TOUGH CALL

Former Chief of Defence Staff Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin has expressed concern about the circumstances under which Jamaica has decided to deploy troops in Haiti, asserting that the conditions in the French-speaking country are chaotic.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced on Friday that the Government intends to send 200 security personnel to the crisis-torn CARICOM country, which is being ravaged by sustained and widespread violence.

Holness made the commitment in a telephone conversation with Kenyan President William Ruto, who has offered to lead a multinational security and humanitarian mission to Haiti.

Kenya is to dispatch 1,000 police officers while The Bahamas has pledged to send 150.

Holness noted that Jamaica’s detachment would bring CARICOM’s commitment to 350 security personnel and expressed hope that more countries will step forward with commitments as the United States seeks approval of a resolution to legitimise the intervention at the United Nations Security Council.

But in a Gleaner interview on Friday, Lewin said that he wished that Jamaica was embarking on the mission under different circumstances.

“The situation in Haiti is very confused. We have a situation where there is a government which is unelected [and] has no legitimacy. The court system has broken down and I, personally, would have wished if we were embarking on this mission under a different set of circumstances,” Lewin, who also served as commissioner of police, said.

STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN PREFERRED

He said that it would have been better had Haitian stakeholders arrived at an agreement similar to what former Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his team sought to achieve.

Golding was among a three-member team appointed by CARICOM Heads of Government in May to help broker discussions for peace in Haiti.

The other members were former Prime Minister of The Bahamas Perry Christie and former Prime Minister of St Lucia, Dr Kenny D. Anthony.

In a statement on Friday, CARICOM welcomed the decision of Jamaica and The Bahamas to join Kenya in contributing to the multinational force.

It said CARICOM is hoping for the multinational force’s full endorsement by the UN Security Council as a demonstration of the commitment of the international community to improve the security and humanitarian conditions of Haitians and support restoration of law and order.

Antigua and Barbuda has indicated that it may also commit troops.

“I would have preferred if they had come to an agreement and the outside forces would have been going there pursuant to that agreement amongst the stakeholders,” Lewin said.

At the same time, he acknowledged that a neighbour’s house is on fire and is likely to spread.

“There are fire trucks coming from miles away, who are far away from the conflict, but we can’t stand idly by and not play our part,” he said.

He said that the conditions in Haiti are understandably “dangerous”, but that that is what the military has been created for.

“In terms of us participating, it’s not something that we could dither about because if you look at our proximity, we’re the ones who would be affected the most by an absolute and total breakdown in Haiti,” Lewin said.

He said Jamaica’s deployment of 200 security personnel would not jeopardise operations here.

The anarchy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, where police and gangsters continue to clash, has displaced tens of thousands of Haitians.

Last month, 37 arrived on Jamaica’s north-eastern shore in Portland. They have requested asylum.

In a letter to Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, the minister of foreign affairs, and National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, Freedom Imaginaries, the group of lawyers assisting the Haitians, requested a meeting to discuss issues related to due process.

The attorneys – Marlene Alleyne, Hugh Small and Marcus Goffe – are contending that there are issues of due process “that undermine the principle of non-refoulement and that should be addressed before this matter advances to the next phase”.

Non-refoulement speaks to a core principle of international refugee and human rights law that prohibits states from returning individuals to a country where there is a real risk of being subjected to persecution.

The lawyers are arguing that Jamaica’s Refugee Policy, among other things, “restricts the [asylum seekers’] right to legal representation in that it is silent on the possibility of legal representation during the initial screening phase”.

They noted that legal representatives can only participate in the Eligibility Committee phase in an observer capacity.

“As a result of this restriction, immigration officers routinely deny the legal team’s requests to carry out basic legal duties such as asking follow-up questions or reviewing the information recorded by immigration officers on the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) form,” the letter, which was signed by Alleyne, said.

She said that Jamaica’s Refugee Policy is silent on the right of access to information on – and prior notification of – the asylum procedure.

As a result, she said, neither the asylum seekers nor legal team were notified about the commencement of the initial screening phase or provided with information on crucial matters such as the main procedural steps; the parameters for the applicants’ and legal team’s participation; the modalities for disclosure; the schedule and venue of hearings; and the composition of the Eligibility Committee and Refugee Review Body.

“This lack of notice and information has undermined the applicants’ ability to participate effectively in the RSD process,” she argued.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com