Speech #1020166801

President. last week the administration dealt a great setback to international standards for the protection of human rights. The administration has directed the Coast Guard to pick up Haitian boat people on the high seas and forcibly return them to their country without providing the opportunity to apply for asylum. According to the U.N. protocol relating to the status of refugees. a refugee shall not be returned to territories where he or she may face persecution. The United States is a contracting member to the protocol. and has a legal and moral obligation to determine whether those picked up on the high seas may be victims of repression. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has strongly condemned the administrations action. I am concerned not only that we are violating international law. but that we are also applying a double standard when it comes to the treatment of refugees. Not so long ago. the United States criticized Great Britain for forcibly repatriating Vietnamese boat people from refugee camps in Hong Kong. Unlike the Haitian refugees. Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong were screened to determine their status and allowed to appeal their case. Currently. the number of refugees worldwide is estimated at 17 million. with the vast majority hosted in developing countries. Guinea. which by almost any measure is one of the poorest countries in the world. received 325.000 refugees in 1990--10 times the number of Haitians received at Guantanamo Bay. Despite international humanitarian assistance. the huge influx had a disruptive effect on Guinea. yet there were no known cases of denial of entry or involuntary repatriation. The current United States policy toward Haitian refugees is an embarrassing example for the rest of the world. The administrations policy is based on its belief that those sent back to Haiti are not in danger of political persecution. Yet. we hear from human rights groups that most returnees go into hiding immediately and that there has been a resurgence of human rights violations. We saw a vivid example of the fear of those being forcibly repatri-. ated in last Sundays Washington Post. as one returnee jumped off a Coast Guard cutter claiming he would prefer to die. While I understand the administrations position that we cannot accept. every individual that wishes to enter the country. the situation in Haiti is such that no Haitian should be forced to return there at this time. The administration argues that most of the boat people are economic migrants rather than political refugees. In my view. the current refugee crisis is primarily the result of Haitis political tumult and will. be resolved only when political order is established. The United States has always been a magnet for poor Haitians seeking economic opportunity. yet only since the coup that overthrew President Aristide last September have Haitians fled in such numbers. Of the 34.000 Haitians who have reached Guantanamo Bay since the overthrow of President Aristide. the Immigration and Naturalization Service has cleared 30 percent to seek political asylum in the United States. Even if the INS has been able to recognize every Haitian with a legitimate asylum claim. an assertion that many human rights group contest. it is logical to assume that a similar number of those being forcibly repatriated may also have legitimate claims for political asylum. As an alternative to making a claim in Guantanamo. the Embassy has begun to allow Haitians to apply for asylum in PortauPrince. However. by merely appearing at the Embassy.