On Saturday July 1st, 2023, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the detachment of General Juan Nouesit of the army's second infantry brigade, located in the municipality of Imbert (province of Puerto Plata), President Abinader described as irresponsible certain multilateral organizations who want the Dominican Republic to assume the situation in Haiti and stop repatriating Haitians living on Dominican territory in an irregular migratory situation in their country.

"That they act responsibly as they should have done, because if they are so concerned about human rights, they should be concerned about all the problems that Haitian citizens are experiencing in Haiti, whose human rights there are flouted every day."

Abinader pointed out that with regard to the issue of immigration, the Dominican Republic cannot be asked to give up the right to apply its Constitution "Let it be clear that the immigration policy is only carried out by the Dominicans and in the interest of the Dominicans."

Let's recall that following the publication of the report of the independent expert on human rights in Haiti William O'Neill https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39817-haiti-human-rights-first-mission-in-haiti-of-the-new-independent-expert.html which had, among other things, asked the Dominican Republic to stop the repatriation of Haitians, because of the state of insecurity in this country, the Ministry of Dominican Foreigners (MIREX) had published a statement in which it specified "he Dominican Republic is the only country that has a land border with Haiti. Being also a developing country, and not responsible for the Haitian situation, it is disproportionate and unreasonable to claim that our country bears the responsibility for ensuring the social well-being of Haitians. It is an inalienable obligation of the Haitian State and, failing that, a shared responsibility of the international community. The duty of the Dominican government is above all towards its citizens [...] the massive migratory influx of Haitians in recent years is unsustainable and it is impossible to accommodate, without generating serious social conflicts and unacceptable pressure on the national budget."

Adding in conclusion "We recognize the interest of all actors who care about Haiti, but we would like to emphasize that the internal situation of this country will never be an obstacle to the full application of Dominican legislation. The Dominican Republic, as a social and democratic state of law, will always make the decisions that best suit the national interest."

SL/ HaitiLibre