08/04/2004

Political violence and a culture of reprisals have forced the internal displacement of politically active members of Haitian society. Haitians fleeing persecution must hide in their own country because the U.S. and the Dominican Republic are making it difficult for them to receive asylum, or even protection.

On a recent mission to Haiti Refugees International spoke with journalists, elected local council members and a former mayor, all of whom had family members who were slain in retaliation for their political affiliations. One woman in Port-au-Prince said that her husband, who had been mayor of a provincial town, was assassinated. “I have six children to feed and am unemployed,” she said. “I have no family in Port-au-Prince, but I cannot live in my town. We are all potential targets of violence. I move from house-to-house and depend on the charity of strangers.” She could not file a complaint with the police or receive compensation through the courts, because her husband’s attackers were linked to the police. She has sought the support of a local human rights organization in Port-au-Prince to pursue justice and hopefully find economic support.

Another man, who had held a high political post in a provincial department, showed RI pictures of slain family members. He said a group of former army officers had gone to his home. When they did not find him, they killed three of his family members, including children. “I fled to Port-au-Prince, but I am still afraid. I am sure that they are still looking for me. I don’t travel freely, and also move house-to-house. There are at least another 20 people like me from my town of Belladere, who face similar violence.”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution,” yet the U.S. is working hard to block refugees and asylum seekers. In February, with violence rising in Haiti and the government collapsing, President Bush said, “We will turn back any refugee that attempts to reach our shore, and that message needs to be very clear as well to the Haitian people.” U.S. Coast Guard vessels intercept Haitian boats headed to Florida. Haitians whom U.S. immigration authorities believe have a credible fear of persecution and have not yet reached the United States are held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, pending resettlement in another country. Many Haitians who have reached the U. S. are detained without bond and in some cases held for up to two years at the Krome Processing Center in Miami. The vast majority of almost 2,000 Haitians who were interdicted at sea in the first quarter of the year were returned summarily to Haitian ports with little or no support from local authorities.

The Dominican Republic also closed its border with Haiti during the violence in February and March, despite obligations under the U.N. Refugee Convention and admonishments from the U.N. refugee organization, UNHCR. Military from the Dominican Republic set up camps for those fleeing violence on the Haitian side of the border in an effort to ensure that Haitians refugees did not enter the country.

Paradoxically the Dominican border reopened within several weeks to allow for an informal and unregulated free trade between both countries. Each Monday and Friday the border at Ounamenthe, Haiti, and Djabon, Dominican Republic, opens for trade, ensuring easy access to informal labor for the Dominican Republic, and Haitian access to cheaper imports. An estimated 800,000 economic migrants from Haiti work primarily in agriculture and as domestic help in the Dominican Republic, where they have no legal rights. Of these up to 2,000 unaccompanied children are unwittingly trafficked into the country to be used as labor in violation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. They often have no means of returning to family members in Haiti. An unknown number of women are trafficked annually into prostitution.

The open border does allow easy access to the country for Haitians fleeing ongoing political violence, but only 700 Haitians have been able to apply successfully for asylum in the Dominican Republic. Of these, all of whom arrived in the past three years, not a single one has been fully processed or granted the right to asylum. Although there is a formal asylum procedure in place, established in part with UNHCR help, it does not function. The responsible body, CONAVI has never convened to decide a case. As a result Haitian asylum seekers have very few legal entitlements in the Dominican Republic. They are not permitted to work, and their children of secondary school age are prohibited from attending classes. They are not even free from deportation. Recently a 15 year old Haitian asylum seeker was deported after being detained by police a few blocks from her home. The police did not contact the girl’s family, and there is currently no trace of her in Haiti. There is simply a record of her having been deported to the border by the Dominican authorities.

Refugees International deplores the current conditions for internally displaced Haitians and asylum seekers and recommends that:

• The Haitian government act with all deliberate speed to ensure political freedoms, and to guarantee the safety of its citizens.
• The U.S. grant temporary protective status to all Haitian asylum seekers as long as political turmoil continues. Haitian asylum seekers should not be subject to detention proceedings, which treat them as criminals instead of as victims deserving a fair and just determination of their legal status.
• The Dominican Republic comply with its existing law and ensure that CONAVI start proceedings to normalize the status of Haitian asylum seekers, who should also enjoy the basic rights of education and to seek employment.
• The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights thoroughly study the issue of internal displacement in Haiti, and ensure that displaced families receive adequate protection.