{"id":4868,"date":"2015-09-21T15:27:15","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T19:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nahpconference.org\/?p=4868"},"modified":"2015-11-10T14:40:03","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T19:40:03","slug":"dominican-haitian-human-rights-crisis-and-diasporic-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naahpusa.org\/conferences\/2015\/dominican-haitian-human-rights-crisis-and-diasporic-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominican-Haitian Human Rights Crisis and Diasporic Engagement: Amplifying our Voices, Ensuring Results"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panel:\u00a0<\/strong>Dominican-Haitian Human Rights Crisis and Diasporic Engagement: Amplifying our Voices, Ensuring Results<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dominicans of Haitian descent have suffered institutional discrimination in the DR for decades. One of the most egregious manifestations of this discrimination is the government\u2019s refusal to recognize their nationality and provide them with identity documents, most importantly birth certificates and c\u00e9dulas<\/em> (national ID cards), in violation of both international and national law.<\/p>\n

This practice became law in September 2013 when the DR Constitutional Tribunal (CT) issued a ruling on the legal status of Dominicans of Haitian descent which retroactively changed the meaning of Dominican constitutional law to convey citizenship on the basis of parents\u2019 immigration status, instead of the basis of birth in the territory. As it is currently stands, the ruling denationalizes hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent.<\/p>\n

Following national and international outrage, President Medina promised a humanitarian solution to reverse the negative effects of the new law and in May 2014, the Dominican Congress unanimously adopted the Ley Special de Naturalizaci\u00f3n 169-14<\/em> (Law 169-14, or \u201cNaturalization plan\u201d), which set out a pathway to citizenship for Dominicans of Haitian descent (DHDs). Under this law, DHDs were divided into two groups: those previously recorded in the Civil Registry as Dominicans (\u201cGroup A\u201d) and those who were undocumented (\u201cGroup B\u201d). Group A was to be automatically restored Dominican citizenship because they were already in the Civil Registry. Group B, those born in the Dominican Republic but who remained undocumented, were to apply for naturalization after a two-year waiting period during which they would be considered foreigners, leaving them stateless in the interim. Only 8,755 of an estimated 100,000+ had applied for the Group B process by the deadline of February 1st<\/sup>. Members of Group B who have not applied for naturalization are subject to expulsion as unauthorized persons in the DR. Despite reassurances from the DR government that it would not deport people who were born in the country, absent any documentary proof of birth in the DR, Group B remains vulnerable to expulsion.<\/p>\n

Running almost concurrently was the Plan Nacional de Regularizaci\u00f3n de Extranjeros (hereinafter the Regularization Plan). Unlike Law 169-14, the Regularization Plan applied to migrants, i.e. those born outside of the country, mostly in Haiti. This Plan ran for 18 months, ending on June 17, 2015.\u00a0\u00a0 288,466 out of 524,632 people applied for the Regularization Plan by the deadline. Those migrants who failed to apply are at risk of deportation.<\/p>\n

Neither pathway has offered a credible, durable solution to the crisis, and in the face of inertia of various international bodies and governments, the diaspora has deepened its engagement.<\/p>\n

Where do we go from here? What role does the diaspora play? How have current efforts changed the landscape of this issue? What have been the responses in the USG, in Haiti, at the UN and on the ground in the DR?<\/p>\n

Panel Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n