MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Senator Kamina Johnson Smith has moved to clarify reports that Jamaica is to open its borders to orphans from violence-rocked Haiti.

Last week Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang told Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee that Jamaica has committed to accepting a number of orphans in need of protection in sections of Haiti overrun by gangsters.

“At this point, we have agreed to take a number of people legitimately, namely, the orphans. There is an orphanage that was isolated and challenged and the Mustard Seed Communities is taking them. The logistics of that is being worked out,” said Chang.

That prompted a warning from United States-based Haitian politician Himler Francois, who on Monday told the
Jamaica Observer that while he understands the reason for the decision by the Government, there are several problems the island could face if it decides to take in the orphans.

“Here’s one thing with the orphans, they have no one to help. However, is there a system in place [in Jamaica] to receive these orphans because we also have to understand, while Jamaica opens its borders to the orphans, Jamaica has to make sure that the country has a system in place to prevent child trafficking,” Francois said on the margins of a high-level meeting in Kingston which was called by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to discuss the crisis in Haiti.

But addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday, Johnson Smith made it clear that there will be no wholesale movement of orphans from Haiti to Jamaica.

“I saw a report that seemed to be of the impression that Jamaica was opening our borders to all Haitians orphans or all persons claiming to be Haitian orphans…and that is not at all the case,” said Johnson Smith.

“There is an orphanage that is run by a private charity in Haiti that cares for just under 50 of the most disabled children who have been abandoned by their families…and a local charity, the Mustard Seed Communities, has been working with them for the past, I would say, year.

“We have tried to facilitate engagements as much as we have been able to, but it’s private charity to private charity that is seeking to take responsibility for the care of these most vulnerable children, given that the orphanage has been under attack from gangs. Gangs have come in and stolen all their food, medicine, and they have had children die on their way to try to get medical care,” added Johnson Smith as she pointed that this is one of the most horrific incidents in the violence-ravaged Haiti.

According to Johnson Smith, Jamaica is trying to work out a way to legally receive this defined group of orphans for care by the Mustard Seed Communities.