| Need for an independent enquiry to establish the facts
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On hearing the survivors' first-hand testimonies, Jeanne Bernard Pierre, the director-general of Haiti's National Migration Office, said the would-be migrants' account hadn't been confirmed but, if found to be true, the Haitian government would consider the ramming of the boat to be a "criminal" act. On 11 May the Turks and Caicos Islands authorities issued a statement categorically denying the alleged ramming of the Haitian boat, and insisting that it capsized while being towed by a coast guard boat "in line with standard practice". However this statement contradicts remarks by Turks and Caicos Islands officials on the day of the tragedy who insisted that their vessel arrived on the scene only after the would-be migrants' boat had capsized. The Haiti Support Group's Charles Arthur said, "The issue of whether the Turks and Caicos Islands' vessel was on the scene or not when the boat from Haiti capsized is just one of the discrepancies that needs to be cleared up. Then of course there is the very serious allegation that the coast guard vessel rammed the Haitian boat. We have also read survivors' testimonies stating that their boat was being towed away from the coast into deeper water when it overturned." Two investigations into the precise sequence of events have taken place, one by the Turks and Caicos Islands authorities, and one by a team of investigators sent by the British government who arrived in the Turks and Caicos on the day of the tragedy and left, having completed their enquiries, on 11 May. The Turks and Caicos Islands authorities have already denied any wrong-doing, and describe the capsizing of the Haitian boat as an accident attributable to bad weather. The British investigators have yet to release their report. The HSG's Arthur said, "The Turks and Caicos Islands authorities have failed to address some serious allegations. In the first place, it should have been easy to check the two vessels involved and ascertain from any damage to the hulls whether one rammed the other. But nothing has been said about this." Last week, the Haitian Lawyers' Committee for the Respect of Human Rights (Comité des Avocats pour le Respect des Libertés Individuelles, CARLI) called on the Haitian government to insist on an independent enquiry. The CARLI's Renan Hédouville suggested that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Red Cross, form a commission to investigate the tragedy. The Haiti Support Group agrees with Mr Hédouville's assertion that such an investigation cannot be left in the hands of the Turks and Caicos officials and the British government. The HSG's Arthur said, "There is something very wrong when the authorities' explanations of what happened directly contradict accounts provided by survivors. It is hard to believe that such a large group of people could or would concoct a story. Given the discrepancies in the official explanations, we are fearful that the authorities are engaged in a cover-up of, at worst, an atrocity, at best, criminal negligence. Only an independent investigation can remove these doubts."
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