Following the court decision issued September 25, 2013 by the Constitutional Court in the Dominican Republic, aimed to withdrawal citizenship to descendants of foreigners born in the Dominican Republic after 1929, on the basis that their parents were considered "in transit", ie do not have an official document of residence or legal identification (decision that affects approximately 210,000 children born in the Dominican Republic, from Haitian parents and about 34,000 children born from parents of other nationalities) ; Pierre-Richard Casimir, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by the Ambassador of Haiti to the Dominican Republic, Dr. Fritz Cinéas called back for consultation in Haiti for the occasion, met Wednesday for nearly an hour (in camera closed) with Ruben Silié Valde, the Dominican Ambassador to Haiti.

After this meeting, Pierre-Richard Casimir, at a press briefing said he was more than concerned about this case and disagreed with the decision of the Constitutional Court Dominican "We took the diplomatic route because this decision will have consequences for the Haitian diaspora in the Dominican Republic. The Chancellery is very concerned about this decision because this decision causes an upheaval and has a diplomatic incidence that will have impacts on the plan social, economic, legal and political."

The Ambassador of Haiti to the Dominican Republic, Dr. Fritz Cinéas, said "[...] It is an internal decision of the Dominican Republic, but it concerns us deeply because those affected are also Haitians [. ..] Pending the position of the Dominican government on the issue, we will work to accompany them."

For its part, the Dominican ambassador in Haiti stated that "[...] This decision from the Dominican Constitutional Court, is not a government decision, as the Court is an independent institution. In terms of consequences, we are awaiting the decision of my government [...]"

Note that according to the Dominican statistics available, 524,000 immigrants would live in the Dominican Republic whose 458,000 are of Haitian origin. Other foreigners (from 60 countries) who reside in the Dominican Republic would represent a little more than 5% of the Dominican population.

In addition, Simon Dieuseul Desras, the President of the Senate informed in a note that "this is a decision of a judicial body and not a political measure taken by the government or the Dominican Parliament," and announced that he will meet Friday, October 4 his Dominican counterpart Reynaldo Perez, as part of a dialogue about the latest developments following the decision of the Dominican Constitutional Court "to seek and find a happy ending to what could constitute a disastrous precedent in the international field of human rights at the same time an intolerable threat to all diasporas in the world."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9559-haiti-news-some-news-here-and-there.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9563-haiti-social-a-resolution-with-heavy-consequences.html

S/ HaitiLibre