Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

JAMAICA: Haitian ‘Refugees’ Appeal Rejection

Dionne Jackson Miller

KINGSTON, Nov 22 2004 (IPS) - Thirty-two-year-old Alserde Emile was a respected school principal in his community of Anse d’hainault, Haiti when he became involved in politics in 2000 with the opposition Rassemblement des Démocrates Nationalistes et Progessistes (RDNP).

The threats and intimidation started then, he says, and worsened. "My house has been burned," he told IPS.

Believing that his life was in danger during the wave of violence that washed over Haiti and peaked in the controversial departure of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Emile fled the island nation in a boat that landed on Jamaica on Feb. 23 this year.

He was among over 500 Haitians who escaped to their Caribbean neighbour. Nearly 300 of them opted to return home voluntarily in subsequent months, but Emile says the option is not open to him, as relatives in Haiti have told him he is still being sought by gunmen.

"I have my own school but I left it, and after I left it some of the gunmen go to (harass) my family, my relatives; they look for me to kill me, you see."

"There (were) some that (were arrested) by the police because they burn my house and now they (are) free and they say whenever I come back they have a bone to pick with me. They still look for me to kill me," he adds.

Emile, along with 280 other Haitians, applied to the Jamaican government for refugee status, which would enable them to stay in this country permanently.

Their hopes were dashed when the Ministry of National Security announced Sep. 29, "none of the Haitian applicants for refugee status in Jamaica meets the criteria, and accordingly their applications for the granting of refugee status have been denied."

The decision has been criticised by the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR), which says the Haitians were not provided with legal assistance to complete their applications.

But government officials have insisted they complied with all requirements of the United Nations Refugee Convention.

In addition, they say, as proof of the administration’s recognition of the difficulties in the fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nation, Jamaica willingly accommodate all the Haitians who landed here in the aftermath of the upheavals in their homeland, even as they were being turned back by the United States.

"The government has been consistent in extending hospitality, accommodation and care to the Haitian refugees since they first arrived in the country in February this year," Sandra Graham, press secretary to Prime Minister Patterson, wrote in a letter to the ‘Jamaica Observer’ newspaper.

"Jamaica has met and surpassed the requirements under humanitarian and human rights law and has been publicly commended by the UNHCR (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees). There is nothing to suggest that there has been a shift in policy or any change in the treatment of the Haitians."

"The government will … continue to act in accordance with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and in the spirit of our relations with Haiti as a CARICOM country," wrote Graham.

But the decision disappointed Emile, ensconced in the refugee camp at Montpelier, St James, at the western end of Jamaica.

Manet Porlouis, his former teaching colleague and political campaign director, was also upset at the news.

"I feel disappointed when I hear they had denied my application for the refugee status. They ask me to appeal, and I wrote a letter asking them to consider my situation because it is difficult for me to go back to Haiti. Because what is happening now in Haiti, so many people are dying everyday," he told IPS.

Porlouis also asserts that he fled his homeland because of political violence, arriving too on Feb. 23.

"When I came (to) Jamaica I was looking for the peace. But I cannot go back home because of the situation. The gunmen, they still live in the same area. I called my friend in the capital of Haiti and he said (it is the) same old, same old."

In recent weeks violence in Haiti involving police, supporters of Aristide, former members of the disbanded army and other armed factions in the country’s capital Port-au-Prince has subsided but reports say the situation remains tense.

Politically, the interim government has announced it plans to issue a warrant for Aristide’s arrest while the chairwoman of Haiti’s electoral council has resigned, saying the vote scheduled for 2005 will not be fair.

The Jamaican government gave the Haitians the opportunity to appeal their rejection for refugee status, igniting a campaign by the IJCHR, which is working with over 150 applicants to prepare their appeals.

"We were asked by the (office of the) U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (to assist the Haitians)," explains Nancy Anderson, legal officer at the IJCHR.

"We appeared for six Haitians about two years ago before an appeals tribunal and successfully argued for them to be granted refugee status. Last year we dealt with eight Cubans who weren’t so successful."

The council has recruited nearly 40 volunteers to help with the time-consuming task of assembling the information to prepare individual petitions to the appeals tribunal, a process likely to take several months.

Lawyers for the IJCHR have had one initial meeting with the appeals tribunal to discuss procedures, with another expected to take place in December. After that, Anderson says, the council will have a better idea when hearings will start.

"I don’t think we can wait until we’ve completed everything. When we’re ready with a few (petitions) we can have a few hearings. I see it as a process that’s certainly going to go over into next year," she adds.

"It’s not something you win or lose. What you want is that each person has the best opportunity to present his or her case for asylum."

In the meantime, Emile and scores of others will continue to hope for a successful outcome. "I would like to continue in my profession, and start a new life, reborn again," he says.