US embassy cable - 05KINGSTON623

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT) AND PRM/ECA (IRIS) 
SOUTHCOM FOR J7 (POLAD AND RHANNAN) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/4/15 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SMIG, HA, JM, Haiti 
SUBJECT: GOJ, IOM, AND UNHCR AGREE MOST HAITIAN MIGRANTS 
ARE ECONOMIC MIGRANTS, AS 58 MORE LAND IN JAMAICA 
 
REF: 04 KINGSTON 02193 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Mark J. Powell.  Reasons 1.5(b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (SBU) Just after dawn on March 4, a boatload of 58 
Haitians arrived in Long Bay, Portland, raising the total of 
Haitian migrants in Jamaica to 496.  During a week which 
began with the one-year anniversary of former President 
Aristide's resignation and departure from Haiti, the GOJ 
continues to wrestle with its migrant problem.  In a renewed 
influx preceding the March 4 arrivals, some 159 Haitians 
landed in Jamaica between February 8 and February 19.  GOJ, 
IOM and UNHCR officials with whom we have spoken agree that 
most of the migrants have come in search of economic 
opportunities, although UNHCR faults the GOJ's handling of 
some asylum request cases.  For its part, the Ministry of 
National Security sees quick repatriation of economic 
migrants to discourage additional Haitians from making the 
dangerous trip to Jamaica.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) At approximately 0630 local on March 4, a boatload 
of 58 Haitians arrived in Long Bay, Portland, raising the 
total number of Haitian migrants in Jamaica to 496.  The 
period February 8 to February 19 saw an influx of five 
separate groups of Haitian migrants who arrived in Jamaica by 
sea.  Six arrived on 2/8; seven on 2/11; 31 on 2/13; 58 on 
2/16 and 57 on 2/19.  GOJ Inter-agency Haitian Migrants 
Coordinator Paul Saunders told Pol/Econ Chief on March 2 that 
Jamaica hosts 332 at the former Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) 
base at Montepelier, St. James, and 116 at the Winifred Rest 
Home in Portland.  (Note:  This conversation took place two 
days before a boatload of 58 more Haitians arrived in 
Portland.  End note.)  A Haitian boy was born in one of the 
camps on February 26, and a Haitian male residing at 
Montpelier camp who had been working in a local garage as a 
mechanic, was murdered along with his Jamaican boss by 
Jamaican gunmen at the garage on February 22.  Saunders said 
that while the Jamaican victim may have been a disreputable 
character who had a falling out with the gunmen, the Haitian 
victim seems to have been in the wrong place at the wrong 
time. 
 
3. (C) Saunders readily characterized most of the Haitians as 
economic migrants, noting that one man who had been 
voluntarily repatriated to Haiti in late 2004 has now 
returned (by boat) to Jamaica with his wife and six children. 
 Saunders said he happened to be in Portland on February 16 
when 58 Haitians arrived, and had noted that some of the 
Haitians came ashore bearing French/English dictionaries, 
pots and pans, and other amenities that suggested that "they 
did not flee in the middle of the night."  In order to 
discourage economic migrants from Haiti, said Saunders, the 
GOJ should quickly process asylum cases and return to Haiti 
any migrants who did not qualify "within 24 or 48 hours." 
The Coordinator expressed frustration at the conduct of a 
number of the migrants who have intentionally damaged 
toilets, broken light bulbs and who fight among themselves. 
Saunders acknowledged that such misbehavior could in part be 
attributed to migrants' boredom due to a lack of structured 
activities in the camps, but he complained that migrants are 
comfortable enough to complain (unreasonably, he implied) 
about GOJ-provided clothing and food, which he added meets or 
exceeds UNHCR minimum standards.  He also admitted that the 
GOJ has turned a blind eye on the employment issue, allowing 
Haitians to work in the communities near the camp. 
 
