International relations expert, Emil Chireno criticized the Dominican government handling of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees, two agreements promoted by the United Nations and signed in December 2018 to create new paradigms worldwide for migration. The Dominican Republic pulled out at last minute from signing these agreements.
Interviewed by Diario Libre, Chireno said that the position of the Dominican Republic to not sign the agreement is understandable, and a sovereign decision and is not what is being criticized. Instead he says those in charge of Dominican foreign policy need to be less reactive.
The director of CEG Funglode and KCNP Asesores Legales says what was wrong was the approach the country gave to the agreement and the way the government communicated with the population on the matter.
In the Dominican Republic the existence of the pact was unknown until the signing was imminent. When the scope of the agreement and how it could affect the country was known, after news stories broke in the international press, the Dominican Republic would be one of several countries that pulled out at last minute.
Chireno says the country had been a participant in the negotiations of the agreement until the last moment and was one of the countries that contributed in an active way to the text. He said the abrupt change of position at the end was not well seen in international sectors.
He advocated for better communication with the Dominican people. He said foreign policy needs to respond to the citizens of the country. In the Dominican Republic opposition to both treaties was overwhelming, as reflected in the media. On 17 December 2018, Diario Libre editorial writer, Adriano Miguel Tejada summed up the fears of Dominicans in an editorial applauding the government’s decision not to sign the Global Compact for Refugees and stressing it was contrary to national interests. “And it was for a very simple reason,” wrote Tejada. “Given the state of political and environmental instability of our neighbors, all the residents in Haiti qualified as refugees according to the definition of in the pact.” Haiti has a population of 10.98 million and the Dominican Republic of 10.77 million.
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UN News
18 December 2018
