Young man, apparently of Haitian descent, found hanged from a tree in a Santiago park as anti-Haitian sentiment appears to be on the rise
The corpse of a man, apparently of Haitian descent, was found hanged from a tree in a city park, his body beaten and his hands and feet bound by rope.
Police were quick to say his death was related to a theft, but heightened tensions in the Dominican Republic against people of Haitian origin and the gruesome nature of the killing make it hard to rule out a hate crime, human rights advocates have said.
“Nobody knows yet the reason behind the lynching, but it comes in the context of constant discrimination and violence against Haitians,” says Santiago Canton, of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights.
The death of the man came just hours after a group of Dominicans in Santiago, the country’s second-largest city, publicly burned the Haitian flag. Elsewhere, human rights groups have reported that a man was recently denied access to a public bus because he “looked Haitian”.
Anti-Haitian sentiment has been on the rise in the Dominican Republic since a 2013 court ruling, which denied children of Haitian migrants their citizenship retroactive to 1930, leaving tens of thousands of Dominican-born people of Haitian descent stateless and at risk of being deported.
Bowing to international outrage over the ruling, the Dominican government passed a law last year that requires people born to undocumented foreign parents, whose birth was never registered in the Dominican Republic, to request residency permits, which will then allow them to apply for citizenship after two years.
However, the 1 February deadline for registry passed with fewer than 7,000 requests – a fraction of the nearly 200,000 people believed to be entitled to make them. Bureaucratic obstacles, lack of information and opposition to the new requirement have been cited as reasons for the low registry.
“They shouldn’t have to apply for residency. They are Dominicans,” said Canton.
Erika Guevara Rosas, the Americas director at Amnesty International, agreed. “When the vast majority of these people were born, the Dominican law at the time recognized them as citizens,” she said. “Stripping them of this right, and then creating impossible administrative hurdles to stay in the country is a violation of their human rights.”
The Dominican government has said the change to the nationality law was intended to tackle illegal immigration from neighboring Haiti. The two countries, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, have a troubled history, and anti-Haitian sentiment has run high in the Dominican Republic since the birth of the two nations.
In the early 20th century, tens of thousands of migrant workers from Haiti were hired to work in Dominican sugar cane fields, and often stayed after the harvest. Other migrants have crossed the porous border to escape political violence or to seek better economic opportunities.
Ricardo Tavares, the director of immigration for the Dominican Republic, told local media that deportations and expulsion of Haitians were on hold until after a June deadline for undocumented immigrants to apply for residency. However, in late January, 30 Dominican-born minors on their way to register for residency permits under the new immigration laws were summarily deported. They were only allowed to return after human rights groups intervened.
Once expulsions are officially resumed, said Canton, “we could be in for a humanitarian crisis.”
Police were quick to say his death was related to a theft, but heightened tensions in the Dominican Republic against people of Haitian origin and the gruesome nature of the killing make it hard to rule out a hate crime, human rights advocates have said.
“Nobody knows yet the reason behind the lynching, but it comes in the context of constant discrimination and violence against Haitians,” says Santiago Canton, of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights.
The death of the man came just hours after a group of Dominicans in Santiago, the country’s second-largest city, publicly burned the Haitian flag. Elsewhere, human rights groups have reported that a man was recently denied access to a public bus because he “looked Haitian”.
Anti-Haitian sentiment has been on the rise in the Dominican Republic since a 2013 court ruling, which denied children of Haitian migrants their citizenship retroactive to 1930, leaving tens of thousands of Dominican-born people of Haitian descent stateless and at risk of being deported.
Bowing to international outrage over the ruling, the Dominican government passed a law last year that requires people born to undocumented foreign parents, whose birth was never registered in the Dominican Republic, to request residency permits, which will then allow them to apply for citizenship after two years.
However, the 1 February deadline for registry passed with fewer than 7,000 requests – a fraction of the nearly 200,000 people believed to be entitled to make them. Bureaucratic obstacles, lack of information and opposition to the new requirement have been cited as reasons for the low registry.
“They shouldn’t have to apply for residency. They are Dominicans,” said Canton.
Erika Guevara Rosas, the Americas director at Amnesty International, agreed. “When the vast majority of these people were born, the Dominican law at the time recognized them as citizens,” she said. “Stripping them of this right, and then creating impossible administrative hurdles to stay in the country is a violation of their human rights.”
The Dominican government has said the change to the nationality law was intended to tackle illegal immigration from neighboring Haiti. The two countries, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, have a troubled history, and anti-Haitian sentiment has run high in the Dominican Republic since the birth of the two nations.
In the early 20th century, tens of thousands of migrant workers from Haiti were hired to work in Dominican sugar cane fields, and often stayed after the harvest. Other migrants have crossed the porous border to escape political violence or to seek better economic opportunities.
Ricardo Tavares, the director of immigration for the Dominican Republic, told local media that deportations and expulsion of Haitians were on hold until after a June deadline for undocumented immigrants to apply for residency. However, in late January, 30 Dominican-born minors on their way to register for residency permits under the new immigration laws were summarily deported. They were only allowed to return after human rights groups intervened.
Once expulsions are officially resumed, said Canton, “we could be in for a humanitarian crisis.”
No comments:
Post a Comment