DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Head of state and government: Leonel Fernández Reyna
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
International Criminal Court: ratified
UN Women’s Convention and its Optional Protocol: ratified

Overview - Covering events from January - December 2005
Discrimination against Haitians : Killings by security forces : Torture and ill-treatment : Violence against women : Human rights defenders

Large numbers of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian origin were forcibly expelled. Many were beaten and some killed in a climate of xenophobic hostility. Women continued to suffer domestic violence.

Discrimination against Haitians

Expulsions

There were mass expulsions of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian origin across the border to Haiti. Although officials stated that the round-ups and deportations were to combat illegal immigration, Haitians with a legal right to remain in the Dominican Republic and black Dominicans were among those forcibly expelled.

  • In May, more than 3,000 Haitians and black Dominicans were forcibly expelled in three days. They were reportedly rounded up in the early hours of the morning, forced onto buses and left at the Haitian border. Many were unable to collect their belongings and some were allegedly separated from family members.
Access to nationality
  • In October, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Dilcia Yean and Violeta Bosico v Dominican Republic. The two girls of Haitian descent were born on Dominican territory and lived there all their lives but were denied Dominican nationality in contravention of the country’s Constitution. As a result, they could not obtain birth certificates or enrol in school, and remained vulnerable to expulsion. The Court found that the Dominican Republic’s application of nationality laws and regulations was discriminatory and therefore contravened international human rights standards.
Assaults

Haitians faced an increasing climate of xenophobic hostility, particularly after the murder in May of a Dominican shop owner in the north of the country, allegedly perpetrated by Haitian migrants. Incidents of lynching were reported, often after the murder or rape of a Dominican, and several Haitians were killed. The security forces failed to intervene to halt attacks.
  • In August, three Haitians were lynched and burned alive following an alleged argument with a group of Dominicans.
Killings by security forces

There was an increase in the number of people killed in shoot-outs (“intercambios de disparos”) with members of the security forces, apparently in the context of anti-crime operations. Between January and August, 348 people were killed in this way, according to official statistics, compared with 360 such deaths during the whole of 2004. Uncorroborated reports suggested that a number of these fatal shootings may have been extrajudicial killings. Fifty-five members of the security forces were reportedly killed in the same eight-month period.

Torture and ill-treatment

In August, five inmates from the prison in the city of Mao were reportedly tortured by police personnel from the prison, leaving them with broken ribs, arms and legs. They had allegedly helped another inmate to escape. The escaped prisoner was eventually shot dead by prison guards. According to press reports, the Chief of the National Police ordered the local police commander to open an investigation into the prisoners’ allegations of torture.

Violence against women

Violence against women continued to be widespread, affecting women from all backgrounds. During the first six months of 2005, the Care Centre for Battered Women reported 386 cases of sexual violence in which 205 women were beaten.

Human rights defenders

Father Pedro Ruquoy, a Belgian Catholic priest, received death threats in September apparently because of his work on behalf of Dominican peasants and Haitian migrants working in sugar cane plantations. As a result of the threats and other intimidation, Father Ruquoy was forced to leave the Dominican Republic in November after 30 years of missionary work in the country. According to reports, other human rights defenders working on behalf of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian origin also had to flee the country.

Dominican Republic
Archive information

Dominican Republic: Fear for safety/death threat — Father Pedro Ruquoy, human rights defender
(AI Index: AMR 27/001/2005)