Freedom Imaginaries urges government to reform asylum procedure for Haitian refugees

Perturbed by the continued inhumane treatment of Haitian refugees, human rights group Freedom Imaginaries is calling upon the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – with the support of the international community and multi-stakeholder groups – to establish a comprehensive, regional approach to ensure their protection in line with principles of humanitarian assistance, protection, cooperation, and international solidarity.

It is also urging the Government of Jamaica to reform its asylum procedure and adopt a rights-based response to Haitians fleeing persecution.

It is worrisome, the lobby said, that Jamaica would seek to return Haitian asylum seekers, including women and girls, without at least ensuring due process in the assessment of their claims.

“Amid the devastating crisis in Haiti, the Ministry of National Security (MNS) has refused to grant asylum to 37 Haitian asylum seekers, including women and children, without giving them an opportunity to be heard or to access the information that informed the decision,” Freedom Imaginaries said in a press release today.

“In formulaic, unreasoned decision letters – written in English and French – the MNS found that there is no basis to support the claims for asylum, noting that violence in Haiti is concentrated in Port-au-Prince. This, as catastrophic violence intensifies and expands across Haiti, both within and beyond Port-au-Prince.”

The group said this decision signals the continued disintegration in the rule of law, which began with the wave of rapid forced returns and collective expulsions of Haitian migrants last year, and now continues with an asylum procedure that undermines the most basic principles of fairness and dignity.

“These principles, common to all civilised nations, require, at the very least, that every person be ensured certain due process guarantees in any process that could result in a decision that adversely affects their rights. These guarantees include, at a minimum, the right to be heard, the right to be assisted by legal counsel, the right to a reasoned decision in a language they can understand, and the right to an effective appeal procedure,” the human rights group said.

Freedom Imaginaries stressed that in the case of children, decisions must be governed by the principle of the best interests of the child.

“Contrary to these principles, the MNS has employed a dangerous model of non-transparent decision-making that has no place in a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law,” it noted.

“Moreover, the decision willfully disregards international law and policy, including UN non-return advisories for Haiti. International law leaves no room for doubt: the forced removal of people to a place where they may face risk of persecution, torture or other serious or irreparable harm constitutes refoulement, which is strictly prohibited under international law.”

Freedom Imaginaries pointed out that this obligation is set out in Article 31 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, to which Jamaica is a party; and is a norm of jus cogens that is so important that it does not allow for any derogation. In this context, to safeguard the principle of non-refoulement, the UN Refugee Agency and other bodies have called upon states to suspend the forced return of Haitians to their country due to unrelenting violence, including kidnappings, murders, and systematic practices of sexual violence.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has described the deteriorating situation in Haiti as "cataclysmic", warning that “with terrible violence against the population expanding – within and outside Port-au-Prince – and the inability of the police to stop them, the much-needed Multinational Security Support mission needs to be deployed to Haiti as soon as possible.”

In February 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights similarly expressed alarm about “the intensification of violence in Haiti”, including reports of women and girls being brutally raped, tortured and kidnapped by gangs, with sexual violence being used as a weapon of war.

“In light of the foregoing, we have concluded that the asylum procedure in Jamaica, as currently operated, is so unfair as to be unlawful. It exposes vulnerable migrants to refoulement while retraumatising them through a process that falls short of basic notions of dignity,” the group said.

“We therefore call upon the Government of Jamaica to reform the asylum procedure and adopt a rights-based response to Haitians fleeing persecution, with strict adherence to the principle of non-refoulement.”

In particular, Freedom Imaginaries is calling for a rights-based framework based on four main pillars:

1. Full and inclusive implementation of the Refugee Convention, including through the suspension of forced returns in accordance with United Nations advisories
2. Access to territory and efficient asylum procedures
3. Solidarity and shared responsibility
4. Durable solutions

“To operationalise this approach, we call on governments and stakeholders to establish a regional inter-agency coordination platform for Haiti to assist the situation of Haitian refugees and migrants in the Caribbean,” Freedom Imaginaries concluded.

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