Source: The Red de Encuentro Dominico Haitiano Jacques Viau (Jacques Viau’s Dominican – Haitian Encounter Network)

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
May 9th, 2008

Press Release

The Red de Encuentro Dominico Haitiano Jacques Viau (Jacques Viau’s Dominican – Haitian Encounter Network) denounces the violation of the right to vote and the right to a nationality of Dominican men and women of Haitian descent

The Red de Encuentro Dominico - Haitiano Jacques Viau is extremely concerned by the violations against the right to vote and the right to a nationality suffered by the Dominican population of Haitian descent.

The refusal to respect the right of citizens to vote in the current elections constitutes a grave violation to the fundamental rights of all citizens as stated in Article 8 of the Dominican Constitution.

Our organization has received hundreds of complaints from Dominican citizens of Haitian descent who have been denied documents for identification and voting purposes. According to the accounts of these citizens they have been denied documents because they are under investigation; however, said investigations are without legal basis and without justification.

According to the Human Rights Observatory, coordinated by the Jesuit Services for Refugees and Immigrants with the assistance of organizations such as the Red Jacques Viau, it has registered many complaints of refusal to extend identity papers (ID’s) to Dominican citizens of Haitian descent in several regions of the country. These are very real cases of people whose rights are being violated by arbitrary and unfair administrative processes.

In Santo Domingo alone, the Human Rights Observatory registered a total of 48 such cases between October 2007 and March of this year.

Of the cases registered 83% of the complaints have been made by persons who were born in the Dominican Republic’s territory and are therefore, according to Article 11 of the Dominican Republic’s Constitution, citizens of the Dominican Republic.

The majority of the complaints registered have been filed by women, who represent 58% of the cases. The cases also show that the majority of the complaints filed come from a young segment of the population, 98% of the cases filed have been made by persons less than 37 years of age and residents of Villa Altagracia, Sabana Grande de Boyá, Valverde Maoy la Circunscripción 3 del Distrito Nacional.

In 63% of the cases citizens were denied IDs and electoral voting identification papers while in 25% of the cases citizens were denied birth certificates or copies of the same.

According to declarations made by the victims, in the majority of cases the right to recognition before the law (enshrined in Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) was violated by officials working in the Electoral and Civil Services; the same people who are responsible for observing and protecting this right.

Victims also state that officials refused to issue the documentation because, according to the officials, they were children of either one or two Haitian parents. In these cases, files are marked as “… denied… this person is of Haitian descent.”

These cases are being denied based on the principle of ancestry but said cases are not being revised to determine whether or not the person has the necessary documentation and whether or not the person has followed the processes required by Decree 659 of the Civil Registry. In 83% of the complaints, people have fulfilled all the necessary requirements for the issuance of their documents.

The violation of this right is not only present in the electoral and civil institutions of the country, it seems that people are “born” with this problem as the denial to register births of Dominican babies of Haitian descent shows. The refusal of hospitals to register these births and issue the necessary documentation makes it hard for individuals to present the legal documentation when attempting to register their children at the Civil Registry.

Currently, there are dozens of youth and new voters who have not been able to obtain their IDs and documents that will allow them to vote. This fact only increases our concern with the situation.

Once again, those who have filed complaints, denounce the legislative as well as the institutional deficiencies in the country. What is taking place with Dominican citizens of Haitian descent, the refusal to allow them the right to vote through administrative blockades, constitutes a grave violation of the most fundamental rights of people and citizens.

We call upon international organizations and institutions, the network of national observers, political parties and civil society at large to remain vigilant and firm against this abominable state of affairs.

A fact that dismays us and powerfully calls our attention is the incoherence of the Dominican Republic’s judicial system. The case of the Dominican citizen, Emildo Bueno Oguis, serves to illustrate this fact. Emildo Bueno Oguis, an engineering student at Utesa University, married to a citizen of the United Statest, solicited a copy of an “extended” history of his civil record upon which he found that his documents were undergoing an annulment process. When his case was taken to court, the tribunal refused to recognize a violation of his fundamental civil rights.

