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VII. THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

The Dominican Republic has come under strong and sustained international criticism for its treatment of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. Several intergovernmental bodies - including the U.N. Human Rights Committee, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child - have expressed concern regarding abuses committed against the Haitian population. Their analysis of the situation draws on the continuing efforts of local human rights groups in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican authorities have, over the years, reacted to such criticism with defiance and even overt hostility. President Balaguer, in 1991, warned that international concern over the treatment of Haitians reflected an "ominous campaign" against the country. Not only did he fail to remedy abusive practices, but he undertook even more drastic measures to expel undocumented Haitians.

Although subsequent Dominican presidents have shown somewhat greater openness to international scrutiny, the government's fall-back position has frequently been an intransigent one. Indeed, President Leonel Fernández's reaction to a 1999 report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in which he declared himself "indignant" over the report's criticisms, seemed almost to mimic Balaguer's.150 The mass deportations that were instituted soon after the report's release were also disturbingly reminiscent of the Balaguer approach.

Rather than taking international criticism seriously - and amending abusive practices accordingly - Dominican authorities have been apt to portray it as biased and unfair. Typical of this tendency is the country's most recent report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which states:

Any suggestion to [that the country suffers from racial prejudice] is completely wrong and . . . has been manipulated in some international reports. . . . Apart from its absurdity, the very notion would appear to be merely a pretext for the continued existence of some NGOs, both national and foreign.151

Not only have international recommendations been spurned, but local groups have been under heavy pressure to mute their criticisms. Ultra-nationalist politicians, leading religious figures, and commentators have publicly attacked human rights advocates for their defense of the rights of Haitians and Dominico-Haitians.152 These attacks were particularly virulent during the April 2001 flag-burning scandal.

But recent trends give some grounds for optimism. In September 2001, most notably, the government of Hipólito Mejía reached an agreement with the Inter-American Commission to settle a suit involving two children who had been denied proof of Dominican citizenship. The government's newly cooperative stance raises hopes that the larger questions underlying the case may also be resolved in a manner consistent with international norms.

Inter-American Human Rights System

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights first reported on Dominican abuses against Haitians in 1991, after making an on-site visit to the country. In June 1997, the Commission made another on-site visit. Both of the Commission's reports on the situation of Haitians in the Dominican Republic drew attention to mass expulsions, due process violations, the forced separation of family members, the poor living conditions of the bateyes', and labor rights violations.

The Commission contacted the Dominican Republic in February 2001 to request information regarding the measures taken to comply with the recommendations of its 1999 report. In response, the Dominican Republic invited the Commission to conduct a follow-up visit, which was still pending as of this writing.153

Two cases against the Dominican Republic are currently being litigated in the Inter-American system of human rights protection. The first, case 12.189, addresses undocumented children's right to Dominican nationality and to public education. The second, case 12.271, challenges the Dominican Republic's summary deportation practices, mistreatment of deportees, and the denial of documentation to Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian migrant workers.

The first complaint was lodged with the Commission in October 1998 by the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Boalt Hall School of Law, at the University of California at Berkeley, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), and the Haitian-Dominican Women's Movement (MUDHA). The petitioners requested that the Commission grant precautionary measures on behalf of two girls, a fifteen-year-old and four-year-old. Both girls were born in the Dominican Republic to a Dominican mother and a Haitian father, and both were denied birth certificates. The older girl was barred from attending school for two years because she did not have proof of Dominican citizenship. In August 1999, the Commission ordered the Dominican Republic to adopt immediate measures to ensure that both girls would not be expelled from the country, and that the older girl could attend school.

The Commission ruled that the case was admissible in February 2001.154 That September, after a Commission delegation visited Santo Domingo, the Dominican government agreed to resolve the case by providing birth certificates to the two children.155

On November 12, 1999, an expanded group of NGOs and law school clinics filed a second complaint against the Dominican Republic.156 The petition asked the Commission to grant precautionary measures to protect the population of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent at risk of expulsion.157 On November 22, 1999, the Commission issued precautionary measures, ordering the Dominican Republic to end all collective expulsions and to ensure due process in individual expulsions.158 For several months, the Dominican Republic wavered between ignoring and outright rejection of the Commission's precautionary measures orders.159 As a result, the Commission decided to request binding provisional measures orders from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.160

The Inter-American Court asked the Commission to name individual victims representative of the class of people at risk of expulsion. In June 2000, the Commission named six Dominicans of Haitian descent and one Haitian.161 On August 8, 2000, the Court held a hearing on the case in San José, Costa Rica, taking testimony from Sonia Pierre, executive director of the Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico-Haitianas (MUDHA), and Father Pedro Ruquoy, executive director of Centro Puente. Both are human rights activists who have worked with the Haitian and Dominico-Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic for decades. In the wake of the hearing, the Court issued two rulings. The first granted provisional measures of protection to five of the seven named petitioners and each expert witness, but requested additional information about the remaining two petitioners.162 The second extended the provisional measures orders to all of the named petitioners.163 Although the Court granted protection for each of the individual petitioners, the rulings were still only considered a qualified victory for the Haitian and Dominico-Haitian community in the Dominican Republic because the Court failed to order class-wide relief.

