Haiti: IOM Calls for Safe and Legal Migration
Doctors recovering a body of a migrant in the coast, July 2024 Photo: @XHSwahili
July 22, 2024 Hour: 6:52 pm
Goodstein stated that the socio-economic situation in Haiti is agonizing, and the extreme violence experienced in recent months has caused many Haitians to seek desperate solutions.
On Monday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) called for safe and legal migration in Haiti, where relatives today mourn the disappearance of their loved ones at sea.
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Grégoire Goodstein, head of the IOM Mission in the Caribbean country, explained that the shipwrecks are devastating events, and highlight the risks faced by men, women and children migrating through irregular routes.
Goodstein stated that the socio-economic situation in Haiti is agonizing, and the extreme violence experienced in recent months has caused many Haitians to seek desperate solutions.
“The lack of economic opportunities, the collapse of the health system, the closure of schools and the lack of prospects are pushing many people to consider migration as the only way to survive,” Goodstein added.
Since 29 February this year, the Haitian coast guard in the north has seen an increase in the number of attempted and actual boat departures.
Coast guards from countries in the region, including the United States, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Jamaica, also reported that an increasing number of boats from Haiti are being intercepted at sea.
According to the newspaper Le National, more than 86,000 migrants have been returned to Haiti by neighbouring countries so far in 2024.
In March alone, despite increased violence and airport closures across the country, forcible returns rose 46 percent, reaching 13,000 in the third month of the year alone.
Goodstein insisted that safe and legal migration channels are vital.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: The Independent-IOM
