Caribbean leaders must speak up on Dominican Republic ruling on Haitian migrants urges PJ Patterson

Former Jamaica prime minister Percival James (PJ) Patterson has indicated that 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 favor of stripping citizenship from children of Haitian migrants. The decision applies to those born after 1929 — a category that overwhelmingly includes descendants of Haitians that moved to the Dominican Republic to work on farms.

The development, according to regional 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 reporters.

Patterson, a major player in efforts to integrate Haiti into the regional integration movement, is not impressed by the silence of regional leaders on the issue. – (CMC)