The Dominican Republic has continued to force Haitians to leave the country, with over 2,000 Haitians forced home in the past few weeks, according to Christian Aid.
Christian Aid partner, the Haiti Support Group (HSG) says: “These people have been arrested by the Dominican police, army and immigration agents, on the basis of the colour of their skin and their inability to speak fluent Spanish. Some Dominicans have been mistaken for Haitians and deported.”
The situation on both sides of the border has been monitored by Christian Aid partners. The Jesuit Refugee & Migrant Service (SJRM) in the Dominican Republic has been working together with the Support Group for Refugees & Repatriated Persons (GARR) in Haiti.
Garr and SJRM report that thousands have been forced to leave their homes without taking any belongings or identity documents. Any documents are being confiscated or destroyed.
There have also been reports of children being separated from their parents.
“Prior to deportations, detained people have been kept for three to five days without food or access to toilets,” reports GARR and SJRM. “Deportees have been mistreated and beaten. There have been acts of aggression and intimidation.”
Conditions on the border are disheartening due to heavy rainfall. The deportees are forced to walk for twelve miles before reaching Belladere, the nearest town in Haiti. “Belladere already has a severe water supply problem, no public toilets and a typhoid and malaria epidemic,” said Helen Spraos, Christian Aid’s representative in Haiti.
GARR and SJRM both declare that the Dominican government is breaking an international agreement on deportations, which was drawn up by the Haitian and Dominican governments in 1999. The agreement states that there shall be no deportations at night and that no families should be separated. These have been violated by the recent deportations.
GARR and SJRM are calling for the Haitian government to challenge the Dominican government for the 1999 agreement violations. They also want the Haitian government to help the deportees.
“We condemn the recent repatriations and the violence that has accompanied them,” says Colette Lespinasse, the GARR Coordinator. “The problem of illegal migration will not be solved in this way and must instead be tackled at its roots.
“Long-term migrants must be granted residency and their descendants must be given Dominican nationality in accordance with the constitution.”
Mass repatriations were also carried out by the Dominican government in 1991 and 1999. However, many Haitians continue to cross the border to flee from the situation in their own country where they work as sugar cane cutters, tobacco and coffee pickers and construction labourers.
