OBMICA Newsletter Editorial March 2023

The Dominican Republic, like about a quarter of the countries of the world, is significant both as a host country for migrants who arrive in or transit through its territory and as a sending country for Dominicans. "Migration, trafficking in persons, and migrant smuggling are separate but interrelated issues. Migration can occur through regular or irregular routes and can be a freely chosen option or a compelled option as a means of survival...

If the route is irregular, there may be a smuggler who helps the migrant facilitate entry into the country in order to profit from the transaction. The smuggler may charge an excessive amount and may expose the migrant to serious risks along the route, but once the migrant reaches the destination, the migrant is free to go their own way and normally does not encounter the smuggler again. Trafficking, by contrast, has a different nature because it involves the movement of people for the purpose of exploiting their labor or services. The vast majority of trafficked persons are migrant workers. They seek to escape poverty and discrimination, improve their lives, and send remittances to their families... For most trafficked persons, it is only when they arrive in the destination country that their problems begin, insofar as the promised job does not exist and they are instead forced to work or to do so under conditions to which they had not consented.

It is no coincidence that the increase in migrant smuggling has grown when there is rising international demand for migrant workers... The lack of opportunities for regular migration to other countries and the fact that many migrants are looking for ways to work abroad as a means of survival means that migrants have few options beyond smugglers and traffickers to gain access to these jobs. Many governments have responded to the problem by proposing tougher immigration controls, which can make trafficking and smuggling more profitable and can worsen the situation." (ASS: The Migration trafficking nexus, London 2003). Following the so-called Palermo Protocols (2000), which provide an international legal framework, the country has had a law on trafficking in persons since 2003. However, efforts to update the law with broad support from relevant sectors have been brushed aside under pressure from conservative sectors. By trying to equate irregular migration with highly specific situations of forced labor, anti-migrant groups at the beginning of 2023 have obstructed the arrival of a new law before the Dominican Congress. It is urgent to clarify these confusions in order to move toward more modern legislation that fully protects against trafficking in persons.

Bridget Wooding