UN urges countries in the Americas to suspend expulsion of Haitians

A United Nations committee has 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 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 from the

United States

Expulsions also accelerated considerably this year to 36,000 between January and March, 90 percent 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

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