CARICOM suspends review of Dominican Republic’s request for membership

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has suspended consideration of a request by the Dominican Republic for membership of CARICOM.{{more}}

A statement issued by the regional grouping following a meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, said CARICOM “condemns the abhorrent and discriminatory ruling of September 23, 2013, of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic on nationality which retroactively strips tens of thousands of Dominicans, mostly of Haitian descent, of citizenship rendering them stateless and with no recourse to appeal.”

The statement said it is especially repugnant that the ruling ignores the 2005 judgement made by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) that the Dominican Republic adapt its immigration laws and practices in accordance with the provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights.

“The ruling also violates the Dominican Republic’s international human rights obligations. Furthermore, the ruling has created an environment where, with the abrogation of rights that flow from citizenship, arbitrariness can flourish as illustrated by recent media reports of the forced deportation to Haiti of persons claiming to be Dominican and with no linguistic or familial ties to that country,” the statement said.

CARICOM, in the statement, also reiterated its call to the Government of the Dominican Republic to take the necessary political, legislative, judicial and administrative steps urgently to redress the grave humanitarian situation created by the ruling.

“The Community also calls on regional and hemispheric countries and organisations to lend their voice to urge the Dominican Republic to right this terrible wrong.”

According to the statement, CARICOM welcomed the intervention by Venezuela to assist in resolving the issue, but said, given the grave humanitarian implications of the court ruling, the Community cannot allow its relationship with the Dominican Republic to continue as normal.

“In that regard, the Community, at this time, will suspend consideration of the request by the Dominican Republic for membership of the Caribbean Community. Furthermore, the Community will review its relationship with the Dominican Republic in other fora including that of CARIFORUM, CELAC and the OAS. It cannot be business as usual,” the statement said.

CARICOM said it supports the visit of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and will request an advisory opinion from the Inter American Court of Human Rights. The Community will also consider the introduction of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly condemning the ruling.

“Moreover we call on the global and regional community to pressure the government of the Dominican Republic to adopt urgent measures to ensure that the jaundiced decision of the Constitutional Court does not stand and that the full citizenship rights of persons of Haitian descent, born in the Dominican Republic are guaranteed. The Caribbean Community accords this matter the highest priority.”

The statement, however, said CARICOM is prepared to engage the Dominican Republic, but the government of the Dominican Republic must show good faith by “immediate credible steps as part of an overall plan to resolve the nationality and attendant issues in the shortest possible time.”

The Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM consists of Chair Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Michel Martelly, President of Haiti and Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Dominican Republic originally became an Observer in CARICOM in 1982 and in 1991, it applied to CARICOM for full membership. In 2005, the Dominican Republic proposed for the second time that they wished to obtain full membership status in CARICOM.

Since 2001, the DR has had an unratified free trade agreement with CARICOM. Since 1992, it has cooperated with CARICOM under CARIFORUM, in an economic pact between CARICOM and the Dominican Republic with the European Union.