CCHD Statement on the Events that Took Place in Pedernales on Monday, March 12, 2018
The member organizations of the Haitian-Dominican Dialogue Commission (CCHD) categorically reject the acts of violence and incitement to hatred that have taken place since Monday the 12th in the border town of Pedernales and urge the Haitian and Dominican states to take the necessary measures to guarantee harmony between the two peoples of the island.
In its role as a coordinator of initiatives for peaceful coexistence and sound binational understanding, the CCHD joins in the grief of the families of Neida Urbaez and Julio Reyes Perez and urges the Haitian authorities to collaborate with the Dominican authorities so that this crime may be promptly and satisfactorily clarified.
Civil society organizations that make up the CCHD condemn every act of incitement to hatred and request that the Dominican state take action to prevent abuses and violence by mobs, leading to the persecution of Haitian nationals residing in the town of Pedernales. Guaranteeing the civil rights of migrants and their families, especially border residents, is vital in order to prevent human rights violations and help preserve harmony between the peoples of the island.
It is also of vital importance that the Dominican state strengthen its legislative framework against acts of hatred such as those that took place in Pedernales, including the approval of the draft "General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination," which is still awaiting approval in the Dominican Congress.
The CCHD also calls on the media of both countries, as well as on the citizens of Haiti and the Dominican Republic as a whole, to avoid generalized blame and to allow the justice processes of both countries to proceed, with the highest objective of restoring lasting peace in this border zone.
Signing organizations:
In Haiti
• Fondation Zile-Haiti (FZ);
• Groupe d'Appui aux Rapatries et Refugies (GARR);
• Observatoire de Recherche sur les Rapports Elites-Populations et les Migrations (ORREM);
• Reseau Frontalier Jeannot Succes (RFJS);
• Sant Pon Ayiti (SPA);
• Service Jesuite aux Migrants - Solidarite Fwontalye Haiti (SJM-SFw-Haiti).
In the Dominican Republic
• Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitianas (MUDHA)
• Movimiento Socio Cultural para los Trabajadores Haitianos (MOSCTHA);
• Centre for Migration Observation and Social Development in the Caribbean (OBMICA).
• Centro de Desarrollo Social (CEDESO)
• Centro Cultural Dominico Haitiano (CCDH)