18246: (Hermantin) Sun Sentinel-U.S. should honor rights of Haitian refugees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

U.S. should honor rights of Haitian refugees



By Wendy Young

February 4, 2004

Violence is worsening in Haiti by the day, and several boatloads of Haitians
fled in the last few months to the United States seeking haven, only to be
intercepted on the high seas by the U.S. Coast Guard and returned soon
after, giving those on board little chance to present their asylum claims.

Although there has not been a major outflow of Haitians, the United States
continues to implement needlessly harsh measures against Haitian refugees,
singling them out for what amounts to discriminatory treatment.

Instead of helping Haitians, the State Department recently stated that
Haitian migrants are a threat to the national security of the United States.
This statement blatantly ignores the deteriorating human rights situation in
Haiti and the fact that a significant number of Haitians who flee their
homeland, including women and children, are asylum seekers who have the
right to seek protection in the United States.

Haiti has been in turmoil since the party of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide won the 2000 legislative elections, which observers say were
flawed. At least 47 people have been killed during anti-Aristide protests in
the past four months.

The United States has repeatedly expressed concerns about the escalating
political violence in Haiti and the Aristide government's failure to protect
its citizens. While clearly it is in the foreign policy interests of the
United States to restore stability to Haiti, it is equally clear that in the
interim we have a legal and ethical obligation to protect the rights and
safety of refugees forced to flee such conditions.

Instead, the Bush administration has systematically implemented a series of
measures intended to deter and prevent the arrival of Haitians on U.S.
shores. Such measures include interdiction of Haitian boats on the high seas
and in the territorial waters of the United States with little or no
screening of passengers' potential asylum claims; resettlement to third
countries of those few Haitians provided screening and deemed refugees;
prolonged and arbitrary detention of Haitians who are able to make it to
United States; criminal prosecution of Haitians who use false documents to
enter the United States; and fast-tracked asylum adjudication in hearings as
brief as 30 minutes, including time for translation.

In effect, the United States has singled out Haitians for discriminatory
treatment in violation of both its obligations under the 1951 Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and U.S. asylum law.

It is disingenuous to cite national security as a justification for these
actions. Communications from the administration to support this assertion
have either characterized the potential of a Haitian influx as a drain on
military resources or indicated that nationals from countries in the Middle
East will transit through Haiti to enter the United States.

Any diversion of military resources to support the interdiction effort is
purely volitional. In fact, use of the Coast Guard for the interdiction
program already represents a misuse of military resources. The notion that
U.S. authorities will be unable to differentiate between arriving Haitians
and nationals from the Middle East is simply absurd.

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children last year conducted an
assessment of the treatment of Haitian refugees in both the Dominican
Republic and the United States. It found an almost complete absence of
meaningful protection. Women who we interviewed who had been returned to
Haiti reported harassment and beatings; some had been forced to go into
hiding and were planning to flee again.

The United States must reconsider its Haitian policy in its entirety. Just
as U.S. citizens are concerned about their safety, so, too, are Haitian
citizens fearful about their country's future.

As the world's leading defender of human rights, refugee rights and
democratic ideals, the United States cannot turn its back on a tiny
neighbor. We must do everything we can to restore democracy to Haiti and we
must also offer refuge to its citizens who turn to us for help.



Wendy Young is director of government relations at the Women's Commission
for Refugee Women and Children. She wrote this for The Baltimore Sun, 501 N
Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21202.


Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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