The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) Roberto Rosario called the accusations against the Dominican Republic of creating stateless people “a smokescreen” by the international community to compel the Dominican Republic to assume responsibility for the socio-economic and institutional problems in Haiti. Rosario called Haiti a failed state.
Rosario insisted that all the Constitutional Court Ruling 168-13 called for was to order that the Dominican government implement Immigration law 285-04 that was passed by the legislature during the government of President Hipolito Mejia in 2004. The Immigration law was not enacted by the Mejia or Leonel Fernandez administrations that followed.
In an interview with Diario Libre, Rosario explained that the comprehensive audit to the civil registry since 1929 carried out by the JCE found only 60,869 cases that had elements of irregularity in the registry, which translates to only 0.58% of the registered births.
Rosario explained that the audit revealed major irregularities in the registry of approximately 30,000 individuals. He said there were around another 15,000 cases with lesser irregularities that were able to be resolved with Law 169-14.
Rosario explained that the cost of regularizing the status of Haitians residing in the country is being assumed by the Dominican state.
He added that 70% of the people in Haiti depend on remittances sent by Haitians who are working in the Dominican Republic.
Rosario noted that in a recent article in the Le Nouvelliste newspaper it was reported that the Haitian government officials had reached the conclusion that each year, upwards of 200,000 Haitians need to find work outside of Haiti so that enough financial resources, in the form remittances, could be sent back to Haiti to prop up that nation’s flagging economy and provide a much needed safety net for many families living in poverty throughout Haiti. It seems as though the strongest industrial sector in Haiti is not manufacturing, agriculture or tourism, but rather remittances. Rosario was interviewed by reporters from Diario Libre.
“What is happening is that the international community recognizes that there are severe problems in Haiti and not having been able to find solutions to Haiti’s plight, have turned to the Dominican Republic to provide relief to that nation.
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/dialogo-libre/rosario-la-apatridia-es-una-cortina-de-humo-FF520227