DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

Over the years, hundreds have demanded Dominican nationality be allowed for “the stateless” migrants from Haiti and their descendants. Dominican legislation does not recognize as Dominicans those born here of parents without legal residence status. Yet, for decades, human rights organizations have placed the onus on the Dominican Republic, ignoring the fact that the problem originates in Haiti itself where much more than half of the population in Haiti does not have legal identity nor is a path being forged for this major violation of human rights situation to change.

This past week, Dominican lawyer Jaime Fernandez Lazala asks the question everyone should be asking? Why does the Haitian state and government make it so costly and difficult for people in Haiti to get a legal identity? This has created a nation of people without papers, without rights.

As anywhere else in the world, he writes that in Haiti, possessing a national identity document is not only a legal right but...