Speech #1020208901

To date. about 38.000 Haitian boat people have sought refuge in the United States. More than 27.000 have been forcibly returned to Haiti and approximately 11.000 Haitians. who have been initially screened for asylum. face explusion in the future. When the administration chose to begin forcibly repatriating Haitians in November 1991. a legal battle over the treatment of Haitian refugees began in our Federal courts. On several occasions the courts have found that the United States is violating international law by forcibly returning Haitians back to a politically volatile situation. Unfortunately. the administration has been successful in its efforts not only to forcibly repatriate the Haitian boat people. but to return them without a screening process. Most disturbing to me is the Presidents Executive order of May 24. 1992. which instructs the United States Coast Guard to return Haitians picked up at sea directly to Haiti. This action. according to the administration. was in response to the large surge in Haitian boat people seeking to enter the United States and was necessary to protect the lives of the Haitians whose boats werent equipped for the 600mile sea journey. Haitians who fear persecution can now only go to our Embassy in PortauPrince for refugee processing. The administration justifies this action by stating that our international legal obligations under the United Nations protocol relating to the status of refugees and the United Nations convention relating to the status of refugees do not extend to persons located outside the territory of the United States. However. the convention and the protocol. which establish the basic norm of nonrefoulement. prohibits states from expelling or returning refugees to frontiers or territories where they would be threatened on account of race. religion. nationality. or membership of a particular social group or political opinion. While it is true that Haiti is one of the most economically depressed countries in the world. there are many Haitians leaving to escape the repression of the military forces. It is no secret that anyone who is a supporter of the Arlstide government is in jeopardy of political persecution. On December 31. 1991. Americas Watch. the National Coalition for Haitian Refugees and Physicians for Human Rights. issued a report that states the following: In the period Immediately following the coup. massacre. and widespread killings were the order of the day. Since then. techniques have become more refined but similarly brutal. Selected assassinations. disappearances. severe beatings and political unrests continue.