Gerard Latortue

Jamaica, angered by the foot-dragging of Haiti's interim government in taking back 130 refugees who want to return home, yesterday told the Latortue administration to get its act together and warned that it may take the issue to the United Nations.

"We can talk to the UN (and) Haiti can be sanctioned in the international forum," said Donovan Nelson, the spokesman for the national security ministry which coordinates matters relating to the nearly 600 Haitian boat people who have landed here since February.

"We recognise that Haiti is also a signatory to international laws and conventions and therefore we continue to dialogue with them in the hope that they will honour their international obligations and accept their nationals," Nelson added.

Earlier in the day, the security ministry had issued a statement calling on Haiti "to conclude without delay the arrangements for the reception of their nationals". That statement also stressed the obligation of states to allow their nationals the right to return to their home country.

Hundreds of Haitians have flooded into Jamaica with the February intensification of violence that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the installation of an interim government headed by Gerard Latortue, with the support of the United States, Canada and France. While it maintains some contact with the Haitian regime, Jamaica, like its partners in the Caribbean Community (Caricom), has not officially recognised the Latortue regime.

Aristide, who insists that he was the subject of a political kidnapping orchestrated by the United States, left Jamaica for asylum after a nine-week stay here, but vowed to return to his home country when the political and security circumstances there permit - an end to violence against his supporters and a return to democracy.

But the Jamaican officials say that the way of refugees who have asked to be returned home now is being blocked by the inaction - apparently deliberate - of the Haitian authorities.

The government recently announced that the first batch of 60 Haitians would have left on June 1, and the security ministry said that it had been in talks with the Haitian authorities on the matter.

But according to the security ministry, Jamaica, which has been working through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has been unable to move because of the approach of the Haitian authorities.

"But the Jamaican government will not put on hold indefinitely the repatriation of the Haitians who are anxious to return home," the ministry's statement said.

"The government of Jamaica urges the Haitian authorities to move immediately to fulfill their international obligations and complete the necessary steps for the return of their nationals who are to be repatriated," it said.

According to Nelson, among the frustrations faced by Jamaica is that despite its notification to Port au Prince of the intended arrival date of the refugees, nothing was done.
Instead, Jamaica was in a sense being asked to prove that it was Haitian nationals that were being sent back.

"The Haitian authorities did nothing on the ground," Nelson said. "They have asked us to verify the nationality (of those asking to be repatriated)."

Apart from those of the 583 Haitians who asked to return home, Jamaica is attempting to determine the status of others, including some who have asked for asylum and formal refugee status.

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