a1808: Financial Times: Haiti-DR mend fences (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

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Haitians and Dominicans mend fences
By Canute James in Kingston
Published: April 26 2002 18:23 | Last Updated: April 26
2002 19:38



Few governments would consider a light industrial park as
something that could better relationships between two
deeply antagonistic countries.

But officials in Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
countries that have clashed over issues ranging from
immigration to human rights abuses, were hoping this might
be a start.

The project at Quanaminthe, on the border the countries
share on the island of Hispaniola, was conceived by the
presidents of the two countries as a way for the two
countries to develop better economic ties.

Haiti, the poorer country, has often complained about the
treatment of its nationals who cross the border in search
of work, mainly in sugar cane fields.

The first factories in the Quanaminthe industrial park,
which spans the border, will begin operating early next
year, and will produce clothing for export.

They will employ 1,500 Haitians and 800 Dominicans during
their first three years in operation, and create another
4,000 jobs in indirect suppliers and services.

Another 8,000 workers will be employed in other clothing
manufacturing plants that will be established later in the
park.

Hipólito Mejía, president of the Dominican Republic, and
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his Haitian counterpart, said that
the venture was "the first child of an indissoluble
marriage of two nations" - indicating what officials said
was a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

However, the no sooner was the park inaugurated than fresh
accusations of human rights abuses emerged: the Dominican
Republic was accused of refusing to grant nationality to
Dominicans born of Haitians, and forcibly sending them to
Haiti.

In a report, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby,
charged that the Dominican government's deportation of
Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent was racially
discriminatory.

It said that "Haitian-looking" people were frequently
deported to Haiti within hours of their detention, causing
families to be separated. It found that Dominican citizens
of Haitian descent were also rounded up and expelled
frequently, though often they had papers to prove their
citizenship and did not speak Haitian creole.

Hugo Tolentino Dipp, the Dominican foreign minister, has
rejected the charges, and said that his government will
pursue its "sovereign" right of repatriating undocumented
Haitians. This was being done with respect to the basic
principles of human rights, he said.

Mr Tolentino said the Dominican Republic was burdened by
having to deal with thousands of Haitians who continued to
cross the border illegally, in violation of agreements
between the two countries. While the Dominican government
respected the rights of Haitians who were in the country
legally and illegally, "no one can deny us our right to
repatriate Haitians".

Haitian officials say that between 2,500 and 3,500 Haitians
and Dominicans have been deported from the Dominican
Republic each month. Dominican officials said that it was
impossible to ascertain the number of Haitians who were in
the Dominican Republic.

However, Mr Meja and Mr Aristide, hoping to end these
controversies, have agreed to expand trade between their
countries, and are seeking foreign investors for projects
similar to the Quanaminthe park.



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