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e Dominican Caricom chances in doubt over Immigration policy
Published:
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Wesley Gibbings
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A controversial ruling of the constitutional court of the Dominican Republic (DR) has the potential to put on hold the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country’s longstanding attempt to join the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran does not believe the matter will go that far, since Caricom membership and the humanitarian issues raised by the judgment are “separate and distinct issues,” but close observers believe there will be negative implications, while Haiti mobilises regional opposition to the ruling. The DR renewed its application for membership in Caricom, at the regional group’s summit in Port-of-Spain, in July, which was attended by president Danilo Medina. The country first applied in 2005.
It is already a member of the Caribbean Forum (Cariforum) component of the African, Caribbean and Pacific arrangement with the European Union. The Cariforum secretariat is located in Guyana. The September 23 judgment can lead to the mass expulsion of the children and grandchildren of Haitian and other immigrants born in the country since 1929. The move has been described in the Haitian press as an act of “ethnic cleansing” and is being roundly condemned by Caricom leaders and officials.
‘An abuse of human rights’
Hemispheric human rights groups are also moving to take the matter to the Inter American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) and Amnesty International has launched a campaign against it. The ruling, which affirmed the country’s 2010 constitutional repudiation of the “jus soli” (birthright citizenship) system, has rendered stateless, tens of thousands of people born to undocumented Haitian immigrants.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/digital/new-members
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Published:
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Wesley Gibbings
Text Size:
A controversial ruling of the constitutional court of the Dominican Republic (DR) has the potential to put on hold the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country’s longstanding attempt to join the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran does not believe the matter will go that far, since Caricom membership and the humanitarian issues raised by the judgment are “separate and distinct issues,” but close observers believe there will be negative implications, while Haiti mobilises regional opposition to the ruling. The DR renewed its application for membership in Caricom, at the regional group’s summit in Port-of-Spain, in July, which was attended by president Danilo Medina. The country first applied in 2005.
It is already a member of the Caribbean Forum (Cariforum) component of the African, Caribbean and Pacific arrangement with the European Union. The Cariforum secretariat is located in Guyana. The September 23 judgment can lead to the mass expulsion of the children and grandchildren of Haitian and other immigrants born in the country since 1929. The move has been described in the Haitian press as an act of “ethnic cleansing” and is being roundly condemned by Caricom leaders and officials.
‘An abuse of human rights’
Hemispheric human rights groups are also moving to take the matter to the Inter American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) and Amnesty International has launched a campaign against it. The ruling, which affirmed the country’s 2010 constitutional repudiation of the “jus soli” (birthright citizenship) system, has rendered stateless, tens of thousands of people born to undocumented Haitian immigrants.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/digital/new-members
To read the full article, please sign-in or signup for your Free Trial of the Digital Guardian.
No payment details required, for your Free Trial.