14751: Hermantin: Miami Herald Editorial-Haitians need safe havens (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Miami Herald Editorial

Posted on Sat, Feb. 08, 2003

Haitians need safe havens

VERBATIM

Following are excerpts from ''Refugee Policy Adrift,'' a new Women's
Commission for Refugee Women and Children report. The full report is at
www.womenscommission.org

This report concludes that there is a fundamental lack of access to
meaningful refugee protection for Haitians in the United States and the
Dominican Republic, two of the largest receiving countries for Haitian
asylum seekers. While some Haitians may leave their homeland to escape
economic deprivation, this cannot be used as an excuse to deny protection to
those individuals who merit refugee protection.

Haiti's economic failure, furthermore, is in large part spawned by its
political problems. Likewise, national-security concerns growing out of the
events of Sept. 11, 2001, cannot be used by the United States to rationalize
deterrent measures designed to undermine the right of Haitian asylum seekers
to pursue protection. Such measures not only violate international and
domestic refugee law, they reflect poorly on a country that prides itself on
its respect for refugee and human rights.

This report offers numerous recommendations; they include:

• The United States must offer Haitians full access to the U.S. asylum
system in accordance with its obligations under international and domestic
law. This includes immediately discontinuing its interdiction and
summary-return policy.

• The United States must discontinue its prolonged and arbitrary detention
of Haitian asylum seekers. It must implement alternatives to detention for
asylum seekers, including release in the vast majority of cases.

• The United States must refrain from the implementation of procedures that
expedite consideration of Haitian asylum claims. . . .

• In addition to granting asylum to Haitians found eligible, the United
States should offer Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced
Departure to Haitians already present in the United States. . . .

• The United States must not detain children. It must provide children with
care and services that address their best interests and ensure that their
eligibility for asylum is fully considered. It must not divide families in
detention.

• The Dominican Republic must ensure that its borders are open to Haitian
asylum seekers. It must also establish a functional asylum process grounded
in international refugee law to adjudicate their claims.

• The Dominican Republic must take steps to ensure that the basic assistance
needs of Haitian asylum seekers are met. This includes the provision of work
authorization to asylum seekers and full access to education for children.
It must prevent abuses against Haitians both at the hands of Dominican
authorities and the Dominican community and fully prosecute any abuses that
do occur.

• The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees must demonstrate leadership in
assisting the Dominican Republic to fulfill its obligations to asylum
seekers and in ensuring that refugees are adequately protected in the region
in the event of a Haitian refugee crisis.

The United States and the Dominican Republic, with the support of UNHCR,
must restore the right of Haitians to seek refugee protection in their
respective territories. Regardless of whether the numbers are small or
large, it is critical that the international community allow these potential
refugees full and fair access to asylum procedures, an obligation that
countries share under international law but have rarely extended to the
people of Haiti.



_________________________________________________________________
Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail