A UN human rights expert is urging the US not to deport Haitians back to a country wracked by violence and famine. He warns of a humanitarian disaster.
No one should be deported to impoverished and violence-ridden Haiti, said UN human rights expert for the island nation William O’Neill. He thus stood against the efforts of the USA to cancel the protected status for 350,000 Haitians. TASR writes about it according to an AFP report.
“I don’t think anyone should be forcibly deported to Haiti at this time, wherever they are, including the United States,” O’Neill, who heads the UN’s human rights mission in the Caribbean country, told a news conference.
Haiti is facing famine
“About 6.5 million people are acutely food insecure. Access to health care has never been very good. It’s much, much worse now,” O’Neill said.
He added that “between 1.4 and 1.5 million people are already internally displaced, although they are still in Haiti.”
Issues of temporary protection
About 350,000 Haitian nationals have been granted temporary protected status, which allows them to live and work in the United States. However, US President Donald Trump wants to remove this protection, and if that happens, they will have to return home.
The Trump administration had set the program to end on February 3, but the order was suspended on February 2 by a district court decision.
