The Dominican Republic has the sovereign right to deport all illegal Haitians or those of any nationality who spend the night without documentation in the country, affirmed this morning the Institutional and Justice Foundation (FINJUS) and the Citizen Participation Civic Movement (PC).
Servio Tulio Castaños Guzmán, executive vice president of Finjus, and Joseph Manuel Abreu, general coordinator of PC, agreed that no one can set guidelines for the country regarding its right to determine its immigration policy.
Castaños Guzmán said that Dominicans will support the position of President Luis Abinader to deport illegals, and described as unfortunate and inappropriate the statements of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who asked the Dominican Republic to stop the forced deportations of Haitians.
Castaños Guzmán said that Türk’s request lacks any legal basis, given that in all the countries of the world they have the right to draw up their immigration policy.
At the same time, he described as unfair to try to put more burdens on the Dominican people with the Haitian crisis.
He assured that no country has done more than the Dominican Republic to help Haitians in the midst of their precariousness.
“If there is a country that has been in solidarity with the Haitian people, I would tell you that it has been the most supportive of the countries in the world, it has been this country, you only have to look at the facts, thousands of Haitians come annually even to give light to the Dominican Republic because they do not have the necessary health services in their country for them to be assisted from the clinical point of view, “he said.
He added that “not only that, thousands of Haitians work in the Dominican Republic, but even more so, we have a commercial relationship with Haiti where as a country we live supplying food to that nation from a commercial point of view.”
pc
The general coordinator of PC, José Manuel Abreu said that although he understands the position of the UN when migrations such as the Haitian take place, with a country in the midst of a crisis, but that the massive migration of Haitians represents a very great burden for the government Dominican.
Abreu criticized the pronouncements of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and said that the way he did it was not the right one.
He argued that the Dominican Republic as a sovereign country has a position regarding migration policy that must be respected.
“Obviously, the statements of the UN official caught our attention and we understand the reaction of President Luís Abinader, and we understand that this must be handled through diplomatic channels and based on agreements and with respect for immigration laws,” he said. .
He added that “in the context of deportations, we have asked for respect for the human rights of people and that they apply the law without violating rights, for example, not carrying out indiscriminate deportations, without seeing the cases.”
UN
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on the Dominican Republic to stop the forced deportations of Haitians to their country of origin.
As he did last week, Türk today reminded the countries that the “incessant armed violence and systematic violations of human rights in Haiti do not currently allow the safe, dignified and sustainable return” of Haitians to their country. In addition, he called on the Dominican authorities to enhance his efforts to prevent xenophobia and discrimination.
