Originally: Haitian Diaspora urged US and OAS to address
Global Haitian Diaspora Federation
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact Sandra Thomas (786) 218 7161
Haitian Diaspora urged US and OAS to address
Dominican Republic Anti-Black Statelessness Court Ruling.
Washington DC, November 5, 2013 — On November 4, 2013, a five-member delegation of the committee migration of The Global Haitian Diaspora Federation (GHDF), led by its chairman, Dr. Bernier Lauredan and Stanley Lucas, Co-Chair met with the US Department of State (USDOS), the Organization of American States (OAS) and Members of Congress to urge a comprehensive solution for black Dominicans, mainly of Haitian descent, that have been stripped of their Dominican citizenship by the ruling 168/13 of the Dominican Constitutional Tribunal.
On September 23, 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court retroactively revoked the nationality of all black Dominicans of foreign descent going back to 1929. On October 23, 2013, the National Immigration Council, headed by President Danilo Medina, reiterated its commitment to implement the ruling within thirty days. According to Dominican constitutional law experts, the Court decision violates basic international law, Dominican constitutional law, and thirteen articles of their current constitution. All Dominican constitutions through 2010 based nationality on the Jus Soli— if you are born in the Dominican Republic, you are Dominican. The Court ruling violates four international conventions: 1) the convention on the elimination of race discrimination; 2) the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women; 3) the convention on the rights of the child; and 4) the universal declaration of human rights. The ruling effectively renders Haitian Dominicans and other citizens stateless, depriving them of their civil, civic, inheritance, and property rights.
During 1937’s Perejil Massacre, a minority of D.R. ultra-nationalists murdered some 30,000 Dominicans of Haitian decent, proffering that Dominicans of Haitian decent were NOT Dominicans because they are BLACK, said Dr. Bernier Lauredan, chairman of the committee. “This Ruling lays the ground for similar ethnic cleansing,” he added.
The Global Haitian Diaspora Federation urges USDOS and OAS to work with the Executive and Legislative Branch of the Dominican Republic to address this multilateral and regional threat. This ruling has already been condemned by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights, The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, CARICOM, the Robert Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and the Congressional Black Caucus of the United States Congress. Because this decision impacts many CARICOM countries, GHDF urges the Organization of American States and the United States to continue to treat this ruling as a multilateral issue and not a bilateral Haiti-Dominican matter as some Dominican officials have insisted.
While the Global Haitian Diaspora Federation urges the worldwide Haitian Diaspora and the general public to continue the peaceful protests until this issue is resolved, it will continue work with the progressive sectors of Dominican society, Governments, international and multilateral institutions, think tank and others to educate everyone on this regional threat of apartheid.