Dominican Republic Orders Deportation of Thousands of Haitian Migrants – Global Issues
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 04 (IPS) – In the past few months, the rise of gang violence and the mass displacement of people in Haiti have been a major concern for humanitarian organizations. High levels of armed violence have resulted in severe instability, with food insecurity, sexual violence, civilian casualties, and restricted freedom of movement plaguing the nation. Immigration cases have increased so much, that the Dominican Republic has ordered the return of thousands of Haitian migrants.
On October 3, the government of the Dominican Republic announced that it would deport nearly 10,000 Haitians each week in an effort to reduce the country’s overcrowding. This morning, Homero Figueroa, spokesman for the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, told reporters that the deportation order “aims to reduce the number of excessive migrants found in Dominican communities”.
Last year, Abinader facilitated the return of more than 250,000 undocumented Haitians from the Dominican Republic. The order announced today says they plan to deport more than double that number, effective immediately. “We warned the United Nations that it and all countries are committed to behave well in Haiti, or we will do it”, said Abinader in a press conference this morning.
This comes after the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urged the United States and Haiti’s neighboring countries to end the forced return of migrants to Haiti. On May 17, UNHCR issued a statement on social media, calling on the Biden administration to “avoid forcibly repatriating Haitians who may face life-threatening risks or re-migration”.
Last week on September 27, the United Nations (UN) reported that at least 3,661 people were killed in the first half of 2024 due to “senseless gang violence”, more than 100 of them were children. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) added that this was a clear indication that instability in Haiti was “maintained”.
Conditions have worsened in Haiti in the past few months, with more than 59 percent of the population living below the poverty line, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that more than half of the 700,000 internally displaced people are children. A quarter of those people live in unsafe and overcrowded shelters, lacking access to essential services such as health care, sanitation, and access to food.
President Abinader’s new mandate has been widely criticized by activists and humanitarian organizations, many of whom believe it is fueled by xenophobia. 70 percent of the population of the Dominican Republic appears to be of mixed race, while the majority of the population of Haiti is black.
In a statement issued on August 28, Amnesty International said: “Amnesty International has emphasized the urgent need for Dominican institutions to end racial discrimination, structural discrimination and racial discrimination, and to ensure respect for the human dignity and physical integrity of Haitian and Dominican Republic migrants. from Haiti.”
It should be noted that before this mandate was issued, there were reported cases of discrimination and mistreatment of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic.
“Organizations working on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic regularly report cases of deportees beaten by the Dominican authorities”, said Johanna Cilano Pelaez, researcher for the Caribbean region at Amnesty International.
Additionally, Haitian migrants have been subjected to illegal attacks, kidnappings, and sexual violence, perpetrated by both uniformed and non-uniformed agents.
The UN and its affiliates are currently on the frontline in Haiti, distributing supplies such as food, water, cash transfers, and school supplies. However, relief efforts have been severely underfunded, with only 30 percent of the requested $674 million collected so far.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
