13 Jul 2012

GENEVA / HAITI

The UN refugee agency today ( 13 July) said ”hundreds” of Haitians are dying at sea each year as they try to cross the Caribbean to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, and others are being systematically repatriated without screening. CH UNTV / MINUSTAH

Posted at: July 13, 2012 3:46 pm

Duration: 02:18

Available in: SD

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STORY: GENEVA / HAITI
TRT:  2.18
SOURCE: CH UNTV / MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 13 JULY 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – CH UNTV - RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Zoom in, exterior United Nations Palais

CH UNTV - 13 JULY 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"We are seeing loss of life in maritime incidents among people trying to escape difficult conditions in Haiti. On the 10th July, a woman drowned when a boat carrying more than 100 Haitian migrants ran aground near the Bahamas. And in an earlier tragedy, more than a dozen Haitians lost their lives in these waters in the shores off Florida. These events are a reminder of the extreme measures people take in very difficult situations and obviously the situation in Haiti remains volatile, volatile enough that people are leaving on boats."
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"Unfortunately we don't have firm statistics but we do estimate that hundreds of deaths occur each year."
6. Med shot, journalist with laptop
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"UNHCR is very concerned that countries are returning Haitians who have left the country back to Haiti ignoring an earlier joint appeal by UNHCR and OHCHR asking states not to return Haitians for humanitarian reasons, without the required individual protection screening. This means that many of them could have claims for asylum and a good case for asylum. The joint call was made in view of the daunting humanitarian challenges that Haiti still faces, exacerbated by the earthquake."

FILE – MINUSTAH – 24 APRIL 2012, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI

9. Wide shot, IDP shovelling debris in a camp

FILE – MINUSTAH – 3 APRIL 2012, JEAN MARIE VINCENT CAMP, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

10. Med shot, female IDP cleaning alley outside her tent
11. Wide shot, children running in camp

FILE – MINUSTAH - 29 JANUARY 2009, PORT-AU-PRINCE

12. Wide shot, US Coast Guard ship "Vigilant"
13. Wide shot, illegal Haitian immigrants on the US boat
14. Wide shot, man getting down ladder into smaller boat
15. Wide shot, group of Haitians being repatriated to Haitian soil
16. Wide shot, Haitian cutter with immigrants docking
17. Med shot, Haitian coast guard registering migrants

STORYLINE:

The UN refugee agency today  ( 13 July) said  "hundreds" of Haitians are dying at sea  each year as they try to cross the Caribbean to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, and others are being systematically repatriated  without screening.

The agency's spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming said  her organization was  very concerned at neighbouring countries' practice of returning Haitians to Haiti without due screening, as many of them could have good cases for asylum.

Fleming said all neighbouring countries are returning Haitians to Haiti despite an earlier appeal by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) not to do so for humanitarian reasons.

The situation in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake remains volatile with 421,000 people still living in camps throughout the island. Fleming said these extreme conditions were driving people to flee the island.

Some of Haiti's neighbours, she said, were "systematically" sending Haitians back. She confirmed the United States is one of the countries concerned and that European countries are also involved.

The US Coast Guard has been interdicting vessels carrying Haitians since 1981, according to the US Congressional research service.