Caribbean urged to suspend expulsion of Haitians

Countries in America’s and the Caribbean have been advised by the United Nations to suspend expulsions of Haitians facing a chilling wave of violence. 

According to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) 36,000 Haitians were expelled from other countries between January and March.

In a statement issued two days ago, CERD called for the suspension of “forced returns”

The organization also expressed concerns about the Haitians and pleaded for measures to protect Haitians

CERD said in a report that “nearly 22,000 Haitians were repatriated between January and November last year, some 15,000 of them from the United States” 

The Committee also claimed that “expulsions also accelerated considerably this year and reached 36,000 between January and March, 90 per cent of them from the Dominican Republic”.

 Adding, “Caribbean countries, such as the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, announced repressive measures against undocumented Haitian migrants.”

Concerns were also raised about the fact that Haitians are “victims of excessive use of force, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and racial profiling by the law enforcement agencies of some States.” 

Last week Monday, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report released Monday that “the Haitian people are victims of one of the worst human rights crises in decades”.