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Haiti: Stateless People Trapped in Poverty

   Victims of Dominican Republic’s Arbitrary Deportations
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   descent now in Haiti, including many children, whose nationality was
   taken away, have no clear, accessible path to establish their lawful
   claims to Dominican citizenship, leaving many stateless in violation of
   their right to nationality.
   The Haitian government, including the new administration following the
   November 20 elections, should address the problem and make clear the
   options for these stateless people to stay in Haiti and get Haitian
   citizenship and whether they can still protect their claims to
   Dominican nationality, as well as the Haitian government’s commitment
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   before a judge.
   The Haitian government, and the office of the UN High Commissioner for
   Refugees (UNHCR), which has a statelessness mandate as well as a
   refugee one, should establish a helpline or accessible information
   desks for people looking for assistance with their nationality. The
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   led to unnecessary suffering and yet no effective steps are being taken
   to try and rectify the situation,” Wheeler said.
   Deportation and Statelessness
   In 2013, a Dominican court stripped tens of thousands of children of
   undocumented Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic of their
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   discriminatory and an “arbitrary deprivation of nationality” by the
   Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. UNHCR expressed concern
   about the statelessness created by the decision.
   In 2014, the Dominican government passed a law intended to ameliorate
   the impact of that decision by allowing those affected to secure their
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   children that list the Dominican Republic as the place of birth. It’s
   not clear whether these children may face administrative hurdles later
   in life, or even statelessness, if they try to get a Haitian national
   ID when they reach 18. Haitian law banned dual citizenship until 2012,
   when a law was passed to allow it. However, it is unclear whether
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   Children, including those who were born in the Dominican Republic
   before 2010, had to be smuggled over the border to join their mothers
   in Haiti. They are now stateless or have instead acquired Haitian birth
   certificates.
   Access to Reproductive Health Care in Anse-à-Pitres