By Courtney Cox

The Dominican Republic and Haiti have shared the island of Hispaniola for centuries. Historically, their relationship is a hostile and complex one. During the early twentieth century (under the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic), many Haitians seeking opportunity journeyed across the border to the Dominican Republic as migrant workers on sugarcane plantations. The working conditions they experienced were degrading: they often lived in run-down company homes without plumbing or electricity, food was sparse, and medical services were practically non-existent. Most Dominicans refused to work under the awful conditions, crystallizing a national attitude of inherent Haitian inferiority.                  

        

No one perpetuated this national attitude more than tyrant Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina who controlled the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. Although he had Haitian ancestors, he promoted an antihaitiansimo ideology. His racist policies culminated in his 1937 order for the extermination of all peoples of Haitian descent in the Northwest. Given the mélange races in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, one may wonder, what methods did officers use to identify Haitians? After all, ninety percent of Dominicans have African lineage. To solve this dilemma, officers were instructed to have people suspected of being Haitian to pronounce the word perejil (parsley). Improper pronunciation of the ‘r’ sound in perejil resulted in immediate execution. Twenty to thirty thousand Haitians were assassinated during the massacre.

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March 19, 2015

By Courtney Cox

Last year, a Dominican court held that illegal migrant workers’ children born in the Dominican Republic were denied automatic citizenship. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that the court’s holding was discriminatory towards Dominicans of Haitian descent and gave the country six months to invalidate the court’s ruling. This did not sit well with the Dominican government which found the finding to be unfair and unacceptable.

Nevertheless, the Associated Press reported that the Dominican Republic justified the withdrawal from the Inter-American Court’s jurisdiction on constitutional grounds: “the country had to withdraw from the rights court because the Senate never issued a resolution to ratify the February 1999 agreement with the rights court as required by the Dominican constitution.” Previously, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled against the Dominican Republic on related issues including “indiscriminate deportations” of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian ancestry.

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December 02, 2014

By Ena Cefo

The United Nations voiced its concern over the Dominican Republic’s withdrawal from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). The withdrawal from the court’s jurisdiction follows the IACHR’s order that the Dominican Republic should revoke its September 2013 domestic court judgment that children of undocumented Haitian migrants cannot obtain Dominican nationality. The Court expressed concern that this judgment denationalized hundreds of thousands of people who have been considered Dominican throughout their lives and found the judgment to be discriminatory against Afro-descendants within the country, i.e., Dominicans of Haitian descent. The Dominican Republic withdrew from the IACHR’s jurisdiction, claiming that the country’s recognition of the jurisdiction was “unconstitutional,” but the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) voiced its hopes that the country would reconfirm the jurisdiction of the IACHR.

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December 02, 2014

Report cover with photo by Greg Constantine.

By Elizabeth Gibson*

On the first day of school, children often worry whether they'll make new friends or like their teachers. But in the Dominican Republic, some confront a far graver concern: Will I be turned away because I don't have a birth certificate?

A report published today by the Human Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center shows that many children born in the Dominican Republic but descended from foreigners, particularly Haitians, are denied an education. For generations, such children were recognized as citizens, but within the last decade, the Dominican government has refused to issue many of them birth certificates, identity cards and other essential documentation, rendering them stateless. The report, Left Behind: How Statelessness in the Dominican Republic Limits Children's Access to Education, concludes that the Dominican Republic is failing to comply with its domestic and international human rights obligations, including the human right to education.

"We wanted to look at the human impact that statelessness has on children through the lens of education as an important enabling right," said Georgetown Law student Jamie Armstrong, LLM'14, one of the report's editors. "Education is critical to the development of a child and it is a gateway to full civil, political, economic, social, and cultural participation in society. What we found, however, is that this path is often barred with devastating consequences for children who are stateless or at risk of statelessness."

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April 11, 2014

The Human Rights Institute Fact-Finding Project at Georgetown University Law Center will present a new report on Friday about the immediate and devastating impact that statelessness has on the lives of children in the Dominican Republic, including recommendations to the United States and Dominican governments for how to improve the situation. 

These findings come in the wake of recent developments in Dominican law that could render many Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless.

The event is 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, April 11, in Hotung Building, Room 2000, at the Georgetown University Law Center. 

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April 07, 2014

Panelists left to right: Manuel Dandre (MOSCHTA), Charles Abbott (CEJIL), Ana María Belique (Centro Bono), Wade McMullen (RFK Center), and Francisco Quintana (CEJIL). Photo by Elizabeth Gibson.

If you missed this panel, please check out the webcast.  The Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute Fact-Finding Project also will be hosting a related event at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 11, in Hotung Room 2000 for the launch of a report on the immediate and devastating impact that statelessness has on the lives of children in the Dominican Republic.

By Shaw Drake*

Six months after the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic controversially redefined the scope of Dominican citizenship, thousands of futures remain in limbo as human rights groups take to the Inter-American Commission to demand respect for their rights.

“This decision is abhorrent and humiliating to human rights in the Dominican Republic,” said Manuel Dandre, a lawyer from the Socio-Cultural Movement for Haitian Workers (MOSCHTA).

Following their statements before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Monday, a group of international and Dominican organizations expressed their concerns during a panel at the Georgetown University Law Center today. Dominicanos por Derecho, the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, and the Center for Justice and International Law(CEJIL), joined by coalition partners MOSCHTA and Centro Bono, presented arguments against the decision of the Constitutional Court and criticized the State’s lack of action in the six months following.

In September of 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic issued TC Ruling 168/13, which redefined the scope of Dominican citizenship to exclude those born in the Dominican Republic but descended from parents or grandparents who arrived in the country after 1929 and maintained an “irregular” immigration status. Many in the international community believe that the decision leads to arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of nationality and has left thousands stateless.

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March 26, 2014