Haiti-Dominican Republic Migration Tensions Persist

March 15, 1997 -- Migration-related tensions have continued between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the wake of the Dominican government's decision to halt the massive deportation of Haitian residents that began in early January.

Problems have been particularly evident in the border region. On the Haitian side, a crowd of 4,000 protesting the decision of the Haitian government to restrict border crossings to persons with valid passports and visas burned an immigration station to the ground and sent two Haitian policemen fleeing into the Dominican Republic, where they were arrested and sent to Santo Domingo. The protesters sought to maintain their right to buy and sell goods in Dominican towns on the other side of the border. This cross-border commerce is vital to the economic life of communities in both countries.

On the Dominican side, violence has also become an issue. The bloody killing of a Dominican soldier was initially blamed on Haitians, and led to at least one reprisal killing of an innocent Haitian by Dominican soldiers, before the murdered soldier's father blamed it on a relative. In response to an inquiry about why Haitians were initially accused, the father noted the universal practice in the border area to blame all crime on Haitians, using them as scapegoats by Dominicans seeking to avoid arrest and the police seeking to avoid blame for failure to reduce or solve robberies and violent incidents. Certain nationalist news media rehashed old stories of unsolved killings and cattle and other theft in the border area to suggest that Haitian-authored violence was increasing and creating great insecurity in the region, while less ideological media noted that cross-border commerce and traffic had returned to normal once the Haitian government lifted its border-crossing restrictions.

On the diplomatic front, press attacks against Haitian ambassador Guy Alexandre continued for his allegedly "disrespectful" criticisms of the Dominican government's handling of the repatriations. Alexandre will reportedly end his 6-year tour of duty in the Dominican Republic as soon as a replacement is appointed by Haitian president René Préval. The Dominican ambassador to Haiti was abruptly transferred to another post with no explanation given by the Dominican Foreign Ministry.

Bilateral discussions concerning the migration/deportation issue remained confused. The Haitian government has allegedly proposed a series of joint measures to the Dominican government, but as of today the Dominican Foreign Minister has denied seeing any such proposals and suggested that the migration issue would be treated by the existing Bilateral Commission. The Commission is a committee of ministers and officials from both countries charged with coming up with recommendations for bilateral accords in several areas, including commerce, economic development, the environment and migration. The Dominican government has apparently decided to invite an international organization to oversee future repatriations; speculation has centered on the International Organization for Migration, a quasi-governmental group that is currently repatriating Haitians from the British Turks and Caicos islands.

Discussions concerning joint development projects in the border area financed with funds from the European Community's Lomé Convention are apparently underway -- a delegation of Dominican officials visited Port-au-Prince this week to discuss development possibilities.