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Stateless Dominicans?
October 31, 2013
This past Tuesday (October 29), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
requested that the Permanent Council of the Organization of American
States (OAS) examine the recent decision of the Dominican Republic’s
Constitutional Court that stripped thousands of their right to
Dominican citizenship.
The ruling threatens to deprive the descendants of foreign nationals
—the lion’s share of whom are of Haitian descent—of their nationality.
It also poses a serious threat to the economy of the Dominican Republic
given that the thousands of Haitian immigrants and their children
currently living and working in the Dominican Republic make up a large
and important portion of the Dominican labor force.
Dominican businesses benefit from cheap labor, provided by people
looking to escape poverty. Because an estimated 80 percent of Haiti’s
population lives in absolute poverty, many are willing to accept the $4
per day wages offered by Dominican businesses. As a result, Dominican
coffee growers employ more than twice as many Haitians as Dominicans.
Despite a lack of conclusive evidence that Haitian immigrants depress
the incomes of unskilled Dominican natives, nationalist tensions
between the Haitians and Dominicans have intensified in recent years.
These tensions are believed to be the driving force behind the Court’s
September ruling.
What are the political and economic implications for the Dominican
Republic and the now stateless Dominican-Haitians?
Q1: What are the roots of the tensions between the two countries?
A1: The present day tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
principally nationalist in nature, date back to the colonial era.
The Spaniards colonized the eastern half of the island, with the French
taking control of the west. The different economic paths followed by
the two rival colonies resulted in distinct demographic patterns: the
French colony, a major sugar producer, was heavily populated by African
slaves. The Spanish side, in contrast, was inhabited primarily by
people of mixed race, who dwarfed the black population in number.
Racial demographics are, to some extent, central to these early
tensions.
Then, in 1822, Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic, occupying the
entire island of Hispaniola for 22 years. Already on the rise,
anti-Haitian sentiment skyrocketed when Haitian president Jean Pierre
Boyer attempted to secure his control through policies that aimed to
suppress Hispanic culture.
Though the Dominican Republic had regained its independence in 1844 and
fought off continued invasion attempts for the next 11 years, the
conflict reached new levels of violence in 1937, when Dominican
president Rafael Trujillo ordered an attack on Haitian immigrants
living in the border region. Over 20,000 Haitians were massacred.
The new ruling from the Dominican Constitutional Court, then, continues
a long and storied history of tensions between the two
countries—tensions that remain central to Haitian-Dominican relations.
Q2: Why do Haitians continue to immigrate eastward?
A2: By and large, Haitians move eastward because of poor living
conditions at home.
With a weak government prone to internal power struggles and among the
poorest economies in the world, Haitian infrastructure and social
services are lacking—and were only damaged more by the catastrophic
earthquake of 2010. Despite the country’s troubles, the Haitian
population continues to grow at a rapid pace, further straining the
country’s ability to sustain the status quo.
While Haiti’s labor force is huge, jobs are far from plentiful. Though
the government continuously seeks greater international investment,
more than two-thirds of the Haitian labor force remain unable to find
jobs in the formal sector. Of those, 40 percent are unemployed, and the
rest are undercutting the formal sector’s potential by turning to
informal activities.
The extremely limited economic opportunities—coupled with low standards
of living, with most Haitians living on less than US$1.25 per day—have
prompted many Haitians to seek work in the Dominican Republic, with
most immigrants and their descendants working in Dominican sugar,
coffee, and cocoa plantations, construction, and the domestic sector.
Q3: Why does the Constitutional Court’s ruling matter, and what are its
likely implications?
A3: The United Nations defines nationality as one of the most basic
human rights, and it is this issue that is most central to this new
controversy.
Last month’s ruling by the Dominican Constitutional Court deprives the
children of undocumented immigrants of this right—and, subsequently, of
access to the social services they would be entitled to as citizens:
health care, employment, and education. Moreover, it makes these
stateless individuals vulnerable to exploitation.
In addition to complicating the political situation in the Dominican
Republic, the ruling will also give rise to major economic challenges.
Without Haitian immigrants and their descendants, the Dominican
Republic faces the prospect of massive labor shortages in the
agriculture, manufacturing, and service sectors.
The Haitian labor force has provided the needed cheap labor to sustain
Dominican agriculture. Haitian labor has also proven pivotal in other
sectors of the Dominican economy—among them commerce, construction, and
tourism—given their demand for low-cost labor.
While many Dominicans accuse Haitian workers of taking jobs away from
native Dominicans, these immigrants and their children often accept
hazardous, poorly compensated positions that Dominican employers
struggle to fill.
And even if the Haitian labor force, by providing cheap labor, has kept
wage rates low, the industries they fuel—and, as a result, Dominican
productivity—would suffer without them. These Dominican industries are
able to compete in the global economy in part because of low production
costs. An exodus of Haitian labor would only jeopardize the Dominican
Republic’s prosperity moving forward.
Conclusion: Although many in the international community have condemned
the ruling, it cannot be appealed. The Dominican Republic now faces the
political challenge of figuring out what will become of the 210,000
Dominican-born people of Haitian descent—who, according to Dominican
law, are now neither Haitian nor Dominican citizens. While members of
the government have pointed out that this group can still apply for
Haitian citizenship through jus sanguinis, critics counter that most
lack ties to Haiti, or even speak the language. For many, living in
Haiti is not a realistic option.
Ultimately, this ruling has only highlighted what was already clear:
there is a real need for a comprehensive Dominican state policy to deal
with its relationship with Haiti—and such a policy will only prove
successful if its underpinning addresses the challenges and
opportunities the two countries face moving forward.
Though their relationship has long been one characterized by tension
and hostility, Haiti and the Dominican Republic have too much in
common—and, thus, too much to lose—to remain at odds. Their shared
development, economic, and security concerns, among others, are key to
the two countries’ future cooperation.
The situation is in many ways analogous to our ongoing debate over
Mexican immigration here in the United States. As with our relationship
with Mexico, if the Dominican government hopes to move forward in its
relations with its closest neighbor, it cannot avoid retooling its
perspective.
By focusing on the countries’ interdependence and the prosperity both
stand to gain should they cooperate, Dominicans and Haitians face a
real opportunity. Will they seize it?
Carl Meacham is director of the Americas Program at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Laura
Solano, intern scholar with the CSIS Americas Program, provided
research assistance.
Critical Questions is produced by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution
focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is
nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy
positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed
in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the
author(s).
© 2013 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All
rights reserved.
Carl Meacham
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