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Santo Domingo.- Amnesty International (AI) responded this Friday to the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, that "evading criticism does not stop human rights violations" and again asked him to put an end "immediately" to his "racist and discriminatory" migration policies that, in its opinion, are applied against Haitians in this country.
The organization spoke out in a statement after Abinader said that AI "has no moral authority" to question his policy against irregular Haitian migration in the country, which deported 184,001 undocumented Haitians in the first half of this year alone.You may be interested in: Abinader: “Amnesty International has no moral standing to criticize us; let them go fight the gangs in Haiti”
"They have no moral authority to question us when they have been indifferent to a crisis that threatens the entire region," the president declared after being asked about recent statements from AI, who urged the president "to immediately end collective deportations, racial profiling, and discriminatory migration practices."
Abinader's statements this Friday "confirm the Dominican government's strategy of evading the serious allegations of human rights violations that we have repeatedly documented," said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International. Instead, "it resorts to a supposed narrative of national unity built on the exclusion of Haitian people, to justify the non-compliance with its international human rights obligations," he added. Piquer said that AI delivered a set of recommendations within the framework of the dialogue that, at Abinader's request, the Economic and Social Council (CES) convened to address the Haitian crisis and its repercussions in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, which has been mired for years in a deep crisis. However, it was pointed out that they have not received any responses, so AI reiterated its call to the Dominican Executive "to immediately end racist and discriminatory migration policies, stop collective expulsions, restore nationality to Dominicans of Haitian descent, and guarantee legal, safe and accessible pathways for the entry, stay and regularization of migrants." Likewise, it demanded the revocation of the health protocol that links access to health services for undocumented Haitians with deportation, "a measure that puts lives at risk and violates the right to health," the organization stressed in its statement. The Dominican Executive implemented in October 2024 a deportation plan with which it sought to repatriate 10,000 Haitians per week to control irregular migration. Furthermore, in April of this year, Abinader announced fifteen new measures against migration from Haiti, including those related to public hospitals, which particularly affects pregnant women and women in labor. According to data from the General Directorate of Migration (DGM), during the first half of the year, 184,001 Haitians in irregular migratory status were deported, of whom 30,757 were in June.
