Decent Work Crosses Borders: Focusing on the Banana Sector in the Northwest Line, Dominican Republic

This study describes the trajectories of Haitian workers on banana farms in the Northwest Line of the Dominican Republic, including recruitment and permanence from a gender perspective. Its findings and recommendations are compiled in a publication available in Spanish and French for online reading and download.

Between 2019 and 2020, OBMICA conducted this exploratory study to examine the situation of Haitian migrant workers in the banana sector of the Dominican Republic's Northwest Line. The research served as a reference for the binational project Decent Work Crosses Borders, an initiative that promotes good human rights practices among companies in the banana sector within the framework of fair trade actions with Europe.

The study analyzes workers' migration and labor trajectories, their living conditions and those of their families, including socio-demographic profiles, access to services, and financial circumstances related to remittances and debt. It also assesses the impact and reach of the National Plan for the Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE) among banana workers and its influence on improving labor conditions in the sector.

Among the report's recommendations are reliable migration policies that allow safe mobility, stronger attention to migration regularization for workers and their families, measures to prevent raids and deportations without due process, support to improve workers' financial conditions, and information campaigns on labor association and unionization rights.