Reflections from our compañero Anthony Stevens-Acevedo regarding the recent agreement signed by DR and Haiti regarding resolution 168/13 Let us keep alive by all means the protest against the acceptance of court ruling TC/0168/13. It is obvious –from this news report—that the Dominican government wants to find a way out to the subject by accepting the illegitimacy of the sentence to keep on their side the most xenophobe and ultra-nationalist Dominican right wing that has promoted the sentence. This issue should not be solved by an administrative patch that simply “respects rights.” We demand a clear and thorough inclusion into the Dominican nationality for all those born in Dominican territory before the constitution of 2010. It is a flagrant discrimination to subject Dominicans of Haitian ancestry to an interruption of their civic life just because so wishes the Dominican far-right. This has all the trappings of being an attempt to avoid the demands and pressures from the international community of which the D.R. is part through a number of international mechanisms established precisely to defend citizens from the abuses committed by their states, like the one now suffered by Dominicans of Haitians descent as the result of the attack by the most xenophobe right wing. Did this pact include anything on protecting the rights of the tens of thousands of immigrant Haitian workers residing in the Dominican Republic today? That should be the topic of a pact since they are Haitian nationals citizens of the Haitian state that reside in the Dominican Republic and deserve protections against any of the many abuses many of them suffer for not having official documentation as immigrants. But Dominicans who are the children, grand-children, and great-grand children of Haitians of any other immigrants arriving from any other place of the globe are Dominicans and should not need any pact with the Haitian government to see their full rights guaranteed. Let us remember that sentence TC/0168/13 refers to Dominicans, and it is not surprising that the Haitian government may be willing to commit to an agreement with the Dominican government to not defend their rights to a Dominican nationality nor to demand a detailed explanation as to how their right to their nationality is going to be respected and enforced. As Dominicans –inside the country of origin or in the diaspora—we must not consent to the political right wing of our nation being the one defining who is Dominican and who is not. The nation should be a construction made by all with the participation of all. The participation and inclusion of all is what defines the legitimacy of the national collective.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 22:08:18 +0000
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