DOMINICAN-IMMIGRATION/RIGHTS-REACTION Santo Domingo asserts there've been no deportations amid rights report

Record ID: 148693

  • Title: DOMINICAN-IMMIGRATION/RIGHTS-REACTION Santo Domingo asserts there've been no deportations amid rights report
  • Date: 2nd July 2015
  • Summary: SANTO DOMINGO (JULY 01, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JOURNALIST FROM THE STATE-OWNED CERTV (CANAL 4) TELEVISION STATION, SAYING: "But that's not all… just one case of statelessness that has led to this here, certified, not only by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Forget the UNHCR, the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, sa
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Dominican Republic
  • Country: Dominican Republic
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA896WTNV9TZD8OSUETUCE31CDA
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Just hours after the New York-based international-NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report calling on the Dominican Republic to immediately restore all rights to citizens, the Caribbean's country's spokesman convened a news conference to blast the report and say no deportations have taken place.
    Hundreds of Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent are reportedly crossing into Haiti each day from the Dominican Republic and activists say the influx is causing a humanitarian crisis.
    The surge in border crossings follows implementation last month of a Dominican immigration law that requires undocumented individuals to register for residency under a "regularisation" programme. The law has created a tense environment in the country, as was seen at the HRW presentation as reporters pushed for answers regarding claims about deportations.
    Speaking in Santo Domingo, Roberto Rodriguez Marchena, the government's spokesman, lauded the reporters for their probing.
    "As Dominicans, we would be well within our right to feel annoyed by a foreigner coming to our homeland and saying things that aren't so. I would understand such an annoyance among reporters. But none acted out of line, rather, they only asked for proof. 'You are affirming this, Tell us the proof. You are saying the Dominican Republic is taking away nationality from Dominicans. That people are being arrested and taken to the other side of the border, we demand proof.' That's what the reporters did this morning. So I feel truly proud as a Dominican, a citizen to see how the Dominican journalists carried themselves," he said.
    Those unable to register and who do not have identity documents could potentially be subject to deportation, Dominican officials have said.
    Many of those affected are children born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents who were considered Dominican nationals before changes to nationality laws and a 2013 constitutional court ruling.
    The ruling reversed the right of citizenship for many foreigners born in the Dominican Republic, stripping children of Haitian migrants of their Dominican nationality, according to the HRW.
    But Rodriguez Marchena offered a staunch defence of the immigration law.
    "No other country in the world has succeeded in such a short time regularising 70 percent of the foreigners living in the country without papers. Those who around the world are known as 'without papers.' We don't talk about 'illegal' anything. We're not discussing any other category. We're talking about those without papers, because they don't have Dominican papers," he said.
    The spokesman went on to defend the nation's right to regulate its migrant population.
    "Because they (the law's opponents) truly either haven't, or don't want to to understand what the Dominicans and their government, what we've have done with so much love and humanity to provide order in our territory for the first time in our history the presence of foreigners. A sovereign right that corresponds with any state," he said.
    Over the last century an untold number of Haitians have crossed into the more prosperous Dominican Republic to escape political violence or seek a better life, with many filling menial jobs in the country's sugar cane industry.
    The 43-page report from the HRW concluded tens of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent are stuck in "legal limbo" as they face the possibility of being deported to neighbouring Haiti.
    The Dominican army has 2,000 troops ready to help coordinate the removal of people who fail to meet legal requirements to remain in the country. Four "Welcome Centres" are being set up to receive undocumented people, the government said.
    Local media have reported the government has dozens of buses on standby to transport undocumented people to the Haiti border.
    Officials also report more than 280,000 people have registered under the programme. Those deemed eligible could earn a two-year temporary migrant status.
    Dominican President Danilo Medina has played down talk of a humanitarian disaster, saying statistics quoting 200,000 people at risk of deportation are false and ruled out reports of deportations out of the Dominican Republic.
    Indeed, a journalist from Dominican state television contested Human Rights Watch's claims about deportations.
    "But that's not all… just one case of statelessness that has led to this here, certified, not only by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Forget the UNHCR, the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, said in Guatemala that there is not even a single case. Now, are you saying the president lied to the Dominican Republic? Clearly, you are," he said.
    There is no official data on how many Dominicans of Haitian descent are in the country, human rights groups say, as many never obtained documents with the civil registry.
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