Dominican Republic and its Haitan Citizens (Xenophobia or Nah?)

In 1503, the ports of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic became the first recorded location of captive Africans being sold as slaves. Thanks to the French occupation of Haiti, the Dominican Republic became a vehicle for modern slavery in the region.

Following the Haitian slave rebellion, liberated Haitians invaded their neighbors in the Dominican Republic in their quest to free the slaves in the tiny nation. For 22 years the Haitian military occupied the Dominican Republic and in the process built what is now known as Antihaitianismo – the fierce hatred of Haitians by Dominicans.  In 1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo ordered the massacre of Haitians living in the northwestern region of the Dominican Republic that borders Haiti.

Relations between both nations have been fraught with a lot of racial tension and in September 2013, a Dominican court decision stripped the citizenships of Dominicans with Haitian ancestry.

According to the decision, Dominicans born after 1929 to parents who are not of Dominican ancestry are to have their citizenship revoked. The ruling affects an estimated 250,000 Dominican people of Haitian descent, including many who have had no personal connection with Haiti for several generations

The day has finally come. About a quarter million Haitians will be deemed stateless. No rights. No passports. Absolutely nothing. The country has already opened deportation centers and purchased large passenger buses to ship the “unwanted” out.


As much as we’d all like to dismiss it, racism plays a huge role in all of this. Prior to today’s “official deportation”, Dominican policemen had begun undertaking several “social cleanings” in preparation.

The detained tend to range from intoxicated persons to suspected prostitutes, but are disproportionately Haitian or dark-skinned Dominicans with Haitian facial features. These could just be guys drinking and playing dominos or women standing on street corners. More often, though, they tend to be young men with Haitian features and darker skin. The police usually—usually—detain them for a night and then let them go with a warning

No verification or anything. The targeting gets worse too.

The Open Society says that naturalization law will “enshrine statelessness.” The problem is that the naturalization law’s “recognition of citizenship is based not on the fact of birth itself on Dominican territory, but rather on whether a birth was officially registered at the time.” Many, perhaps the majority, of impoverished Dominicans of Haitian descent didn’t have their births registered. Worse, the new law “lets stand the doctrine articulated by the Constitutional Tribunal that birth registration during the 1929-2007 period only bestows citizenship if the parents had formal status as migrants. However, much of the migration of laborers and their families from Haiti during the 20th century was informal. As a result, even individuals who were registered as Dominican citizens at birth may be vulnerable to denationalization at a future date because of the status of their parents, again leaving them stateless”.

A terrible shame. As at today, the deportations haven’t begun, with the foreign minister saying it might not start until August.

Culled from Y naija

This is literally one of the most disgusting acts i have seen done by a Sovereign entity in my life time.

Racism does not even begin to cut it.

it's really sad..