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Home Letters

The discrimination against Haitians needs to be questioned 

Staff Reporter by Staff Reporter
April 7, 2021
in Letters
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Dear Editor

We write on behalf of two citizens of Haiti, Junette Jean and Wilbert Fremont who on March 17, 2021 were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment in addition to a fine of $30,000 (Guy) each for the offense of illegally entering Guyana.  To date, Ms. Jean and Mr. Fremont have served just under two weeks of their sentence and continue to do so in a new country, separated from each other and surrounded by a strange language.  Their nearest Haitian language contacts in Guyana are in Georgetown. Ms. Jean is incarcerated in New Amsterdam, and Mr. Fremont was placed at Lusignan and then taken to Timehri. One can hardly imagine the mental hardships this couple faces in isolation in these conditions.

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An appeal is being filed on behalf of Ms. Jean and Mr. Fremont against their unreasonably severe sentencing. On humanitarian grounds, we hereby ask that this appeal be heard without delay, since to all appearances this couple has been treated harshly and their current rights as CARICOM citizens might not have been taken into account. Ms. Jean and Mr. Fremont travelled to Guyana hoping to reunite with their relative who lives there. Neither of these two Caribbean citizens has ever had a criminal record, and no such evidence was produced in court at their hearing on March 17.

Ms. Jean, who currently faces a health challenge, having had major surgery just a few months ago, has been severely traumatized by her arrest, sentencing and detention in Guyana. When seen by her husband’s relative at La Penitence Police Station lockup after sentencing, she was crying uncontrollably and displaying suicidal tendencies. Ms. Jean has children and it is unconscionable that she should be kept from her children for a year.

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What is of deep concern to us is what appears to be the unequal treatment of this Haitian couple in comparison to persons of different nationalities who were arrested at the same time and at the same port of entry, and charged for the same offence of entering Guyana illegally.  Our understanding is that, a group of five persons from a different country were similarly arrested and charged on the same day for the same offence. They pleaded guilty, were fined $15,000 and each deported immediately.  Both Haitians also pleaded guilty but, as stated above, were fined $30,000 each and sentenced to one year in jail with deportation orders only after completion of their incarceration. After sentencing, they were transported to Georgetown and placed in crowded holding cells in Brickdam and La Penitence, respectively, the conditions of which appear to be in breach of the COVID protocols in effect in Guyana.  Their imprisonment exposes them to danger from many fronts, among these are cultural intolerance, the pandemic and the violence which erupts in our prisons from time to time. Additionally, in the overcrowded prison system in Guyana, is it right that tax-payers are being charged the full costs for the incarceration of two non-violent Haitians for a border crossing – when they could just as well have been deported as the other non-Haitians were for the same offence?

The discrimination against Haitians, who are CARICOM citizens, needs to be questioned. Why is the legal system more amenable to infringements by other nationalities and so draconian towards Haitians? We stand in solidarity with Junette Jean and Wilbert Fremont.  We support their appeal without reservation and call for their immediate release on humanitarian grounds.

Signatures

Guyana-Haiti Support Group – Charlene Wilkinson

Melissa Ifill

Donald Rodney

Sinikka Henry

Danuta Radzik,

Karen De Souza

Vanda Radzik

Alissa Trotz

Sherlina Nageer

Mark Jacobs

Pierre Jean, teacher

Mondy Balenjo Nago Methelus, Journalist

Myrtha Désulmé – President Haiti-Jamaica Society; Haitian Diaspora Federation – VP for Advocacy & Public Policy for the Caribbean and Latin America

Kesnel Toussaint, President, Association of Haitian National in Guyana (AHNIG)

Patrice Florivus – Collectif des Avocats Spécialisés en Litige Stratégique de Droits Humains, (CALSDH – Haiti)

Elton McRae, Guyana Reparations Committee

Olive Sampson, International Decade for People of African Descent, Guyana Chapter (IDPADA-G)

Women & Gender Equality Commission – I. Chandarpal; C. Sampson

Help & Shelter – Josephine Whitehead

Red Thread – Joy Marcus; Wintress White; Halima Khan; Susan Collymore; Vanessa Ross

Jeremy Peretz

Medino Abraham, journalist

Sherwin Fraser, University of Guyana

Pat Francis, University of Guyana

Ebon Lammy

Hazel Woolford, Guyana Institute of Historical Research (GIHR)

Barrington Braithwaite

Gerald Perreira, Organisation for Victory of the People

Janette Bulkan

Hollis France

Nicole Cole

Akola Thompson

Lisa Edwards

Vidyaratha Kissoon

Kamala Kempadoo

Bonita Harris

Denise Harris

Oonya Kempadoo

Lighttown/Gangoo Creek Community Development Association

Sea View Cultural Association

Guyana Non-Traditional Agricultural Exporters Association (GNTEA) Invest

Cuffy 250

African Cultural Development Association (ACDA)

Dominion Schools

First of August Movement

Anbessa Foundation

Women for a Green Economy

Blak Reparation Forum



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