In an interview with the BBC, the Dominican ambassador to the United Kingdom, Federico Cuello called on the Haitian authorities to issue identity papers to its citizens. He focused on the plight of millions of people born in Haiti who have not obtained documentation because of the high cost. Cuello stressed the point: “In Haiti, it’s very expensive to get papers, and I don’t see any NGO raising this issue in the international arena,” he said.
Most Haitians have crossed the border to the Dominican Republic seeking work but without a birth certificate, passport or official identity papers.
The BBC reported that the Dominican ambassador Cuello says it is up to the immigrant’s country of origin to issue their citizens with the relevant papers – and make them affordable.
“The Dominican Republic is ensuring that on our side of the border the procedures are transparent and non-discriminatory, and I hope this will lead our neighboring authorities to do their part,” he told the BBC.
Cuello also called on the international community to look at why so many Haitians were leaving their country to find work in the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic denies that a ruling by its highest court that says that the children of undocumented migrants born in the country are not eligible for Dominican nationality is discriminatory. The BBC reported that the country’s position is that “it is trying to regularize the status of undocumented immigrants to its country.”
It explained the Dominican Republic would provide migrants with temporary resident permits.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24743679