Armando Armenteros, Ramón Andrés Blanco Fernández and Darío Cuba Amparo are heading a committee that seeks to secure international help for Haiti. The Comité Organizador del Acto de Unidad Nacional said that the Dominican people want to preserve harmonious and constructive relations with Haiti but are concerned over the little political and development progress of the neighboring nation. The Committee wants to spur the international community to fulfill commitments made five years ago when Haiti was militarily intervened. They say that "there has been a progressive and unjustifiable abandoning of that nation, that deserves a better destiny." The committee is organizing a major awareness-raising activity for 20 November, when several sectors will gather to appeal to the international community for monetary support and development support in line with goals that were set when Haiti was intervened and then President Aristide was restored to power five years ago. They maintain that the international laissez affair attitude is placing the burden of Haiti’s poverty on the Dominican Republic as thousands of Haitians resort to migrate to the DR to solve their economic problems. The migration is a heavy burden for Dominican social services. Dominican sectors say that the DR is a poor country and can in no way take upon itself the social problems of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Recent news stories have highlighted the increasing number of Haitians that are traveling to the DR to give birth, taking advantage of the free health services that are available to anyone who shows up at a Dominican public hospital emergency room. Also in the news is the debate as to whether Haitians born in the DR are Haitians or Dominicans. The DR Constitution places them in an "in transit" category, and birth certificates have not been readily issued to them. Making matters worse, because of their indigence, the greater majority of Haitians in general do not have birth certificates. While the plight of undocumented adults has not been much of a news story, now the plight of the increasing number of undocumented children is making headlines. Several are now studying in Dominican schools, but confront problems when reaching higher grades and neither them nor their parents can present any legal identity documentation. Most Dominicans would like the Haitian poverty problem to just go away. But increasingly there is a minority that is pressing the point that the increasing Haitian migration is creating a big local problem that Dominicans need to address and find solutions to. Proactive leaders have said that the DR must spur development in Haiti so that less Haitians feel the need to migrate, be this with the establishment of industrial free zone operations by Dominican apparel manufacturers or by the opening of hospitals along the Haitian frontier areas with international aid sponsorship. Others like the Comité Organizador del Acto de Unidad Nacional want to spur international organizations and countries into making a bigger contribution to the development of Haiti.
