Overview of NCHR's Refugee & Migration Program

Refugee and migration issues have been at the heart of NCHR's work since its formation in 1982 as the National Coalition for Haitian Refugees. Its initial mandate was to assist the ever-increasing flow of Haitian refugees fleeing the brutal Duvalier dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s. It worked to assure Haitian asylum applicants fair hearings in US immigration proceedings and federal courts and to educate the US public about the political and economic causes of the Haitians' flight from their homeland. NCHR continues to monitor United States policy on immigration, migration and refugee matters and to advocate for fair and responsible policies that reflect international legal norms governing these areas. The US is also a focus of NCHR's migration work in the Caribbean.

NCHR has developed a Caribbean Migration and Human Rights Project to investigate and propose solutions for the problems associated with Haitian immigrants living in states throughout the Caribbean region, particularly the difficult situation of the various Haitian populations in the Dominican Republic. Other areas of concern include Haitian immigrant communities in The Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos, Martinique, French Guyana and Jamaica. All of these communities face similar economic and political discrimination and currently face the possibility of massive repatriations to Haiti even though most of the respective communities are comprised of long-term immigrants and their families who have little or no contact with Haiti. NCHR is advocating for a regional approach to these migration problems, one that would involve regional and international migration and development organizations as well as area states.

Currently, NCHR is focusing on migration tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. NCHR's most recent publication on these issues is Beyond the Bateyes: Haitian Immigrants in the Dominican Republic (1996) [Executive Summary]. You may also download a full copy of the report (66 pages) or request an old-technology (paper) version from NCHR at a cost of $10 plus $1.75 for shipping and handling.