13109: Schweissings report on Haitian Crisis in the Bahamas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Daniel Schweissing <dan_schweissing@hotmail.com>

Greetings,

I'm wondering if the information in the following article, which is an
excerpt from our monthly newsletter, is something that would be worth
reporting to groups such as Amnesty International or similiar groups.  If
so, perhaps someone in the list might know a contact person whom I could
pass this information on to.

Thanks,

Daniel Schweissing


HAITIAN CRISIS IN THE BAHAMAS
By Daniel and Estela Schweissing
American Baptist Missionaries

During the past month, the new ruling party in the Bahamas (the PLP, elected
this past May) has made it a priority to “clean up” the Haitians in this
country.  Consequently, police and immigration authorities have been
patrolling the streets, stopping public busses, and searching private homes
in their quest to arrest and deport all Haitians who are not legally
documented.  Unfortunately, such overzealousness has resulted in many abuses
taking place in the process.  Many properly documented Haitians, some of
them with more than ten years’ residence in this country, have been deported
simply because they did not happen to be carrying their documentation with
them at the time they were picked up.  Parents, picked up at work or on the
street, have been detained and deported without their children.  And many
Haitians have been dragged from their beds during the wee hours of the
morning, detained while wearing nothing more than their pajamas or night
clothes and bare feet.  Likewise, the detention center is seriously
overcrowded and many detained immigrants are being held in the local Fox
Hill Prison, a situation that has raised serious questions regarding whether
or not would be deportees are being held under conditions that conform to
the humanitarian standards stipulated by international law.

On a recent ZNS news broadcast of the deportations, a Haitian deportee
defiantly shouted at the cameras as he boarded the plane back to Haiti, “I
will be back.  You can send me to Haiti, but I will be back!  I WILL BE
BACK!”  Such a statement, of course, only serves to remind us that
deportation is, at best, only a very expensive short-term remedy to the
problem of Haitian immigration.  While it is tempting to uncritically accuse
the seemingly xenophobic Bahamian government of injustices committed towards
the Haitian people, it is important to remember that Haiti with its
population of nearly seven million inhabitants literally dwarves the
Bahamas’ tiny population of three-hundred thousand.  Further, one must be
mindful of the fact that the current economic crisis in Haiti has been
precipitated, in part, by the US government’s blocking of economic aid
through international channels such as the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund on the pretext that Haiti’s current government is not making
adequate “progress towards democracy.”  While the release of such
international funding to Haiti would go far to alleviate the current crisis,
we must remember that this too is, at best, only a short-term response to
the current crisis.  Simply put, the issue of Haitian immigration is a
highly complex problem that cannot be solved simply by addressing the
injustices of the deportation process or even the suspension of economic
aid.  Haitian immigration is merely a symptom of much broader regional
political and economic problems involving Haiti, the Bahamas, the Dominican
Republic, the United States and, to a lesser extent, several other countries
in this region.

Needless to say, as missionaries working amongst Haitian immigrants in the
Bahamas, we are personally acquainted with many of the people who have been
detained or deported.  Likewise, we have also heard many frightening tales
of narrow escape from the immigration authorities.  During the morning
worship service at one of the local Haitian churches yesterday, we noted
that perhaps roughly eighty percent of the regular congregation was present.
  This is up significantly from previous weeks, when most members found it
safer to lie low rather than risk getting picked up by the authorities
enroute to church.  So, at least for the moment, it appears that the current
deportation crisis is beginning to subside.  Such conditions, of course,
make ministry much more challenging in an already difficult ministry
situation.

Please pray for Haiti.  Pray for the Haitian people, both those in Haiti as
well as those who have been forced abroad by the current economic situation.
  Pray for Haiti’s neighbors.  Pray for the governments who are involved (or
ignoring) the present crisis as well as international organisms such as the
Organization of American States and CARICOM, who are playing an active role
in trying to resolve the current problems in Haiti.  And finally, pray for
those who are involved in ministry to the Haitian people—us, the local
Haitian pastors, our American Baptist missionary colleagues in the Dominican
Republic and Haiti, and the Haitian churches themselves—as we collectively
seek to let our light shine in testimony to the coming Reign of God in the
midst of the darkness of the present crisis.

Regular updates on the Haitian situation in the Bahamas can be found by
visiting the Bahamas’ leading daily newspaper at
http://www.thenassauguardian.com  Once you have arrived at this site, you
can do a search of the news archives by typing “haitians” in the search box.
  [Note:  When we checked the Guardian website this morning, it was down.
But when available, it is an excellent news source on the Haitian situation
here in the Bahamas.]


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx