian migrants, many of whom arrived in Jamaica from July last year, are being held in Robin's Bay, St. Mary as they seek asylum.