URGENT ACTION

HAITIAN MIGRANTS AT RISK IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Twenty-five male Haitian migrants have been collectively expelled from the Dominican Republic after being rounded up at a meeting on labour rights organized by a migrants’ association. Other Haitian migrants are at risk of being arbitrarily expelled from the Dominican Republic.

On 4 October, soldiers entered a house in the northern town of Montecristi, where a training session on labour rights for migrant workers was being conducted by Solidarity Association of Migrant Workers in the Northwest Region(Asociación Solidaria de Obreros Migrantes de la Linea Noroeste, ASOMILIN). The soldiers detained 25 Haitian nationals present at the meeting, leaving behind two men, and an unknown number of women and children. The 25 detained men were transferred to a military base in Montecristi. The following morning they were driven to the border town of Dajabon, where they were held for few hours until they were driven across the border to Haiti.

According to ASOMILIN, the men did not have the opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention or appeal against the decision to send them back to Haiti. The organization says that none of the men was permitted to telephone a lawyer, or to contact relatives to tell them what was happening. In addition, the soldiers did not allow the men to collect their belongings or wages owed for their work.

Local sources suggest that these expulsions were instigated by local landowners who employ migrant workers, in an attempt to stop the workers from exercising their rights to freedom of association and assembly.

Migrant workers are entitled to protection against arbitrary and collective expulsion from a country. This right is guaranteed in Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 22 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), to which the Dominican Republic is a state party. However, Amnesty International has documented numerous such cases in recent years.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:

• Expressing concern at the rounding up and arbitrary expulsion of 25 Haitian migrants on 4-5 October;

• Urging the authorities to stop collective expulsions of migrant workers;

• Calling on the authorities to ensure that all those facing removal from the Dominican Republic have their cases individually examined in a fair and transparent procedure, where they can challenge the authorities' decisions and have their cases reviewed;

• Urging the Dominican Republic to fulfil its obligations under the ACHR and the ICCPR, both of which prohibit the collective expulsion of foreign nationals.  

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 19 NOVEMBER 2009 TO: