Líderes del Caribe critican fallo contra migrantes y Medina promete solución
Primer ministro de San Vivente y las Granadinas critica fallo de tribunal dominicano contra inmigrantes
El primer ministro de San Vicente y las Granadinas, Ralph Gonsalves, criticó hoy un fallo del Tribunal Constitucional de República Dominicana que afecta a miles de descendientes de haitianos.
En una carta enviada al presidente dominicano, Danilo Medina, Gonsalves expresó el «profundo malestar» de su país por la decisión de la corte de esa nación, la cual consideró «inaceptable en cualquier sociedad civilizada», según divulgó la agencia de noticias regional CMC.
El 23 de septiembre último ese tribunal acordó negar la nacionalidad a los hijos de inmigrantes indocumentados y en tránsito, una sentencia de manera retroactiva a 1929, que afecta en gran medida a los descendientes de haitianos.
La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), con sede en Washington, así como el ex primer ministro de Jamaica Percival Patterson han criticado recientemente la sentencia.
De acuerdo con la CIDH, esa medida «con carácter retroactivo modifica la legislación que estaba en vigor desde 1929 hasta 2010 y, por lo tanto, sería despojar de la ciudadanía a decenas de miles de personas nacidas en la República Dominicana».
«En muchos casos, estas personas podrían quedar sin estado, lo que viola la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos. Por otra parte, este juicio tiene un efecto desproporcionado sobre las personas de ascendencia haitiana «, divulgó la entidad.
Por su parte Patterson, instó a los 15 miembros de la Comunidad del Caribe a condenar enérgicamente los acontecimientos ocurridos en la República Dominicana, que calificó de dictamen discriminatorio.
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&idioma=1&id=1953441&Itemid=1
Ex primer ministro de Jamaica convoca a países del Caricom a condenar el fallo
Former Jamaica prime minister PJ Patterson says the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping needs to strongly condemn recent developments in the Dominican Republic that could render stateless, thousands of persons of Haitian descent.
The Constitutional Court in Santo Domingo has ruled in favour of stripping citizenship from children of Haitian migrants. The decision applies to those born after 1929 — a category that overwhelmingly includes descendants of Haitians brought in to work on farms.
The development, according to international observers, could cause a human rights crisis while leaving tens of thousands of people stateless and facing mass deportation and discrimination.
“No one can be hood-winked as to the reason and the purpose for this kind of discriminatory legislation. Within the region we have an obligation to speak and we cannot allow such inequities to go without our strongest condemnations,” Patterson told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Patterson, a major player in efforts to integrate Haiti into the regional integration movement, seemed not impressed by the silence of regional leaders on the issue.
“It must be a matter of concern to everyone in the region that in the 21st century we should have any country that is seeking to determine the basis of citizenship on ancestry which precedes the year 1929 – almost a century ago,” he added.
Haiti is a full member of CARICOM while the Dominican Republic has observer status and cooperates with CARICOM, since 1992, through the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM), an economic pact involving the Caribbean Community, the Dominican Republic and the European Union.
Last week, CARICOM Secretary General Irwin La Rocque said the ruling “raises a serious question about the status of the numerous, I gather there are more than 20,000 Dominican Republic nationals of Haitian extract who would be affected.
La Rocque told CMC that he was hoping the parties would find a way to address the issue, adding “ I just want to recognise that the people of Haiti have contributed to the development of the agricultural sector in the Dominican Republic and I think that has to mean something in the discussions going forward”.
La Rocque, who is also the Secretary General of CARIFORM, said while he has not anticipated the organisation getting involved in the matter “any good offices I could use in the circumstances I would be happy to use it.
Amid the court’s ruling, Haiti has recalled its ambassador to the Dominican Republic for consultation, with Foreign Minister Pierre-Richard Casimir describing the ruling as “worrying”.
But in defending the ruling, Dominican Republic officials said it ends uncertainty for children of Haitian immigrants, allowing them to apply for residency and eventually citizenship.
Already, the Geneva-based office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on authorities in Santo Domingo to ensure that the ruling did not leave persons of Haitian descent in “constitutional limbo”.
A United Nations supported study, released this year, estimated that there were around 210,000 Dominican-born people of Haitian descent and another 34,000 born to parents of other nationalities.
However, the Government of the Dominican Republic estimates that around 500,000 people born in Haiti live in the Dominican Republic.
Until 2010, the Dominican Republic automatically bestowed citizenship to anyone born on its soil but subsequently approved a new constitution stating that citizenship would be granted only to those born on its soil to at least one parent of Dominican blood or of foreign legal residents.
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/barbados_news/1031917.html#axzz2hkP0SyGK
Danilo Medina promete a la ONU solucionar problema de haitianos ilegales
El presidente Danilo Medina insistió este lunes en buscar solución al problema de los hijos de los haitianos ilegales en el país, quienes exigen la nacionalidad dominicana, que no le corresponde, según ha ratificado el Tribunal Constitucinal.
Medina se reunió la mañana de este día con Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, la directora ejecutiva de ONU mujeres, en el Palacio Nacional, a quien expresó su deseo de ayudar a los ilegales haitianos.
Nuevamente, quienes se reúnen con Danilo para tratar el caso de los haitianos ilegales son quienes salen de la casa de gobierno hablando a nombre del mandatario.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka aseguró que Danilo Medina le prometió tratarl caso con el secretario general de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon.
Cuando el Tribunal Constitucional emitió su fallo, ratificando que no son dominicanos los hijos de los haitianos que han residido y residen ilegalmente en el país, Danilo Medina expresó que esa era una decisión de un tribunal, y que no intervendría en el caso.
La directora ejecutiva de ONU Mujer produjo sus declaraciones durante una rueda de prensa en el Palacio Nacional.