After the Court's August/September 2000 resolutions, the Dominican government reported to the Court several times on its efforts to comply with the provisional measures orders, but did not take the necessary steps to implement the measures.164 Furthermore, Sonia Pierre and Father Ruquoy, the witnesses who testified before the Court, suffered verbal and physical attacks as a result of their participation in the case.165 The Dominican Republic's continued refusal to implement the Court's provisional measures orders prompted the Court to issue additional resolutions reaffirming its orders.166 But most recently, in a welcome step announced in March 2002, the Dominican authorities reached an agreement with the petitioners in the case to establish a joint committee to monitor the government's compliance with the Court's provisional measures orders.167

While the Commission continues to press the Dominican government to comply fully with the Court's provisional measures orders, the case is also currently pending before the Commission on the merits. With the provisional measures decision shielding Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent from the threat of expulsion, a merits decision could require that the Dominican government compensate victims of summary expulsions, and make structural changes in its deportation practices to avoid future violations. Once the Commission has resolved the case on the merits, it may proceed to the Court, which could issue a legally binding order to the government to implement the necessary measures.

United Nations

Nearly all of the United Nations human rights bodies who have examined conditions in the Dominican Republic have drawn attention to abuses against Haitians and Dominico-Haitians.168 Most recently, the U.N. Human Rights Committee stated that it was "gravely concerned at the continuing reports of mass expulsions of ethnic Haitians, even when such persons are nationals of the Dominican Republic."169 The committee called upon the Dominican authorities to comply with the requirements of the ICCPR - in particular, Articles 7, 12 and 13 - in its treatment of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent.170

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child have also expressed concern about discrimination against ethnic Haitians and related issues of nationality, due process, education and labor rights.

Human Rights Watch

Americas Division

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150 See Juan O. Tamayo, "A Dominican Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Keeps Desperate Haitians out, Expels Thousands Already in," Miami Herald, February 6, 2000.

151 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention, Addendum, Dominican Republic, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/331/Add.1 (February 11, 1999), para. 6.

152 Human Rights Watch interview, Dominican human rights advocates, Santo Domingo, June 7, 2001.

153 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Annual Report 2000, Chapter 5 (April 16, 2001).

154 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report No. 28/01, Case 12.189, Dominican Republic (February 22, 2001).

155 Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional, Comunicado de Prensa, "Victoria de los derechos humanos de la niñez en la República Dominicana," October 3, 2001.

156 See International Human Rights Clinic of the University of California at Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall), the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), and National Coalition for Haitian Rights, Request for Precautionary Measures (letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights), November 17, 1999. A few months later, the Human Rights Clinic of the Columbia University School of Law joined the case as co-petitioner. See letter to Bertha Santoscoy, staff attorney, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, from Laurel E. Fletcher, International Human Rights Clinic of the University of California at Berkeley, and others, March 16, 2000.

157 Ibid.

158 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Solicitud de Medidas Cautelares: Expulsión de Extranjeros de la República Dominicana (letter to the Dominican government), November 22, 1999.

159 See, for example, Dominican Republic, Situación de Extranjeros de la República Dominicana (letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights), December 23, 1999.

160 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Solicitud de Medidas Provisionales a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos a Favor de Personas Innominadas pero Integrantes de una Categoría Definida: Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano Sujetos a la Jurisdicción de la República Dominicana (letter to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights), May 30, 2001.

161 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Addendum a la Solicitud de Medidas Provisionales Efectuada a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos a Favor de Personas Innominadas pero Integrantes de Una Categoria Definida: Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano Sujetos a la Jurisdicción de la República Dominicana (letter to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights), June 12, 2000 (naming Benito Tide Méndez, Rafaelito Pérez Charles, Antonio Sension, Andrea Alezy, Janty Fils-Aime, Berson Gelim, and William Medina Ferreras).

162 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Resolución de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de 18 de Agosto de 2000: Medidas Provisionales Solicitadas por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Respecto de la República Dominicana: Caso de Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano en la República Dominicana, August 18, 2000 (granting provisional measures protections to Benito Tide Méndez, Antonio Sension, Andrea Alezy, Janty Fils-Aime, William Medina Ferreras and requesting additional information about Rafaelito Perez Charles and Berson Gelim).

163 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Resolución del Presidente de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de 14 de septiembre de 2000: Medidas Provisionales Respecto de la República Dominicana: Caso de Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano en la República Domincana, September 14, 2000 (extending the provisional measures protections to Rafaelito Pérez Charles and Berson Gelim). The Court extended the provisional measures orders to the remaining two petitioners after receiving additional information about their citizenship status from the Commission. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Respuesta de la Comisión a la Solicitud de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Expresado en su Resolución de 18 de agosto de 2000 sobre las Medidas Provisionales Solicitadas por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Respecto a la República Dominicana, August 31, 2000.

164 Dominican Republic, Solicitud Medidas Provisionales: Expulsión de Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano de la República Dominicana (letter to Inter-American Court of Human Rights), November 3, 2000; Dominican Republic, Solicitud Medidas Provisionales: Expulsión de Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano de la República Dominicana (letter to Inter-American Court of Human Rights), January 2, 2001.

165 Human Rights Watch interview, Sonia Pierre, Santo Domingo, June 7, 2001; Human Rights Watch interview, Padre Pedro Ruquoy, Batey 5, June 5, 2001.

166 See, for example, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Resolución de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de 12 de Noviembre de 2000: Medidas Provisionales Solicitadas por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Respecto de la República Dominicana: Caso de Haitianos y Dominicanos de Origen Haitiano en la República Dominicana, November 12, 2000.

167 "Gobierno dominicano acepta que comité internacional supervise migración haitiana," Agence France Presse, March 20, 2002. The committee is to consist of various Dominican government officials and representatives of the petitioners.

168 The Haitian issue has been on the agenda of the United Nations human rights bodies for nearly a decade. See, for example, U.N. Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee: Dominican Republic, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/79/Add.18 (May 5, 1993).

169 U.N. Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee, U.N. Doc. CCPR/CO/71/DOM (April 26, 2001), para. 16.

170 Article 7 of the ICCPR bars torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; article 12 protects freedom of movement, and article 13 outlines the due process protections that should be followed in expelling aliens.

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