OAS Human Rights Body Tells U.S. to Suspend Deportations to Haiti

Today the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures to protect persons in the United States whose lives would be put and risk and their human rights violated if deported to Haiti. Human Rights USA calls on the United States Government to comply with its human rights obligations under the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and restore the moratorium on deportations to Haiti until circumstances there improve.

The IACHR's press release is below:  

IACHR URGES UNITED STATES TO SUSPEND DEPORTATIONS TO HAITI  

Washington,  D.C., February 4, 2011; The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights  (IACHR) urges the United States to suspend deportations to Haiti of  persons of Haitian origin who are seriously ill or who have family  members in the United States.
 
 Following the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, the U.S.  government suspended the deportation of Haitians with criminal  convictions or charges. According to information the Commission has  received, the government announced on December 9, 2010, that it would  lift the moratorium on deportations, and the media reported that  deportations of Haitians with criminal records resumed on January 20,  2011.
 
 The deportation of seriously ill persons to Haiti could jeopardize their  lives, considering the humanitarian crisis that persists in the  country, especially the detention conditions in jails and prisons.  According to the information received by the Commission, detention  centers in Haiti are overcrowded, and the lack of drinking water and  adequate sanitation or toilets could facilitate the transmission of  cholera, tuberculosis, and other diseases. The IACHR is also concerned  that once they arrive in Haiti, seriously ill persons could remain in  detention without access to food, drinking water, and adequate medical  treatment. Along these lines, U.S. immigrant advocacy organizations  informed the Commission that a person of Haitian origin deported on  January 20, 2011, has died in a Haitian prison for reasons that have not  yet been officially established, after showing symptoms of cholera. In  addition, the Inter-American Commission has received troubling  information regarding persons being processed for deportation who have  immediate family members, even children, in the United States and who in  some cases do not have any family members in Haiti.
 
 In light of these circumstances, the Inter-American Commission on Human  Rights urges the United States to suspend the deportation of Haitians  who are seriously ill or who have family ties in the United States. This  moratorium should be maintained until such time as Haiti is able to  guarantee that detention conditions and access to medical care comply  with applicable minimum standards and until the procedures in place to  determine and review deportations can adequately take into account the  right to family life of those subject to the deportation process, as  well as their family ties in the United States. 
 
 A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States  (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the  American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a  mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a  consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed  of seven independent members who are elected in a personal capacity by  the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of  origin or residence.