Jamaica and a few other Caribbean states should, by now, have grown accustomed to the arrival of Haitians seeking refuge from the political and social instability gripping that French-speaking nation for far too long.

Last Sunday, 50 Haitians — 35 men, five boys, six women, and four girls — arrived in Jamaica by boat. One woman, we were told, was pregnant. On Monday, they were repatriated to Haiti, a move that has again angered some Jamaicans who say the Administration is deliberately denying the Haitians access to legal representation and information on their rights.

The Government, though, has insisted that Jamaica is compliant with local and international best practices. In fact, late last year Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith told the Senate that the Government has to engage in a difficult balancing act in managing illegal Haitian migrants. She also noted that accepting and catering to the Haitians is at significant cost to Jamaican taxpayers.

That joust will not end as long as Haitians are forced to continue fleeing their country, which has been racked by worsening gang violence over the past year.

Just last week we saw the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accusing the Dominican Republic of committing xenophobic acts and violating the rights of Haitian migrants, especially pregnant and nursing women.

The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has been engaged in a drive against illegal migrants and, according to the United Nations (UN), in April the Government of President Luis Abinader deported near 20,000 people across the border with Haiti, including a “rising number of pregnant and breastfeeding women”.

Humanitarian organisations have consistently voiced concern, more especially regarding the plight of pregnant women. The UN last week denounced the deportations, arguing that they are “in violation of international standards”.

Last month Ms Amy Pope, director general of the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), warned that the crisis in Haiti, which she described as one of the most complex and urgent in the world, could impact regional and global security.

The IOM pointed out that with 85 per cent of the Haitian capital currently under gang control, communities are constantly being uprooted by violence and instability. An upshot of that is forced migration, so much so that last year the IOM said almost 200,000 Haitians were deported from neighbouring countries, mainly the Dominican Republic.

Unless circumstances change for the better in Haiti, the illegal migration, as we have said, will continue.

And countries like Jamaica will be forced to take decisions which are not popular with many, but which, governments insist, must strike a reasonable balance between humanitarian and security concerns.

It’s an extremely difficult situation, especially as it is clear that there is no single solution, or quick fix that will stabilise Haiti. For far too long that country has been weighed down by complex challenges that are deeply rooted in its oppressive colonial history.

As we have pointed out before, the international community, and especially the Caribbean, must strive to find solutions.

Giving up on Haiti is not a viable option, not least because the exodus, triggered by violence and shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medical care, could easily swell from the current steady flow to a giant wave.