Dominican-Haitians form political movement

Dominican-Haitians form political movement
By Karen Juanita Carrillo

This past December 2007, members of the Movimiento Politico Comunitario Dominico-Haitiano (MPCDH /Dominican-Haitian Community Political Movement) announced that they would begin pushing to have their members run for governmental positions in the Dominican Republic.

The MPCDH has announced that if its members are elected to government, they will make certain to represent Haitian-Dominican interests.

Haitian-Dominican attorney Rubén Jean-Baptiste Latorti told the DR newspaper Diario Libre that the MPCDH wants to be known as the voice of Dominican-born Haitians. The MPCDH will “fight for a political-communitarian space with the aim of ensuring representation in the government across the national arena,” Latorti said.

Rubén Jean-Baptiste Latorti
movimientodominicohaitiano.com

With a notorious past of neglect and abuse in the Dominican Republic, Dominicans of Haitian origin had long looked to have their lives and property protected by representatives of the DR government, by the neighboring government in Haiti, and even by non-governmental organizations working within the DR.

But the many efforts by these groups have routinely been thwarted by official discrimination and periodic assaults on the lives of Dominican-Haitians.

The Dominican Republic has a total population of nine million people and some 700,000 to 800,000 are Haitian immigrants. The DR government claims that most of them are “illegal.” Dominican citizenship is denied to children born in the DR whose parents are Haitian; and thousands of Haitian immigrant workers are forcibly sent back to Haiti as the need for their low-wage labor ebbs and flows.

In a report issued last May 25, 2007, United Nations Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène wrote that, “In the Dominican Republic, racism, racial prejudice and discrimination are common traits of the country’s history and affect not only Dominicans of mixed or African descent, but also Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian origin in very harsh ways. Expressions of anti-Haitian sentiment are common at all levels of society, including in the political sphere, and Haitian immigrants are a popular target of resentment and incitement to racial hatred and discrimination. NGOs working in the field of human rights have reported that the Dominican Government has conducted a series of massive deportations of Haitian immigrants, which in some cases involved Dominicans of Haitian origin on account of the their ‘darker’ skin color. ”

Diène added in his report, entitled, “Political platforms which promote or incite racial discrimination,” that: “In September 2005, the Special Rapporteur sent a letter of allegation to the Government regarding the case of more than 3,000 Haitians who were said to have been detained and over 1,000 deported without consideration of their legal status in the country. The Government has also turned down a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for having ‘denied citizenship on the basis of race and rendered children of Haitian descent effectively stateless.’ The Special Rapporteur will soon have an opportunity to assess the situation in situ, in the light of the recent invitation of the Government for a visit, together with the independent expert on minority issues.”

When U.N. commissioners visited the DR later in the year, in October, the country’s National Congress accused them of being part of an international conspiracy to force impoverished Haitians on their country.

With Dominican-born Haitians so despised, even the MPCDH’s declaration to have its members run for office has, not unexpectedly, been met with animosity.

The Fuerza Boschista del Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD/ Bosch Force of the Dominican Liberation Party) issued a statement declaring the “MPCDH’s call to create a political party and to push for social and institutional representation for Dominican-Haitians a threat that is pushing more Dominicans to support the nation’s right-wing and their efforts to protect the DR’s constitution.”

On its website at www.movimientodominicohaitiano.com, the MPCDH explains that it is a “political movement made up of Dominican-Haitians working together to help promote the progress and development of Dominicans. After having worked with the main political parties in the country, we have decided to unite and work in favor of those who need us most.”

Those who want to help protest against the deportation and persecution of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic here in the United States can join the group Grassroots Haiti Solidarity Committee (www.grassrootshaiti.org) every first Thursday of the month, as they protest in front of the Dominican Consulate, 1501 Broadway bet. 43rd - 44th Streets.