27413: (news) Chamberlain: Dominican Republic sets rules for Haitian workers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Manuel Jimenez

     SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Haitians working
in sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic will be guaranteed a minimum
wage and improved living conditions under new rules set by the Dominican
government, but will have to return home once the sugar cane harvest is
over.
     Up to a million immigrants from impoverished Haiti are believed to be
working in the factories, sugar plantations and cattle ranches of the far
more prosperous Dominican Republic, under conditions which human rights
groups say are often abusive.
     Dominican Labor Minister Ramon Fadul said the government had ordered
sugar companies and plantation owners to provide Haitians with labor
contracts, guaranteeing them a minimum wage and decent living conditions
while they work in the Dominican Republic.
     "The Haitian workers should be treated with dignity," Fadul told
Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday.
     The contracts, in Spanish and Haitian Creole, will also stipulate that
the Haitians be repatriated once the sugar cane harvest is over, the
minister said.
     That requirement could lead to widespread deportations when the
current harvest, which began in December, ends.
     Fadul did not elaborate on the guarantees provided under the contracts
or say whether they might be required in other sectors of the economy as
well.
     Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is roiled by political
instability and lawlessness. Most of its people earn less than $2 a day.
Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican
Republic.
     Dominican President Leonel Fernandez has acknowledged that Haitians
have been victims of abuse in his country and promised his government would
do all it could to improve conditions for them.
     But human rights groups say abuses targeting Haitians are committed
with impunity in the Dominican Republic and allege that authorities condone
anti-Haitian behavior.