The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

HAITIAN rights activist Jetta Baptiste yesterday said the United Association of Haitians and Bahamians has “compromised” with the government on its new immigration policies.

Ms Baptiste is the president of the Haitian Bahamian Society of the Bahamas.

Her statements came after the United Association of Haitians and Bahamians (UAHB), which partnered with civic associations Vibes United and Univision, publicly denounced Florida politician Daphne Campbell’s “vicious and unfair” criticisms of the policies, which came into effect on November 1.

Ms Campbell has called on tourists and international businesses to boycott the Bahamas. Last week, Ms Baptiste told The Tribune she fully supported the call.

Although Ms Baptiste did not deliver a response to The Tribune personally, she directed this newspaper to a post on her Facebook about the UAHB’s statements.

In the post, she said the UAHB and two other groups it partnered with – Vibes United and Univision – “don’t speak for the thousands of voiceless people” with whom she is in contact.

“(The) UAHB and the two other small organisations in Nassau can compromise with the Bahamas government if they want to,” Ms Baptiste said. “That is just fine with us. I understand why they did what they did and that is fine by me. This is called a ‘democracy.’”

Last week, Mrs Campbell, a Florida lawmaker who was born in Haiti, called for tourists and international businesses to boycott the Bahamas in an attempt to end discrimination against Haitian children.

At the time, she said the government had a week to reverse the immigration policies or she would travel here with a delegation to address them face-to-face.

In response, Ms Baptiste told The Tribune last week that she supported Mrs Campbell’s efforts “1,000 per cent” because the Haitian community is “simply tired of all the political games that have been played with (them) over the years.”

On Sunday, UAHB administrative assistant Robertson Dieudonne told the media that as “neither Mrs Campbell nor Jetta Baptiste reside in the Bahamas”, the UAHB did not feel that the women have the authority to speak on behalf of Haitians and people of Haitian descent in this country.

Ms Baptiste previously lived in Grand Bahama, but is now residing out of the country.

He said the UAHB was greatly concerned about the damaging remarks, stating that neither of the women consulted with the association before making public statements. He added that the controversy had already damaged the perceptions of Haitians living in the United States with some people cancelling travel plans to the country.

The UAHB ultimately said it supported the work of the government in fixing the illegal migration issue, but has made recommendations to the government about revising the new policies that includes extending the time frame to six months for Haitians to acquire their passports and other documentation.

It also said it would continue to work with the government to reach a compromise on immigration policy reform.

Yesterday, Ms Baptiste remained steadfast in her views.

“We have a whole lot of Haitian Bahamian organisations all throughout the Bahamas and the three groups represented don’t speak for the thousands of voiceless people who I am in contact with,” Ms Baptiste said. “They can speak for some of the people in Nassau, we will speak for the rest of the people throughout the Bahamas.”

Lawyer Fred Smith, president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, has also chimed in on the issue, calling the policies which came into effect on November 1, “institutional terrorism” and “ethnic cleansing”.

He said the “draconian business” of “wholesale round-ups, indiscriminately casting a net over entire sections of the population – both innocent and guilty alike – and then sorting illegal immigrant from lawful resident after the fact” was “downright criminal”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration has dismissed Mr Smith’s criticism as “materially incorrect”.

“The ministry is again concerned by certain actors in the population that appear to be intent on chasing headlines, seeking to create public hysteria and resorting to misinformation in order to do so,” it said.

The statement continued: “Their language is intemperate, inflammatory and the claims regarding the immigration policy are inaccurate.”

“There has been no breach of the law and no violation of anyone’s constitutional rights, sanctioned by the Bahamas government in the enforcement of the country’s immigration laws,” the ministry added.