Submitted by crinadmin on
A hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was held last week on the to discuss concerns over discrimination in the Dominican Republic’s law on migrants. The hearing was requested by the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), in collaboration with the Mesa Nacional para Las Migraciones and the Red de Encuentro Dominico-Haitiano Jaques Viau. They stressed that the law, which discriminates against Haitian communities and Dominico-Haitians in particular, violates international standards on human rights. The organisations pointed out that Migration Law No. 285-04, passed in August 2004 by the National Congress, reduces the question of migration to immigration, particularly in the case of Haitians. They presented a report to the IACHR in which they said the law was rushed through Congress without consulting public opinion. They declared that this law goes against the constitution of the Dominican Republic and the normative framework of the Inter-American System on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. They also reported that this law and its statutory proposal create a climate conducive to human rights violations. They violate the right to nationality, name, the special protection of children, movement and residence, judicial protection and equality before the law. The organisations requested that the IACHR urge the government of the Dominican Republic to adopt a migration policy which fulfils its obligations under Inter-American law and remind the government that the large-scale expulsion of inhabitants constitutes a violation of human rights and contradicts the American Convention on Human Rights, to which the country has subscribed. The organisations requested that the IACHR urge the government of the Dominican Republic to adopt a migration policy which fulfils its obligations under Inter-American law and remind the government that the large-scale expulsion of inhabitants constitutes a violation of human rights and contradicts the American Convention on Human Rights, to which the country has subscribed. Finally, they asked the IACHR that the rapporteurs for Afro-descendents, women and children undertake a visit to the country to follow-up on a ruling on a case (Yean and Bosico) by the Inter-American Court in connection with the government’s migration policy.