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The
Plight of Haitian Migrants in the Dominican Republic. (9/19/06)
Amnesty
International has issued a report recently on the plight facing Haitian
migrant laborers and their families in the Dominican Republic. These
workers were encouraged to move to the Dominican Republic a generation
ago to work in the State-owned sugar cane fields, but now are no longer
needed. Even the children and grand-children of these workers have been
denied citizenship, and are unable to work legally, attend school, own
property, obtain health care or vote. This was declared illegal in
September 2005 by the Inter-American Court of Justice. The government of
the Dominican Republic is preparing legislation but is establishing and
codifying a two-tier system of citizenship.
In the meantime, ethnic Haitians have suffered numerous human rights
violations, including arbitrary expulsions and alleged incidents of mob
violence in border communities.
For more information
click here.
ACT » Write to President
Fernández, urging him to: manage his nation's borders in accordance with
internationally recognized human rights standards; respect and implement
the Protocol of Understanding on the Mechanisms of Repatriation, signed
by the Dominican Republic and Haiti in 1999; stop mob violence against
Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent; and investigate and
prosecute violence against Haitians. Appeals to:
S.E. Leonel Fernández
President of the
Republic
Palacio Nacional
Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic.
Postage: $ 0.84
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