Haitian Diaspora Condemns Dominican Republic Constitutional Court Ruling and Urges Dominican Government to Overturn the Court Order.
Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 10, 2013 -- The Global Haitian Diaspora Federation condemns the discriminatory ruling 168-13 by the Dominican Republic Constitutional Court and urges the Dominican Government to work with the parliament to overturn this illegal decision.
On September 23, 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court retroactively revoked the nationality of all Dominicans of foreign descent going back to 1929. The Court decision violates basic international law, Dominican constitutional law for the past hundred years and thirteen articles of their current constitution, according to Dominican constitutional experts. All Dominican constitutions through 2010 based nationality on the Jus Soli, meaning if you are born in the Dominican Republic, you are Dominican, except offspring of diplomats and people in transit. According to The Global Diaspora Federation, the Court ruling violates four international conventions: 1) Convention on the elimination of race discrimination; 2) Convention on the elimination of discrimination against women; 3) Convention on the rights of the child; and 4) The universal declaration of human rights.
This is of grave concern considering the 1937’s genocide when the ultra-nationalists murdered 30,000 Dominicans of Haitian decent and Haitians. Then, the ultra-nationalists proffered the argument that Dominicans of Haitian decent were not Dominicans because they are “black”. Today’s situation is of more concern because ultra-nationalists have succeeded in levering the legal system to further their agenda, something they were unable to do in 1937. These actions, already condemned by the Inter American Commission of Human Rights in 2005, are of a fringe group promoting hatred and are not shared nor supported by the vast majority of Dominicans.
“We are afraid that this ruling will deprive thousands of Dominican Haitians, Haitian migrants’ children, and grandchildren of their nationality, creating the catastrophic impact of statelessness,” said Jean Robert Lafortune, President of The Haitian Advocacy Grassroots organization of Florida.
While the Global Haitian Diaspora Federation urges the Dominican Government to work with the parliament to overturn the court decision, it will work with the progressive sectors of Dominican society, Governments, international and multilateral institutions, and alliances to defuse this regional threat and prevent further human rights abuses.
Contact
Sandra Thomas (786) 218 7161
Stanley Lucas (202) 256 6026
Bernier Lauredan, The Global Haitian Diaspora Federatrion, http://www.ghdf.net, +1 (908) 265-6199, [email protected]
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