On June 17 a registration period established by the government of the Dominican Republic for thousands of undocumented Haitians, living in the Dominican Republic, ended (It is said that there are 300,000 to 500,000 affected by this registration requirement.) All undocumented Haitian immigrants were required to register in Dominican government offices. To that end some were able to provide, at least, some type of current documentation from their country. Many, however, had no documents whatsoever.
Beginning now and in the immediate future, those men,
women and children, who do not have any document can be taken by security
forces to hundreds of trucks destined for camps located on the other side of
the border. It seems that these people
will have to leave with what they are wearing; they won’t be able to take their
belongings.How sad and hopeless it is to see the faces of anguish and fear of the people and families directly affected by this situation. They are men, young people, mothers and children that have established their lives in the Dominican Republic with much work and effort, many for a long time. It is distressing to see the extreme vulnerability with which they live these days. It is also infuriating that Dominican as well as Haitian people and institutions take advantage of someone else’s desperation to obtain some benefit by means of different corrupt practices.
The Dominican authorities have guaranteed the respect of
human rights and civility in this process. We are left to trust in this good
intention and that in the middle of this very delicate situation wisdom,
justice, and respect for the dignity of all will prevail.
No comments:
Post a Comment