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Alterpresse.org is reporting more than 4,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent have been forcibly evicted from the Dominican Republic in the last 8 days via a border along Plateau Central. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is responding to the reports by asking the Dominican Republic to stop deportations.
Caribbean 360 is reporting that CARICOM has called on the Dominican Republic government to halt the deportation of Dominicans of Haitian descent and avoid creating a humanitarian crisis in the region.
‘The Community calls on the Dominican Republic authorities to adhere to the above principles and confirm the citizenship status of Dominicans of Haitian descent. The Community also calls on the Dominican Republic not to engage in the expulsion of Dominicans of Haitian descent . . . ,’ it said in a statement issued yesterday.
Tens of thousands of people born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents have been left ‘stateless’ as a result of a 2013 ruling by the Dominican Constitutional Court, which had been made retroactive to 1929, revoking their nationality.”
Alphea Saunders of the Jamaican Observer is reporting that Jamaica will not support the Dominican Republic’s application to join CARICOM if they continue denationalizing Haitians. Saunders writes:
“Jamaica seems set to withhold any support of the Dominican Republic joining the Caribbean Community (Caricom) if that country fails to appropriately resolve attempts to denationalise hundreds of thousands of its own people who are of Haitian descent.
The Government’s position was articulated by Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator AJ Nicholson during his Senate address Friday.
‘For some time there has been discussion as to whether the DR should become a part of Caricom,’ he said. ‘[But], let Jamaica say at this stage, that if this Dominican Republic/Haiti matter is not resolved in the spirit of full adherence to human rights, and adherence to acknowledged international norms, Jamaica will not support the Dominican Republic.'”
Read more at Alterpresse.org, Caribbean 360 or Jamaica Observer.
This post was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of the award-winning news blog the Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
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