By Doris Abdullah, Church of the Brethren representative to the United Nations
The Sept. 25 Dominican Republic
court ruling denies Dominican nationality to children of undocumented
migrants who have been born or registered in the country after 1929 and
who do not have at least one parent of Dominican blood. This comes under
a 2010 constitutional clause declaring these people to be either in the
country illegally or in transit.
This court ruling has caused many to
speak out in concern across the Americas, the Caribbean, and the
international community, including the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights based in Geneva, Switzerland. Demonstrations against
the court ruling have been held in New York, which has a large
population of Haitian and Dominican residents.
The Church of the Brethren has
concerns about the new law, expressed particularly through the Global
Mission and Service office headed by Jay Wittmeyer, because the ruling
will disproportionately affect brothers and sisters of Haitian descent
in the Dominican Republic. I expressed the church’s concern about the
court ruling at the Oct. 21 New York NGO briefing with the assistant
secretary general for Human Rights and wrote a brief summary on the
ruling based on reports and documents available from the Office of the
High Commissioner.
First it should be noted that the
International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial
Discrimination, which is one of the oldest of the UN treaty bodies, has
declared that no nation is free of racial discrimination. As such we are
not to judge the Dominican Republic any less or more harshly than our
own country or any other country.
The ruling in the DR infringes on
other international covenants and agreements as well as the one on
racial discrimination including the International Covenant on Social,
Economic, and Cultural Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights; the Rights of the Child; and most glaringly the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of their Families (1990). That any country may not
have signed a United Nations agreement does not make their noncompliance
valid.
The population of the Dominican
Republic is around 10 million, of whom it is estimated about 275,000
thousands are of Haitian descent and are affected by the court ruling.
The country’s racial mix is overwhelmingly of African and European
background. According to a report from April of this year, the racial
and structural denial of the country’s African origin in its population
is a factor limiting measures to overcome racial discrimination, and
there appear to be attempts to not allow people to identify themselves
as Black. The report requested the government to “amend their electoral
law to enable Dominicans to identify themselves as negro, mulatto.” The
report further notes that terms such as “indio-claro (light skinned
Indian) and indio-oscuro (dark skinned Indian) fail to reflect the
ethnic situation in the country and renders invisible the dark skinned
population of African descent.”
It is not by chance or arbitrary
that “after 1929” was chosen as the year persons born of Haitian
parentage should be denied citizenship. The bulk of Haitian migrants to
the DR came to the sugar plantations in the early part of the last
century. Most would be dead by now, but declaring their offspring
noncitizens would be another means to rid the country of persons born of
Haitian origin and by extension African descent.
Dec. 18 was the United Nations
International Migrant Day. A joint commemoration statement on the plight
of migrants, that would include those of Haitian descent in the DR, was
issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants,
Francois Crepeau; the chair of the UN Committee on the Protection of the
Rights of all Migrant workers and their Families, Abdelhamid El Jamni;
and the Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants of the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, Felipe Gonzales. They once again reminded
the world that "migrants are first and foremost human beings with human
rights." Migrants "cannot be perceived or portrayed only as agents for
economic development" nor "helpless victims in need of rescue and/or
criminal frauds.”
Let us continue to pray and hope
that the government and people of the Dominican Republic embrace their
entire cultural heritage as we give support to our brothers and sisters
of Haitian origin. We will rejoice on the day that the Dominicans
recognize the African contribution to their country, and allow their
citizens the freedom to choose their racial and cultural identity
without prejudice.
-- Doris Abdullah of Brooklyn,
N.Y., is the Church of the Brethren representative to the United Nations
and chair of the UN NGOs’ Human Rights Sub-Committee for the
Elimination of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related
Intolerance.
Source: 12/20/2013 Newsline
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