Love thy neighbor? Not when it comes to the Dominican Republic and Haiti

Haiti neg maron dominican flag olive branch

The article says...

Over the past seven years the Dominican government has rewritten its constitution and reinterpreted old laws, effectively eliminating birthright citizenship and leaving Dominico-Haitians stateless..

Since 26 January 2010, citizens must prove that they have at least one parent of Dominican nationality to be recognized.

In other words, if you are a person born to undocumented Haitian parents living in the Dominican Republic, you no longer have the right to Dominican citizenship even if you have lived there your whole life.

The Dominican authorities argue that people falling foul of the new ruling should apply for Haitian citizenship, even though they may not speak Creole or ever have set foot in Haiti. In any case, Haitian rules require them to have lived in Haiti for at least five years.

This means that thousands of Haitian people living in the Dominican Republic are now effectively stateless. The situation is unjust and impractical, not to mention illegal under the human rights act.

Read more here: theguardian.com

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