File #: Res 1084-2005    Version: * Name: Denouncing discrimination and violence committed against Haitians and people of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 7/27/2005
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution denouncing discrimination and violence committed against Haitians and people of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic, and calling upon the government of the Dominican Republic to publicly oppose anti-Haitian violence within its borders, intervene in preventing further xenophobic violence and unequal treatment and take affirmative steps to permanently curtail en masse deportations of Haitians and people of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic without due process.
Sponsors: Miguel Martinez, Yvette D. Clarke, Charles Barron, Helen D. Foster, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Lewis A. Fidler, Sara M. Gonzalez, Annabel Palma, James Sanders, Jr., David I. Weprin, Kendall Stewart, Bill Perkins
Council Member Sponsors: 12

Res. No. 1084

 

Resolution denouncing discrimination and violence committed against Haitians and people of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic, and calling upon the government of the Dominican Republic to publicly oppose anti-Haitian violence within its borders, intervene in preventing further xenophobic violence and unequal treatment and take affirmative steps to permanently curtail en masse deportations of Haitians and people of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic without due process.

 

By Council Members Martinez, Clarke, Barron, Foster, Comrie, Fidler, Gonzalez, Palma, Sanders Jr., Weprin, Stewart and Perkins

 

Whereas, Haitians and people of Haitian descent represent a significant minority in the Dominican Republic, with unofficial estimates indicating that between 400,000 and one million Haitians currently live in the country; and

Whereas, During the months of May and June 2005, there were several instances of xenophobic acts of violence against Haitians and people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic which left three dead, hundreds injured and thousands of others being deported to Haiti; and

Whereas, The government of the Dominican Republic has failed to adequately intervene and protect Haitians and people of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic from these recent acts of violence; and

Whereas, The government of the Dominican Republic has failed to prosecute the recent crimes committed against Haitians and people of Haitian descent, but instead has accelerated their deportations, which according to press reports and international monitoring groups, are often conducted without due process protections; and

Whereas, According to the Resource Center of the Americas.Org, a human rights organization, approximately 3,000 Haitians and people of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic had been deported to Haiti during the month of May 2005; and 

Whereas, According to the Resource Center of the Americas.Org, on several occasions individuals who were citizens or legal residents of the Dominican Republic had also been deported to Haiti, some without even being given the opportunity to gather their personal possessions; and

Whereas, According to other reports, in several instances individuals were deported without being allowed to notify their family members of their impending deportation, while in other instances children were left abandoned and orphaned when their parents were deported to Haiti; and

Whereas, According to the Resource Center of the Americas.Org, on May 17, 2005, Haitian Foreign Affairs Minister Hérard Abraham announced that deportations had been suspended as a result of talks between the Dominican government and the interim Haitian government; and  

Whereas, According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, on June 23, 2005, Dominican immigration authorities expelled 200 Haitians from the city of Santiago, despite the Dominican government’s earlier agreement to suspend deportations, and on the same day that Dominican President Leonel Fernández voiced intentions to create better repatriation policies during a conference on border issues; and

Whereas, The failure of the government of the Dominican Republic to adequately intervene in xenophobic practices has the potential of creating violence and a caste system where Haitians and people of Haitian descent are not fully integrated into Dominican society; and

Whereas, These human rights violations and indignities cause not only individual harm, but also family separation and community destabilization; and

Whereas, There are more than one million Haitians and Dominicans living in New York City, who as such are interested parties in this situation; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York denounces the discrimination and violence committed against Haitians and people of Haitian descent

 living in the Dominican Republic; and, be it further

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the government of the Dominican Republic to publicly oppose anti-Haitian violence within its borders, intervene in preventing further xenophobic violence and unequal treatment and take affirmative steps to permanently curtail en masse deportations of Haitians and people of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic without due process.

 

 

LS#3214                     

RA

7/19/2005

h:/word/resolutions/martinez/ls#3214