A report and summary of 3 documents from the religious community of the Dominican Republic written for Global Ministries about the recent passed, racist and demeaning, law. This law has the ability to affect almost all Dominicans, as most have a parent of grandparent who comes from Haiti, Spain, or any other country! Unfortunately, it was written with racist intent and will mostly affect poor, Haitian families.
Written By: Ashley Holst
On September 23rd, 2013
the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic passed Judgment No. 0168-2013
that will strip people, who were previously legal citizens of the Dominican
Republic, of their citizenship based on heritage. The court decision refers to
those born after 1929, most of who are of Haitian decent and whose families
were trafficked to the Dominican Republic to work in sugar cane plantations
and/or construction industry. The court decision defines 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th generation children of Haitian decent and residents of the
Dominican for up to 80 years as “in transit” back to their “native country,”
Haiti. Those affected were born in the Dominican Republic and have spent their
entire lives with Dominican birth certificates and passports. They will be stripped of citizenship and
nationality, resulting in civil rights violations of crisis of legal identity
and the loss of opportunities to study, work, travel, marry, and move freely. With
decision 168-2013 the Dominican Republic violates international agreements.
Caminante Proyecto Educativo and Director, Denisse Pichardo is standing with
the religious communities in defense of a historically oppressed group of
people.
CONDOR, a conference of religious
leaders in the Dominican Republic wrote a press release on October 9th,
2013 stating its “unanimous condemnation” of the decision that strips people of
basic human rights based on racist sentiments. They also shared sympathy for
and solidarity with those who are affected by the judgment. CONDOR’s statement quoted
Pope Francis’ message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees to be given on
January 2014, “Here we find the deepest
foundation of the dignity of the human person, which must always be respected
and safeguarded. It is less the criteria of efficiency, productivity, social
class, or ethnic or religious belonging which ground that personal dignity, so
much as the fact of being created in God’s own image and likeness (cf. Gen
1:26-27) and, even more so, being children of God. Every human being is a child
of God! He or she bears the image of Christ!”
The Latin American Council of
Churches (CLAI) also released a letter to Dominican President, Danilo Medina
Sánchez on October 22nd, 2013. The CLAI represents 20 Latin American
Countries and in the DR alone represents two Global Ministries Partners:
Iglesias Evangelica Dominicana and el Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas
(SSID). The CLAI stated their refusal of
court decision 168-2013 and reminded the President that in September 2005 the
Inter-American Court on Human Rights found the Dominican Republic guilty of an
illegal attempt to strip the rights and nationality of two Dominican born girls
of Haitian decent. The council respected the Nation’s ability to write
migration law, but confirmed that it is inhumane and illegal under the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights to refuse nationality of those born in the
Dominican solely based on the foreigner status of their decedents.
In a third response from the
Christian community, a Coalition of Catholic Priests reminded the nation of
three separate laws in contrast to the newly decided 168-2013: Article 18.2 of
the Dominican Constitution states that nationality and legal protections are
determined at time and place of birth. The Constitution also states that it is
illegal to increase the vulnerability of the poor (Article 74.4) and to create
retroactive laws that revoke previously given rights (Article 110). The priests
strongly stated that affected people are, without doubt, brothers and sisters
in Christ and equally part of the Dominican people. They finished by saying
that it is the duty of the Christian Community to enforce justice and
brotherhood and to uplift the poor and the oppressed, “God upholds the cause of
the oppressed and gives food to the hungry… the Lord lifts” (Psalm 146, 7-9).