4. (SBU)  According to Saunders, the GOJ has sufficient 
resources to accommodate the Haitians thanks to UNHCR funding 
which expires on March 31, but he worried that additional 
arrivals could change this equation.  Saunders added that the 
GOJ has written to UNHCR/Geneva to request a funding 
extension through June.  The Migrant Coordinator said he has 
been asked to remain in that position until June before 
returning to his senior position with the GOJ's Office of 
Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).  He 
said that MNS Permanent Secretary Gil Scott would like for 
all appeals to be heard, and all migrants who do not qualify 
for asylum repatriated by June. 
 
5. (C) Asked to describe the process by which migrants are 
considered for asylum, Saunders said that Jamaican 
immigration officers conduct initial interviews, then pass 
cases on to the GOJ's Eligibility Committee, which consists 
of representatives from the Ministry of National Security 
(MNS), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade 
(MFAFT), and the Attorney General's office.  The Eligibility 
Committee either approves or denies a petition for asylum, 
and those refused can appeal the decision to a Tribunal 
consisting of a retired judge and two retired ambassadors. 
 
6. (SBU) IOM Chief of Mission Nidia Casati told poloff on 
February 28 that there were differing views between and 
within the MFAFT and MNS as to how to handle the migrants. 
Senior MFAFT officials want the GOJ to be seen as &helping 
the poor migrants8, she said, while others within the MFAFT 
and MNS would like to have them expeditiously repatriated. 
Many  migrants are working on the local economy without 
proper work permits or other legal documentation and come and 
go at will as the curfew is not enforced.  Casati noted that 
many of the migrants allegedly take their US$50 repatriation 
grant and pay smugglers to return them to Jamaica.  They then 
work on the local economy but do not put the money back into 
it as everything is provided for them at the camp. 
 
7.  (SBU) Casati went on to state that UNHCR expects to cease 
funding at the end of March and that perhaps this would be 
the encouragement the GOJ needs to repatriate the Haitians. 
Most of the violence within the camps, she said, is between 
the Haitians and for the most part does not involve 
Jamaicans.  Over the past several months there have not been 
any reports of guard abuse, as was the case in 2004 in which 
a Jamaica Constabulary Force officer assigned to guard duty 
at Montpelier allegedly molested a teenage Haitian boy . 
Casati described most of the Haitians as economic migrants 
and stated that several of them readily admit that they are 
earning a better living in Jamaica than in Haiti.  With 
regard to the repatriation process, she said that it is 
extremely slow and unnecessarily so. She complained that the 
retired officials on the GOJ Eligibility Committee panel take 
their time processing the cases because there is no pressure 
to move the cases along. 
 
8. (SBU) Sandrine Desamours, a Santo Domingo-based UNHCR 
legal officer, arrived in Kingston on March 2 for a 
weeks-long review of the migrant situation.  In a March 3 
meeting with Jamaican honorary UNHCR liaison Clover Graham 
and P/E Chief, Desamours and Graham largely concurred with 
Saunders' contention that nearly all of the Haitians are 
economic migrants.  Desamours did, however, express concern 
with the GOJ's handling of some of the asylum cases.  She 
said that in some instances, members of the Eligibility 
Committee had noted  applicants' accounts of politically 
motivated threats, and/or murders of close relatives, then 
dismissed the applicants as economic migrants without 
explaining how they determined that the threats were 
baseless.  Desamours said that she would follow up with the 
GOJ regarding these cases.  Neither Desamours nor Graham 
thought that UNHCR was likely to agree to extend funding for 
Jamaica from March 31 until June, although they added that 
Geneva would have to make that decision. 
 
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Comment 
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9. (C) As the one-year anniversary of Aristide's resignation 
and departure from Haiti passed earlier this week, the GOJ 
continues to wrestle with a Haitian migrant problem.  The 
GOJ, IOM and UNHCR agree that most of the Haitians are 
economic migrants rather than political refugees.  Caught 
between its desire to "do the right thing" and the 
realization that most of the Haitians seek economic 
opportunity, some in the GOJ see expeditious repatriation of 
those not qualifying for asylum as the best course.  The 
latest arrivals may well prompt the GOJ to adopt such a 
policy. 
ROBINSON