35 Haitian migrants landed in Portland Jamaica, marking an increase in Haitians seeking refuge in Jamaica.
Founder of Freedom Imaginaries Malene Alleyne is urging the Jamaican Government to allow what she describes as a basic due-process guarantee to take place wherein Haitian migrants would be screened to determine whether they are asylum seekers.
Alleyne argued that once the screening process takes place, which is required by international law, an assessment could be made as to whether they are undergoing persecution and civil unrest.
Alleyne’s comments come in the wake of what she described as the draconian approach on the part of the Government to send back at least three groups of Haitians within a 24-hour period, recently, without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum.
“Because the Government has adopted such an unlawful and draconian approach towards Haitians, who are asylum seekers, it pushes them to try to enter through these irregular channels,” she said.
The first quarter of 2024 was the deadliest for Haitians with around 2,500 people killed or injured in gang violence. In March 2024, gang violence spread throughout Port-au-Prince with the goal of obtaining the resignation of acting prime minister Ariel Henry, leading to the storming of two prisons and the release of thousands of prisoners.
The gang’s control 80 per cent of the Caribbean country’s main roads and are accused of numerous murders, rapes, looting and kidnapping for ransom. Reportedly, more than half a million children in Haiti are living in neighborhoods controlled by armed groups, which puts them at higher risk of violence, and child recruitment.
A newly established transitional government with the support of a UN-backed multinational mission led by Kenya is hoping to combat surging gang violence and tackle the resulting humanitarian crisis.
An immense task in a country ravaged by violence and corruption, and which has been without a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021.
