On Sept. 23, the Dominican Constitutional Court issued a ruling that human rights and immigration advocates say strips citizenships from as many as 300,000 Haitians. Retroactive to 1929, the court denied citizenship to anyone whose parents was not legally in the Dominican Republic.
Dominican officials have defended the decision saying it ends the uncertainty for children of immigrants and opens the door for them to apply for residency and eventually citizenship. Last week, after widespread international condemnation, officials announced they had come up with a plan to address the legal status of those impacted by the ruling, and would announce it in coming days.
The Foreign Ministry also released a statement saying the country was involved in a diplomatic outreach “to avoid distortions and misinterpretations” of its position.
Gonsalves said the Caricom leaders on Tuesday plan to consider formally condemning the ruling and adopt the position taken Friday by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Eastern Caribbean leaders described the constitutional court decision as “repulsive and discriminatory,” and expressed “collective abhorrence.”
The leaders also called on Caricom to suspend the Dominican Republic’s application to join their community until corrective measures are taken and for the country’s membership in CARIFORUM, a grouping of former European colonies that get preferential trade terms from the European Union, to be reviewed.