Port-au-Prince: The vessel carrying more than 80 migrants departed from Haiti on Wednesday and was heading to Turks and Caicos, the IOM said on Friday, adding that Haiti’s Coast Guard rescued 41 survivors. The incident occurred when the vessel, carrying a total of 80 migrants, was en route to Turks and Caicos from Haiti on Wednesday. Haiti’s Coast Guard successfully rescued 41 migrants.
According to CNN, IOM’s chief of mission in Haiti, Gregoire Goodstein, blamed the tragedy on Haiti’s spiralling security crisis and the lack of “safe and legal pathways for migration.”
He said, “Haiti’s socio-economic situation is in agony. The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more.”
Haiti is dealing with gang violence, a collapsing health system, and a lack of access to essential supplies, resulting in many Haitians taking dangerous journeys to move out of the country.
Earlier this year, the situation in Haiti escalated after gang warfare exploded, forcing the resignation of the then-government.
According to the IOM’s data, the number of migration attempts by boat from Haiti has witnessed a rise since then. However, the situation in Haiti has not stopped neighbouring governments from repatriating Haitian migrants by the tens of thousands, CNN reported.
In its statement, the IOM said, “More than 86,000 migrants have been forcibly returned to Haiti by neighbouring countries this year. In March, despite a surge in violence and the closure of airports throughout the country, forced returns increased by 46 per cent, reaching 13,000 forced returns in March alone.”
CNN recently reported that the appointment of Garry Conille as the new Prime Minister and additional foreign security forces have brought a fresh boost of hope for improved safety in Haiti. The United Nations Security Council has greenlit a task force, the Multinational Security Support (MSS), headed by Kenya, to bolster the country’s National Police. They will kick off their mission in the heart of Haiti, Port-au-Prince.
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