In response to a request by President Danilo Medina and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe of Haiti, the Organization of American States (OAS) has prepared a working document entitled “Diagnostic on the Identification of Haitian Migrants Residents in the Dominican Republic,” as reported in Haiti Libre.
The OAS is asking the appropriate authorities from each government to make observations and suggestions on the document. Based on this feedback, the OAS will seek financial assistance from the international community.
As stated in the document, the sole authority for providing national documentation to Haitian nationals, including birth certificates, national identity cards and passports, lies exclusively with the Government of Haiti.
During a press conference to introduce the Project for Identification and Documentation of Immigrant Haitians (PIDIH), Ambassador Cineas and Minister of Haitians Living Abroad (MHAVE) Francois Guillaume II guaranteed that in less than a month, the PIDIH would get underway to ensure the provision of birth certificates, passports and identity cards to Haitians residing in the Dominican Republic at a cost of RD$2,500 pesos (US$58) per adult and RD$150 pesos for children. They also said that the Haitian Government had not received any financial assistance from Venezuela or the OAS, and that the $10 million needed for this program will come from the Haitian public treasury.
Meanwhile, the Haitian community in the Dominican Republic, represented by a number of organizations of Haitian immigrants, workers, students, traders, businesspeople and professionals went to the Embassy of Haiti in Santo Domingo and handed over a petition calling on the Haitian authorities to show responsibility and implement a special emergency staffing process for the documents, which should be free for Haitians living in the Dominican Republic.
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http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11488-haiti-politic-the-haitian-community-in-dr-requires-free-ids.html