It is also important to highlight sentence 0366-08 in a case presided by Judge Yokaurys Morales Castillo of the Court of First Instance of the National District’s Tribunal, in which she decreed as “good and valid” the protection motion under the Constitution in favor of Nuny Angras Luís and ordered that a birth declaration (No. 340, Book 140, File 145, 1981) be issued to the citizen.

Both of these cases are similar, both of these citizens even hail from the same province. Despite the rulings in these cases, the Central Electoral Junta, referred both of these citizens to the Haitian Embassy and treated them as foreigners.

In light of these violations we demand that the Central Electoral Junta take the necessary measures to end this systematic violation of the rights of its citizens of Haitian descent so that they may exercise the right to vote granted to them under the Constitution of the Dominican Republic during the current elections.

Our Network understands that the participation of all citizens strengthens the country and that to exclude a part of the population is nothing more than political persecution which places our institutions under the control of conservative groups.

We make an appeal to sanity and common sense which is so lacking in our country today and we call on society to remain alert during this time.

RED DE ENCUENTRO DOMINICO HAITIANOS JACQUES VIAU*

* The JV Network is a space where 17 organizations from civil society come together with the mission to promote coordination and articulation spaces to cultivate and encourage the defense of Human Rights and just immigration policies through the elaboration, adoption and application of public policies that improve the quality of life of immigrants, refugees and vulnerable populations, especially that of the Haitian and Haitian descent population. The Network has been working for this goal for over 12 years. http://www.redhjacquesviau.org.do/
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Nota de Prensa

Red de Encuentro Dominico Haitiano Jacques Viau denuncia riesgo y vulnerabilidad del Derecho al Voto a dominicanos y dominicanas de ascendencia haitiana: niegan entrega de Cédulas de Identidad y Electoral

La Red de Encuentro Dominico �] haitiano Jacques Viau está altamente preocupada por el riesgo del derecho al voto de la ciudadanía, puntualmente de la población dominicana de ascendencia haitiana.

En la actual contienda electoral esta negación del derecho de elegir atenta contra uno de los derechos fundamentales de todo ciudadano y ciudadana, consignado en el artículo 8 de nuestra constitución. Nuestras instituciones han recibido cientos de denuncias de personas que a la hora de poner al día sus documentos, para fines de expedición de cedula o duplicados de sus documentos o cualquier otro tipo de diligencias, se les está negando, alegando que los mismos se encuentran en investigación, sin ninguna justificación o fundamento legal.

Según datos del Observatorio de Derechos Humanos, coordinado por el Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados/as y Migrantes y con el aporte de las organizaciones de la Red Jacques Viau se han registrado varios casos de negación de Cédula de Identidad en algunas regiones del país. Son casos reales de personas reales que encierran el drama humano de imposiciones administrativas arbitrarias.

Como ejemplificación de esa situación, el Observatorio de Derechos Humanos registró desde octubre del 2007 hasta marzo de este año, un total de 48 casos, sólo en la provincia de Santo Domingo.

El 83% de las denuncias recibidas han sido realizadas por personas que nacieron en territorio dominicano y que por ello, según la Constitución de la República Dominicana en su artículo 11,
son dominicanos/as.

La mayor cantidad de casos fueron denunciados por mujeres, que representan el 58% del total. La población violentada es básicamente joven. El 98% de los casos ha tenido como víctima a personas menores de 37 años, residentes en Villa Altagracia, Sabana Grande de Boyá, Valverde Maoy la Circunscripción 3 del Distrito Nacional.

En el 63% de los casos denunciados, el problema fue la negación o no entrega de la Cédula de Identidad y Electoral y un 29% por la negación de Acta de Nacimiento o duplicado de la misma. Este derecho (consignado en el artículo 6 de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos) fue, en la mayoría de los casos, violentado por integrantes de la Junta Central Electoral y las Oficialías Civiles, según declararon las víctimas. Esto es incoherente, ya que se supone que esas instancias son las responsables de garantizar dicho derecho.

La negación de la documentación, según las personas denunciantes, se debió a que las víctimas son hijas de padres haitianos sea (ya sea uno, o ambos padres). En este sentido, algunos expedientes de casos contienen actas con notas manuscritas que rezan: “... negada… esta persona es de ascendencia haitiana”.