Ja: Lord, put a hand!

Jamaica braces for an influx of Haitian refugees.


(This pix is taken from the Jamaica Observer)

The Jamaican authorities will this week begin drafting a plan on how to deal with a potential influx of Haitian refugees if that country's current political and security crisis leads to an exodus of boat people.

"We are thinking of a time between (today) and tomorrow to discuss the possibility of that eventuality," said Gilbert Scott, the permanent secretary in the national security ministry.

Immigration, security officials, emergency relief planners as well as security and foreign ministry technocrats are expected to be part of the strategy session.
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On Saturday 10 Haitian refugees, among them eight armed cops, apparently en route to the United states, arrived in Port Antonio after their 15-foot boat developed mechanical problems off the shores of the eastern Jamaican town. The vessel was towed to shore by Jamaican fishermen.

Up to yesterday, the Haitians were still being processed. It was not clear if they intend to seek asylum here.

But some Jamaican officials fear that this early trickle will turn into to an expensive flood.

"It takes cash to care," one source close to the immigration authorities told the Observer yesterday. "And that we do not have. It is a frightening situation. The longer the unrest continues in Haiti then the propensity for this to happen also increases."

Kudos to the government of Jamaica for taking pro-active steps to deal with a problem they've faced before. Caricom nations may not be rich, but they cannot turn their backs on a people so desperate as the Haitians. We cannot afford to forget that, but for the landing of the slave-ship on a different shore, anyone of us could have been Haitian and in flight from a brewing civil war.

It is to be hoped that neighbors to the south, Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana, can help Jamaica and the other islands likely to receive refugees. In a time like this, we are all Haitian.