UNITED NATIONS, Oct 4 (IPS) – In recent months, the escalation of gang violence and mass displacement in Haiti has been of great concern to humanitarian organizations. Severe levels of armed violence have led to significant instability, with the nation plagued by food insecurity, sexual violence, civilian casualties and limited freedom of movement. The number of displaced people has risen sharply, to the extent that the Dominican Republic has ordered the return of thousands of Haitian migrants.
On October 3, the government of the Dominican Republic announced that it will deport approximately 10,000 Haitian migrants per week in an effort to reduce overcrowding in the country. This morning, Homero Figueroa, a spokesman for Dominican President Luis Abinader, told reporters that the deportation order “aims to reduce the excessive migrant populations found in Dominican communities.”
Last year, Abinader facilitated the return of more than 250,000 undocumented Haitians from the Dominican Republic. The order announced today states that they plan to deport more than double this number, effective immediately. “We have warned the United Nations that they and all countries that have committed themselves will behave responsibly in Haiti, or we will,” Abinader said at a news conference this morning.
This comes after the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urged the United States and Haiti’s neighbors to end the forced return of migrants to Haiti. On May 17, the UNHCR released a statement on social media asking the Biden administration to “refrain from forcibly returning Haitians who may face life-threatening risks or further displacement.”
Last week, on September 27, the United Nations (UN) reported that at least 3,661 civilians had been killed in the first half of 2024 as a result of ‘senseless gang violence’, of which more than 100 were children. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) added that this is a clear indication that instability in Haiti has been “sustained”.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), conditions in Haiti have deteriorated in recent months, with more than 59 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that more than half of the 700,000 internally displaced people are children. A quarter of these people live in extremely unsafe and overcrowded IDP shelters, without access to essential services such as healthcare, sanitation and access to food.
President Abinader’s new mandate has been widely criticized by activists and humanitarian organizations, with many believing it is fueled by xenophobia. 70 percent of the Dominican Republic’s population identifies as mixed race, while the vast majority of the Haitian population is black.
In a statement on August 28, Amnesty International said: “Amnesty International has emphasized the urgent need for Dominican institutions to eradicate racial profiling, structural racism and racial discrimination, and to ensure respect for the human dignity and physical integrity of Haitian migrants and Dominicans. of Haitian descent.”
It should be noted that before this mandate was issued, there had been reported cases of prejudice and mistreatment of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic.
“Organizations working on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic continuously report cases of deportees being beaten by Dominican authorities,” said Johanna Cilano Pelaez, regional researcher for the Caribbean at Amnesty International.
In addition, Haitian migrants have been victims of warrantless raids, kidnappings, and sexual violence carried out by both uniformed and non-uniformed officers.
The UN and its affiliated organizations are currently on the front lines in Haiti, distributing resources such as food, water, cash transfers and school kits. However, the relief effort is seriously underfunded: so far only 30 percent of the requested $674 million has been raised.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
