| DR violates human rights
According to information received by the Refugees and Repatriated Support Group (GARR), the Jesuit Refugee and Migrants Service (SJRM) and the human rights committees of the Réseau Binational Jeannot Succès (RBJS), more than two thousand people have been deported across the Dominican-Haitian border between the end of July and the middle of August 2005. More than half of them were transported to the border crossing point at Elias Piñas/Belladère in the Central Plateau. These people had been arrested by the Dominican police, army, and immigration agents, on the basis of the color of their skin and their inability to speak fluent Spanish. Some Dominicans - mistaken for Haitians - were among those deported. Numerous violations have taken place, including: - the mass character of the deportations, contrary to article 22-9 of the Interamerican Convention on Human Rights, which stipulates that the "collective expulsion of foreigners is forbidden". - the confiscation of identity documents: Haitian passports that are the property of the Haitian State have been confiscated, and Dominican identity cards have been ripped up. - the denial of the right to prove legal status: in most cases the deportees were denied the right to contact relatives with a view to providing their documents, and were also prevented from contacting the Haitian diplomatic services. - the forced separation of families: mothers and fathers have been separated from their children, and married couples have been separated from each other. - bad detention conditions: prior to the deportations, the detained people have been kept for three to five days without food or access to basic toilet facilities. - physical violence: the deportees have been mistreated and beaten at the time of their removal; - cases of aggression and intimidation: insults, shots into the air and death-threats have been commonplace during the deportations; - violence against women: the violent character of the deportations has resulted in cases of miscarriage and premature birth, and attempted rapes have been reported. - loss of belongings and housing, and non-payment of wages: the majority of the deportees were prevented from retrieving their belongings at the time of their arrest, and those who had jobs were not able to get wages due for days - sometimes weeks - of work. The Haiti Support Group joins the Groupe d’Appui aux Rapatriés et Réfugiés (GARR) in: demanding that the Dominican and Haitian governments respect the 1999 Protocole d’Accord on the mechanics of repatriation; calling on the Haitian government, in particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad, to stop being so cautious and to end their silence with regard to the mass deportations; asking the Haitian government to intervene with the Dominican government to permit the victims to obtain compensation; demanding that the Dominican government cease deporting its citizens on racist grounds; condemning the attitude of the Dominican government which appears to be taking advantage of some deplorable incidents to unleash a wave of deportations and create a climate where disreputable individuals can persecute Haitians remaining in the country: for example, on 16 August, four Haitians in Haina were doused with flammable liquid and set on fire; demanding that the Haitian government takes all necessary measures so that the economic and social rights of the Haitian population are respected, thereby alleviating the poverty of the urban poor and the peasantry that force Haitians to look for a better way of life abroad. These measures must include a reduction in the cost of living, and the creation of jobs.
For more information in French see the GARR web site
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