In the 1980s and 1990s, the US government implemented an “interdiction policy” against Haitian refugees fleeing the repressive military regime.This policy authorized US (Reagan, Bush and Clinton) and coast guards to stop, search and returning on high seas to prevent the refugees from reaching US soil.
Through this policy, the US government also imprisoned Haitian refugees including pregnant and HIV positive asylum seekers I’m a “humanitarian camp” (aka “HIV prison”) in Guantanamo Bay.
In 1993 a federal ordered this prison be closed down.
Although the US Supreme defended the US policy (Sale v Haitian Centre Council, 1993) in an 8-1 vote, the UNHCR, the Inter-AMER Court, and other Human Right bodies and courts maintain the aforementioned US policy is inconsistent with the “purposes” and humanitarian “spirit” of the UN 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
Akosua G
Ontario Canada
June 07, 2021
Sources: Centers for Constitutional Rights
SALE v Haitian Centers Council Inc.
TD Jones, ‘The Haitian Refugee Crisis: A Quest for Human Rights (1993) 15(1)Michigan J.Intl Law 81-82