02/25/2004

During an Oval Office photo opportunity with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili today, President George W. Bush told reporters that the United States “will turn back any [Haitian] refugee that attempts to reach our shore.” Refugees International condemns this policy as a clear violation of U.S. obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

RI President Ken Bacon wrote to Secretary of State Colin Powell on February 18, 2004 calling for the U.S. to allow Haitian asylum seekers to enter the country and to have their asylum claims heard on U.S. soil. [Refugees International Urges the U.S. to Grant Asylum to Haitians Fleeing Political Violence]. Bacon urged Secretary Powell to ensure that the U.S. serve as an example to other countries in respecting international laws and responding to individuals in need of international protection. The Administration appears determined, however, to prevent Haitian refugees from reaching the United States.

In the course of our numerous humanitarian assessment missions, RI has seen first-hand the generosity of countries and people with a tiny fraction of the income of the United States. Some of the poorest countries in the world --- Tanzania, Guinea, Bangladesh --- have hosted refugee populations from neighboring countries for several decades. The U.S. is the largest single donor to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and is nominally a pillar of the global refugee regime.  For these reasons and others it is hard to understand how giving fair treatment to Haitians seeking asylum in Florida is beyond the U.S.’s political and economic means.

The U.S. treatment of Haitian asylum seekers sets a poor precedent and undermines protection for displaced people everywhere.