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Deportation of people of Haitian descent from Dominican Republic unacceptable – PM Gonsalves
Gonsalves said consideration had been given for benchmark standards to be set up and for a monitoring mechanism to be put in place for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic to monitor the progress.
“Because what is happening in the Dominican Republic is simply unacceptable,” he said, reiterating his strong position to the situation unfolding in the Dominican Republic.
“A lot of people ask me, ‘Why are you, Ralph, so strong on this matter?’ I say, ‘I am strong on this in the same way that I was strong on other things’,” he said, making reference to his positions on reparation for native genocide and slavery.
“It is unacceptable to have a public policy in relation to citizenship, grounded in ethnicity,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves also rejected what he said was the position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, whom he quoted as saying that the issue was one of sovereignty for the Dominican Republic to resolve.
“And I told him he has a notion of sovereignty which has stood still in 1648 in the Treaty of Westphalia at the end of the 30 years war when there was a pristine sovereignty. -(CMC)
