UNICEF Concerned Over US Expulsion Of Haitian Refugees From Border With Mexico - Statement

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2021) The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement on Wednesday expressing concern about the well-being of Haitian migrants expelled from the US border with Mexico, most of whom are women and children.

"According to UNICEF initial estimates, over two in three Haitian migrants who have been returned to Port-au-Prince are women and children. Some of them are newborn babies, with specific and immediate needs," the statement said.

UNICEF also expressed concern about the situation of Haitian families in the US border town of Del Rio, Texas, where about 40 per cent of Haitian migrants, mostly children, live in unacceptable conditions and are in need of basic humanitarian support.

"Haiti is reeling from the triple tragedy of natural disasters, gang violence and the COVID-19 pandemic," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in the statement. "When children and families are sent back without adequate protection, they find themselves even more vulnerable to violence, poverty and displacement - factors that drove them to migrate in the first place."

Some 15,000 migrants, mostly from Haiti, arrived to Del Rio over the last week, prompting the Texas government to declare a state of emergency and deploy border agents on horseback.

Images of officers on horseback running down, corralling and subduing the Haitian migrants have prompted criticism by human rights activists in the United States and abroad.