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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC / HAITIAN STATELESS
STORY: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC / HAITIAN STATELESS
TRT: 6.52
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 JANAURY 2012, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
1. Various shots, Haitian migrants in the Bateye Molino Paul
2. Various shots, fields “Canne a Sucre”
3. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Lamour Auguste, Haitian Braceros:
“I can’t go out in the street, I feel like I am an animal. If I go out, the police can arrest me and take me home in a very bad shape. This is the reason why I am staying here in this dirty place so that the chief doesn’t see me. I don’t feel good.”
4. Various shots, daily live of Braceros in the Bateye Molino
5. Travelling shot, Bateye AB4
6. Various shots, children in the Bateye AB4
7. Wide shot, Eury Paul walking in the Bateye AB4
8. Various shots, Eury Paul preparing examination
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Eury Paul:
“I am a student, but I have no birth certificate. This is why I don’t have the possibility to continue my studies. I would like to success my exams, to get my diploma and then become an engineer. ”
10. Wide shot, Eury and his brother
11. Pan left, Franklin Jean arriving in his house
12. Close up, Franklin Jean opening the door
13. Various shots, Franklin Jean showing his documents
14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) “Franklin Jean”:
“I have all my legal documents because my parents have done a declaration for me. With those I have no problem. I am sure; I can go to the University or make a career after my studies.”
15. Various shots, situation in the Bateyes
16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Idalina Bordignon, Coordinator NGO ASCALA:
“This is a big challenge that these people are encouraging us to get on our feet. Not only for these projects, but also for the authorities of the country, those consider the Bateys Communities as part of this province.”
17. Pan left, Elena CANDIO walking in Bateye Balio John
18. Various shots, Elena showing her Passport
19. Various shots Elena children in her house
20. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Elena Candio Project Beneficiary:
“There was a lot of movements for this process of documents, it helped me, I am very glad. I didn’t think again to get my Haitian passport.”
21. Various shots, UNHCR staff with Braceros in Bateye
22. Various shots, office of Chief Mission UNHCR in Santo Domingo
23. SOUNDBITE (English), Gonzalo Vargas Lloas, Chief Mission UNHCR Dominican Republic:
“Documentation is the beginning of the life; UNHCR is working on a program to try to help Haitians Braseros find their passport and other documents like the Dominican residence card.”
24. Various shots, women feeding rabbits
25. Various shots, women feeding small birds
26. SOUNDBITE (Créole) Lourde Antonine, ASCALA NGO’s Staff :
”We’re seeking a way to keep a community development spirit between the women. This spirit will permit to the Haitian and Dominican women to sit together, to reflect and to think together. When there is some profit from the poultry sale they share it among them. There is also a transparency system of project management.”
27. Wide shot, Balio John Bateye
28. Various shots, Alphabetization
29. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Phillip Staismural, Professor Alphabetization
“All the participants of this program like it, not only they are learning to read and write but also they feel good because the others accept them. They can give their impressions. This program makes them happy.”
30. Various shots, people in the Bateye
In San Pedro de Marcoris, a province located in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic, thousands of acres of land are sprinkled with sugar cane plants.
And the majority of workers there are Haitian, there called Braceros and most are illegal here.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Lamour Auguste, Haitian Migrant:
“I can’t go out in the street, I feel like I am an animal. If I go out, the police can arrest me and take me home in a very bad shape. This is the reason why I am staying here in this dirty place so that the chief doesn’t see me. I don’t feel good.”
This is a common problem for Haitian migrants in Dominican society. Some have been living here for more 30 years, in farming houses called Bateys. Their illegal status has them living in limbo, always worried about arrest and deportation. And they lack access to basic services.
Children of migrants also don’t have birth certificates, a fundamental right for a child. Even though article 11 of the Dominican Republic’s constitution says that each person born in the Dominican Republic, is Dominican, it doesn’t seem to apply to those born form Haitian migrants.
Eury was born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents, he doesn’t have a birthday certificate. He is 16, but will not be able to receive a diploma.
SOUNDBTE (Spanish) Eury Paul, Descendant, Haitian Migrant :
“I am a student, but I have no birth certificate. This is why I don’t have the possibility to continue my studies. I would like to success my exams, to get my diploma and then become an engineer.”
However Franklin, who was born to Haitians, has a Dominican family to help sponsor him. He fears he may still lose his status in the Dominican Republic.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Franklin Jean, Descendant of Haitian Migrant:
“I have all my legal documents because my parents have done a declaration for me. With those, I have no problem. I am sure I can go to the university or make a career after my studies.”
According to Amnesty international, there are about one million Haitians migrants and family members living in the Dominican Republic. Eighty percent of them live in difficult conditions in the Bateyes.
The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) ASCALA with support from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the European Union are helping Haitians to become legal and to integrate them into the Dominican society by providing them with Spanish language classes and income generating jobs.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Idalina Bordignon, Coordinator, NGO ASCALA
“This is a big challenge that these people are encouraging us to get on our feet. Not only for these projects but also for the authorities of the country that consider the Bateys Communities as part of this province.”
Elena is one of the beneficiaries – she received her birth certificate. So far 250 birth certificate and 250 passports have been obtained by migrants. The NGO also recruited a law firm to defend some of the sensitive cases.
SOUNDBITE CreoLe) Elena Candio, Project beneficiary:
“There were a lot of movements for this process of documents, it helped me, I am very glad. I didn’t think again to get my Haitian passport.”
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is working with the Haitian embassy in Santo Domingo to help the Braseros and their children obtain official documents.
SOUNDBITE (English)Gonzalo Vargas Lloas, Chief of UNHCR in Dominican Republic:
“Documentation is the beginning of the life. UNHCR is working on a program to try to help Haitians Braseros to find their passport and other documents like the Dominican residence card.”
Women are the most vulnerable in these farming houses. Breeding rabbits and poultry allows Haitian women and their Dominican partners to come together on income generating activities and to lead a community life.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Lourde Antoine, Animator, ONG ASCALA
“We’re seeking a way to keep a community development spirit between the women. This spirit will permit to the Haitian and Dominican women to sit together, to reflect and to think together. When there is some profit from the poultry sale they share it among them. There is also a transparency system of project management.”
But integration of Haitian migrants through these programmes will not be successful without the ability to speak the native language. So they organized an Alphabetisation program in Spanish for Haitians braseros as well as Dominicans living in the Bateyes.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Phillip Staismural, Alphabetisation Professor :
“All the participants of this program like it, not only they are learning to read and write but also they feel good because the others accept them. They can give their impressions. This program makes them happy.”
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that all human beings are born equally in rights and in dignity. It is the obligation of the authorities of the two countries concerned to seek a final solution to this problem that could be called a social injustice.
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