The Jamaican government’s denial of 37 Haitian refugees’ requests for asylum, according to international human rights attorney and Freedom Imaginaries founder Malene Alleyne, noted that it is a matter that the organization will be appealing because it perceives as “blatant” disrespect for the UN Refugee Agency’s request that states in the region halt the forced return of Haitians to their homeland.
In an interview with a local newspaper recently, Alleyne stated that Freedom Imaginaries disagrees with the manner the Ministry of National Security handled the asylum petitions.
- Advertisement -
“This decision comes at a point where not only has the crisis deteriorated but UN bodies have been urging states to suspend forced returns and so my concern is that the decision seems to blatantly disregard UN non-return advisories and the expertise of people on the ground,” the Alleyne stated.
“We are going to engage the appeal procedure; there is an appeal before the minister of national security which must be done within a certain time frame and once we exhaust that, there is an opportunity to go before a refugee review body and we plan to exhaust that as well. More generally, we will be taking all measures necessary to protect the rights of the Haitians,” Alleyne noted.
“Our position is that the UN has made it clear that the situation in Haiti is catastrophic and is not conducive to forced return and so the UN has called upon states to suspend the forced return of Haitians to Haiti and to ensure that they have access to protection services, and so following UN non-return advisories and also following the Refugee Convention which prohibits returning persons to a country where they could face persecution, it’s very important that we exhaust the remedies at their disposal while engaging with the Government to find durable solutions,” the refugee advocate noted.
Alleyne claims that the Jamaican government’s justifications for turning down the Haitian’s request for refuge are insufficient.
“Our position is that every decision maker must give reasons for their decisions that could adversely affect human rights and the ministry, I think, has a responsibility to provide adequate and sufficient reasons. The reasons provided, we will challenge through the appropriate procedures, but I will say for now, we do not believe that there were sufficient reasons and we have always challenged the lack of due process in the procedure,” she stated.
Alleyne claims that during the application process, the candidates were not given the chance to be heard.
“They were not even heard by the eligibility committee that was convened to consider their application. The eligibility committee has not heard from one single applicant about the circumstances leading to their decision to flee Haiti. All the eligibility committee did, as far as we are aware, is consider the documents prepared by immigration officials based on a screening interview that was done in which attorneys could not participate or ask questions. We remain very, very concerned about due process issues in the procedure but we will exhaust all remedies at our disposal,” Alleyne mentioned.
She stated that two immigration authorities and an interpreter delivered the disheartening news to the Haitians at about 9:00 on Tuesday night, February 27. She claimed that after being informed of the contents of the letters, the Haitians were devastated since they were unable to read them.
“The letters were in English and French and neither of those languages is the language spoken by the Haitians and so unfortunately, they stood with those letters in their hands which they could not read and then the interpreter had to explain. Their reaction is one of extreme disappointment because they know what they are fleeing in Haiti. The situations in Haiti is extremely catastrophic and even since coming to Jamaica, their family members are being killed in very tragic and brutal circumstances. The situation in Haiti has deteriorated since they came,” she explains.
Under the supervision of the Red Cross, the group consisting of 29 adults and 8 children arrived in Jamaica illegally by boat last year. They are currently being held at a multi-complex encampment in Robins Bay, Portland. Since then, one woman has given birth.
Meanwhile, the lawyer made it clear that the treatment of the affected children will get careful consideration.
