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Dominican woman of Haitian descent

‘No nationality, no rights’: Statelessness Affecting Dominicans of Haitian descent

28 September 2015 • 4:30 – 6:00 pm CET
Palais des Nations

In September 2013, a Constitutional Court ruling deprived tens of thousands of Dominican women, men and children of Haitian descent of their nationality, thereby putting hundreds of thousands of persons at risk of statelessness, in a situation of legal uncertainty, and impairing their enjoyment of basic political, civil, social and economic rights.

This situation has been denounced by the UNHCR, the OHCHR , the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and it has been one of the issues most raised by states during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Dominican Republic in February 2014.

This event will be held two months after the expiry of the deadline for registration fixed by the Dominican authorities. Since this date, and despite international outcry, regional court rulings and the effort of Dominican human rights groups, thousands of women, men and children find themselves in a vulnerable position: without nationality and legal status, at risk of expulsion, and with no means to ensure that their civil, political, economic and social rights will be respected in the country where they were born.

Panelists

  • Ms. Rosa Iris Diendomi, Dominican lawyer and member of the Dominican of Haitian descent social movement Reconoci.do
  • Ms. Mireille Fanon-Mendès France, Chairwoman of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
  • Mr. Marco Formisano, UNHCR Bureau for the Americas
  • Ms. Chiara Liguori, researcher, Caribbean team of Amnesty International

Moderator: Ms. Laura Quintana Soms, Cultural Programmes Officer, Minority Rights Group
Screening of extracts of an MRG documentary film in preview: ‘Our lives in transit’

Co-sponsors: MRG, IMADR, Amnesty International and Open Society Justice Initiative

With the support of MUDHA (El Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico-Haitiana), Reconoci.do, Progressio, OBMICA, CCDH, CEDUCA, CNDH, IHRC, Grito de los Excluidos y Excluidas and MOSCTHA, Berkeley Human Rights Law Clinic, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, European Network on Statelessness, International Human Rights Clinic at Santa Clara University

This event has been organized by MRG with the financial support of the European Union.