NCHR Condemns Boat Sinking, Calls for Regional Response

June 9, 1998 — The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), a non-governmental human rights organization based in New York and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, criticized the Turks and Caicos police for firing on a boat jammed with 100 Haitians heading for the British territory. The boat capsized and as many as 30 are said to have drowned. The organization called for a full investigation and for the Organization of American States, CARICOM, UNHCR and other migration-related organizations to develop a regional response to migration that would avoid these disasters.

"There is no reason for coast guard and police boats to fire on small craft clearly carrying migrants or refugees," said NCHR Executive Director Jocelyn McCalla. "Anyone who has had any experience with Haitian refugees on the high seas knows that these boats are filled with individuals who have usually paid a year’s wages to flee harsh hunger and poverty or political persecution. The boats are overloaded and the passengers easily frightened. Even if the shots did not strike the boat it is all-too-predictable that frightened passengers will panic and destabilize the vessel. The police should know this."

The capsizing of the sailing boat was only one of several recent incidents involving Haitians fleeing Haiti’s economic and political troubles. Boats showed up in The Bahamas, Jamaica and Miami in the last two weeks, in addition to today’s tragedy near the Turks and Caicos. A boat with Cuban migrants was stopped last week in The Bahamas and seven of its occupants returned to Cuba. "Migration is a regional problem in the Caribbean and requires a regional response to avoid further deaths," concluded McCalla. "NCHR has been calling for such an effort over the last two years. We hope that governments and regional and international organizations will rethink their reluctance to deal with this issue in light of these deaths."