SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
21
70
th
ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE
OURWORLD
– ISSUE ARCHIVE DECEMBER 2013
Once again,
the role and responsibility of CARICOM is part
of public debate as the region tussles over the September
23rd ruling of the Dominican Constitutional Tribunal
that “foreigners with no residence permit in the country
must be equated with the category of foreigners in transit,
under which their children are not eligible for Dominican
citizenship, even though they were born in Dominican
territory.”
Some members of the Caribbean Community have
been vocal and unambiguous in their positions. Prime
Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, RalphGonsalves,
has written to President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo
Medina, not once, but twice since then, urging him to act
swiftly “to correct the Court’s prejudicial denial of the
human and citizenship rights of persons of Haitian descent
born in your country.”
UWI Professor Emeritus Norman Girvan, a former
Professorial Research Fellow atThe UWI Graduate Institute
of International Relations has been an outspoken advocate
for CARICOM action.
“It is very important for CARICOM to act as a single
bloc—a bloc of 14 states which has voting power in several
regional and international fora—to exert the maximum
effort to see that this ruling is reversed,” he said. “The ruling
is inconsistent with several international conventions and
rulings to which the Dominican Republic is a party, and
especially a 2005 ruling of the Inter American Court on
Human Rights which reiterates the principle of jus soli—the
right of citizenship to persons born within a country.”
“CARICOM is in a position to influence the course of
events in this matter by blocking the DR’s application for
admission to CARICOM and the Caribbean Development
Bank and pressing for suspension of the DR fromCariforum
and PetroCaribe,” he said. “If the ruling is implemented it
will render stateless and vulnerable thousands of native-born
Dominicans, who have lived and established families in their
country of birth for up to 83 years. These persons will find it
increasingly difficult to send their children to school, access
medical services and secure employment.”
“It is a repugnant and racist situationwhich the regional
community should vigorously oppose,” he said.
Professor Girvan also attended a demonstration on
November 6, staged by the UWI-based arts group, Jouvay
Ayiti, outside the Office of the Prime Minister. Using
masquerade in a strategy they call “mas action,” the group
depicted several traditional mas figures that were adapted
for the particular message.
The group presented a petition of 800 numbers to the
Embassy of the Dominican Republic and the Office of the
Prime Minister.
On November 26, a CARICOM statement was issued
after a meeting in Port of Spain, which condemned the
September ruling, calling it “abhorrent and discriminatory.”
It called on 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,” and asked
“regional and hemispheric countries and organisations to
lend their voice to urge the Dominican Republic to right
this terrible wrong.”
“The Community welcomes the intervention by
Venezuela to assist in resolving the issue but 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,” said the statement.
JOUVAY AYITI takes a position.
PHOTOS: CAMILLE QUAMINA, AN MPHIL CULTURAL STUDIES STUDENT AND PART-TIME LECTURER AT THE DEPARTMENT OF
CREATIVE AND FESTIVAL ARTS AT UWI, ST AUGUSTINE.
REGIONMUST STAND UP
“It is very important for CARICOM to act as a single bloc
—a bloc of 14 states which has voting power in several regional and international fora
—to exert the maximum effort to see that this ruling is reversed”
