HaitiNewsRegional UN urges countries in Caribbean, Americas to suspend expulsion of Haitians by Barbados Today 30/04/2023 written by Barbados Today Updated by Desmond Brown 30/04/2023 2 min read A+A- Reset Share FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 650 (CMC) – A United Nations committee on Friday called on countries in the Americas and the Caribbean to suspend expulsions of Haitians facing a chilling wave of violence. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) estimated that 36,000 Haitians were expelled from other countries between January and March and expressed concern about measures taken “without an adequate assessment of the protection needs” of each individual. In a statement, issued under an emergency alert procedure, the committee, composed of 18 independent experts, called for “suspending forced returns and taking measures to protect Haitians on the move.” According to the committee, nearly 22,000 Haitians were repatriated between January and November last year, some 15,000 of them from the United States. Expulsions also accelerated considerably this year and reached 36,000 between January and March, 90 per cent of them from the Dominican Republic. “Caribbean countries, such as the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, announced repressive measures against undocumented Haitian migrants.” At the same time, the United States presented in January a plan to allow accelerated expulsions of Haitians and other migrants to Mexico. You Might Be Interested In Crystal Beckles-Holder, 2nd runner up in regional competition GUYANA: Body of child found after gold mine collapses Business owners disappointed The UN experts were concerned 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.” 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” and that “the death toll and the increase in the area controlled by armed gangs” in Port-au-Prince, the capital, are “comparable to those in countries in a situation of armed conflict.” Between January 1 and March 31, the number of homicides on the Caribbean island increased by 21 per cent over the previous quarter (815 vs 673) and kidnappings by 63 per cent (637 vs 391), according to the report. “The alarming violence in the areas where the gangs are active, such as sexual violence in particular against women and girls, is emblematic of the terror that affects a large part of the population of Haiti,” where half of its 11.5 million inhabitants live thanks to humanitarian aid, said UN special envoy, Maria Isabel Salvador. Barbados Today Stay informed and engaged with our digital news platform. The leading online multimedia news resource in Barbados for news you can trust. You may also like Bayview Lab launches full-service laboratory in new Bayview Urgent Care 18/06/2025 Fish vendors seek urgent ice access after oil spill shutdown 06/06/2025 Oil spill cleanup in final stretch 06/06/2025