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This migration towards the Dominican cane fields is also due in great part to the US intromission in the Caribbean Region. Due to the difficult internal affairs in Haiti, the sugar cane project was not attainable in that country, so Washington supported the departure of thousands of Haitians used as cheap labour force for the sugar mills and as a blow off valve for the controversial situation that was being generated within Haiti since those days.
Nowadays not only do Haitian emigrants have to tolerate being abused by their bosses in the sugar cane plantations or in the constructions, but also have to suffer all types of discrimination against them
In many cases the Haitians hired for temporary positions in the construction industry are deceived and once finished their work are turned in to the Dominican immigration authorities to be deported without receiving their payment. They then return to the starting point where the story begins again and again.
Xenophobia
Edwin Paraison, ex-General Consul of Haiti in Santo Domingo, said to Seinforma that In the year 2002, two investigations were carried out by the International Organization of Migrations (IOM) and the Latin-American School of Social Studies to get an estimate of the Haitian population that lives in the Dominican Republic. The conclusion was that the genuine Haitian population is of about 300,000 people. if it is taken into account not only the genuine Haitian population but also their descendants born in the Dominican Republic, then we are talking about more than 500,000 people with Haitian blood; which represents around the 6% of the Dominican population that is estimated in 8.6 million people.
However, different to other countries where the Haitian Diaspora is very big, the Dominican Republic is the only country in which this big immigrant population has no political participation at all. They are isolated but keep their traditions in their small and closed social circles.
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Unlike other nations where the Haitian Diaspora is big, the Dominican Republic is the only country where these immigrants do not have political participation, they are denied an I.D., and many are exploited and deceived by the employers, and finally deported.
In spite of the fact that are Haitian hands the ones that have labored in the sugar cane fields since 1919 and that have built large cities along with the local citizens, in the Dominican Republic exists a clearly anti-Haitian environment. (Photos Carmen Maria Arguello/Seinforma Special Series)
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SPECIAL SERIES
MIGRATIONS
Migrations: Routes, Dreams and Reality
HAITI (II)
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*Carmen Arguello studied International Relations at the University of the Friendship of the Peoples in Moscow, Russia. She is the Academic Director of the Dominican-Russian Cultural Institute and Consular Assistant in the Honorary General Consulate of the Russian Federation in Dominican Republic.
Historical Frame of the Haitian Migrations
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Some of the situations that generated the internal armed conflict in Peru during the 80’s and 90’s were the exclusion, the gap between rich and poor, and the State absence, conditions that opened the path to Sendero Luminoso’s terrorist response.
Some of the situations that generated the internal armed conflict in Peru during the 80’s and 90’s were the exclusion, the gap between rich and poor, and the State absence, conditions that opened the path to Sendero Luminoso’s terrorist response.
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MIGRATIONS FROM HAITI TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
In the early twentieth century Haitians began to move mainly to the Dominican Republic, but they also sought new horizons in the Bahamas and the British and French colonies in the Caribbean Sea, as Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), d'outre-mer ( DOMs), Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyana. Via Dominican, many Haitians used Puerto Rico as a favorite stopover to reach at U.S. shores, especially Florida. (IIustration Waleska Medina/Seinforma Special Series)
“This migration towards the Dominican cane fields is also due in great part to the US intromission in the Caribbean Region. Due to the difficult internal affairs in Haiti, the sugar cane project was not attainable in that country, so Washington supported the departure of thousands of Haitians used as cheap labour force for the sugar mills and as a blow off valve for the controversial situation that was being generated within Haiti since those days.”
12/13/09
By: Carmen Maria Arguello/Seinforma Special Series
Santo Domingo.- Throughout the years, the so-difficult situation suffered in Haiti because of the lack of resources and possibilities to develop as a country have caused big Haitian exodus towards different nations. Those Diasporas have continued their culture outside the national borders.
Because of its proximity the Dominican Republic has been the favourite destination for these immigrants. Since 1919 thousands of Haitians have crossed the 380 kilometres of the border that divide both countries to find job opportunities, initially at the sugar plantations and passing through the years to the big cities to work in the construction industry and doing general labour.
By: Carmen Maria Arguello/Seinforma Special Series
Santo Domingo.- Throughout the years, the so-difficult situation suffered in Haiti because of the lack of resources and possibilities to develop as a country have caused big Haitian exodus towards different nations. Those Diasporas have continued their culture outside the national borders.
Because of its proximity the Dominican Republic has been the favourite destination for these immigrants. Since 1919 thousands of Haitians have crossed the 380 kilometres of the border that divide both countries to find job opportunities, initially at the sugar plantations and passing through the years to the big cities to work in the construction industry and doing general labour.
But in spite of being Haitian hands who have harvested the sugar canes and shaped the urban spaces along with the Dominicans since that era, in the Dominican Republic there is an anti-Haitian feeling, originated during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship (1939-1961) when it was reviewed the issue of the Haitian migration like a expansionist maneuver from Port-au-Prince <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Prince>, creating many stereotypes and prejudices that still stand even after Trujillo’s ruling, thanks to his disciple and successor Joaquin Balaguer (1960-1962, 1966-1978, 1986 to 1996).
Since 1941 a business of importation of unskilled blue-collar labourers from Haiti to the Dominican Republic was established by both governments. The Haitians hired annually by the State Council of Sugar (SCS), have lived historically under conditions of complete poverty, and it exists, in fact, a notable difference among what is known as central courtyards, that are the ones located in the plant of treatment of sugar, taken mainly by Dominicans - where there are schools and more acceptable living conditions - and the agrarian courtyards, populated especially by Haitians, where poor conditions have generated reports of international organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Centre for the Human Development (ICHD), among others, and more recently even the production of documentaries broadcast in film festivals around the world, exposing out the situation suffered by the Haitian immigrants in neighbouring land.
Since 1941 a business of importation of unskilled blue-collar labourers from Haiti to the Dominican Republic was established by both governments. The Haitians hired annually by the State Council of Sugar (SCS), have lived historically under conditions of complete poverty, and it exists, in fact, a notable difference among what is known as central courtyards, that are the ones located in the plant of treatment of sugar, taken mainly by Dominicans - where there are schools and more acceptable living conditions - and the agrarian courtyards, populated especially by Haitians, where poor conditions have generated reports of international organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Centre for the Human Development (ICHD), among others, and more recently even the production of documentaries broadcast in film festivals around the world, exposing out the situation suffered by the Haitian immigrants in neighbouring land.
The discrimination against Haitians and their descendants in the Dominican Republic is such, and the proofs of xenophobia are so severe, that at the beginning of 2008 in the walls that are close to the Haitian Embassy in the neighbouring country messages such as: “Death to Haitians” could be read, that afterwards were removed by groups of international solidarity or local citizen organizations.
The rights violation of the Haitian immigrants is an issue that must be dealt and solved according to the treaties related to the human rights signed by the Dominican Republic.
It cannot be denied that during the last years a great number of the people that have crossed the border end up in the streets of Santo Domingo begging for money or even for food. There are entire family groups in the streets, being humiliated and risking their own lives. In many cases it is the kids who suffer the most.
The rights violation of the Haitian immigrants is an issue that must be dealt and solved according to the treaties related to the human rights signed by the Dominican Republic.
It cannot be denied that during the last years a great number of the people that have crossed the border end up in the streets of Santo Domingo begging for money or even for food. There are entire family groups in the streets, being humiliated and risking their own lives. In many cases it is the kids who suffer the most.
Thousands of Haitian children wander down the streets without knowing their rights, without any dreams and losing their days cleaning windows in the traffic lights, selling water bottles to calm others’ thirst, without knowing that the society that oppresses them and disparages them must make sure than they, the most defenceless ones, do not have to go through all that nightmare. They are a bunch of tired faces, without the joy of being kids, with no formal education, with a poor housing, and without the protection of the state authorities.
That is the most difficult part of the international migration on a global basis, the abandonment of children all over the world.
The situation is really hard to face, both for the first generation of Haitian emigrants in the Dominican Republic, and for the second and third generations of Haitians as well.
The case of Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who, sponsored by the Education Secretary, entered the country over 20 years ago, is only one of so many examples. Possessing a permit to stay in the Dominican Republic, Joseph and his wife have raised children, to whom now, after 18 years and many vexations, have been denied the right to their identity document, with no other apparent reason than just the fact that their parents crossed the border.
After years of having served this society, working, paying taxes, they are denied any possibility of incorporating as equals to the Dominican social structure.
Throughout the years, many international organizations working in the Dominican-Haitian issue have not been able yet to get rid of the racial hate that rises among the Dominicans. It’s been impossible to make the population aware that such conflict does not exist and that has maybe never been real, but simply a confrontation between the governments and not among the people.
The truth is that while these organizations fight to change the legislation and to end discrimination, there are still thousands of Haitian kids in the streets of Santo Domingo, brought over to find an improvement in their lives, but it is really sad that the only thing they will be able to find are multiple dangers in the streets and a life that will remain linked to poverty until the governments and the society actually do something to begin to fix these tough circumstances.
Notes:
1. Inmigrantes haitianos y dominicanos de ascendencia haitiana en la República Dominicana (Haitian and Dominican Immigrants of Haitian ascendancy in the Dominican Republic). Bridget Wooding & Richard Moseley-Williams. Published by the Jesuit International Cooperation for Development and Service to Refugees and Migrants. 2004
That is the most difficult part of the international migration on a global basis, the abandonment of children all over the world.
The situation is really hard to face, both for the first generation of Haitian emigrants in the Dominican Republic, and for the second and third generations of Haitians as well.
The case of Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who, sponsored by the Education Secretary, entered the country over 20 years ago, is only one of so many examples. Possessing a permit to stay in the Dominican Republic, Joseph and his wife have raised children, to whom now, after 18 years and many vexations, have been denied the right to their identity document, with no other apparent reason than just the fact that their parents crossed the border.
After years of having served this society, working, paying taxes, they are denied any possibility of incorporating as equals to the Dominican social structure.
Throughout the years, many international organizations working in the Dominican-Haitian issue have not been able yet to get rid of the racial hate that rises among the Dominicans. It’s been impossible to make the population aware that such conflict does not exist and that has maybe never been real, but simply a confrontation between the governments and not among the people.
The truth is that while these organizations fight to change the legislation and to end discrimination, there are still thousands of Haitian kids in the streets of Santo Domingo, brought over to find an improvement in their lives, but it is really sad that the only thing they will be able to find are multiple dangers in the streets and a life that will remain linked to poverty until the governments and the society actually do something to begin to fix these tough circumstances.
Notes:
1. Inmigrantes haitianos y dominicanos de ascendencia haitiana en la República Dominicana (Haitian and Dominican Immigrants of Haitian ascendancy in the Dominican Republic). Bridget Wooding & Richard Moseley-Williams. Published by the Jesuit International Cooperation for Development and Service to Refugees and Migrants. 2004
