30576: Minsky: (news) Photo exhibit in Paris on Haitians in the DR (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tequila Minsky <tminsky@ix.netcom.com>

SOURCE:REUTERS
FEED HISTORY:+ NEW L!WE (3/6) (0315GMT)


INTRO: Exhibition highlights plight of Haitian sugar workers in
Dominican
Republic.

Controversial exhibition in Paris sheds light on lives of Haitian sugar
cane workers in the Dominican Republic. The exhibition, called "Slaves
in
Paradise" has raised the ire of the government of the Dominican Republic
which denies human rights abuses.


STORY : The Haitian migrants who live and work on the sugar plantations
in
the Dominican Republic have become the focal point of a photographic
exhibition which opened in Paris recently.
      The exhibit features hard-hitting images of the lives of the sugar
workers and says that the workers live in slave-like conditions. The
charge
has been strongly denied by the government of the Dominican Republic.
     The photographer behind the exhibit, Celine Anaya Gautier, said the
exhibition - called "Slaves in Paradise: Contemporary Slavery in the
Dominican Republic" was designed to raise awareness about the plight of
the sugar workers.
     "The aim of the project is to denounce the situation of sugar cane
cutters in the Dominican Republic and to put pressure on the Dominican
and
Haitian government for the situation to change," said Celine Anaya
Gautier, the photographer.  "This exhibition is just a tool to put
across
the situation and to make the situation change on the ground".
     Haitian migrant workers are essential to the sugar trade in the
Dominican Republic and an estimated half a million Haitians live in the
DR.

     According to Gautier, the Haitian migrants are made to pay their own
boat fare and upon arrival they are stripped of their papers.
     Earlier this year, a study by human rights group Amnesty
International
said deep-rooted racial discrimination against Haitian migrants living
in the
Dominican Republic was causing arbitrary mass deportations and the
denial of birth certificates to thousands of children.
     Gautier was only able to gain access to the plantations with the
help
of two priests, Father Christopher Hartley and Father Pedro Roquoy.
     According to Father Christopher Hartley, his decision to speak out
against the treatment of Haitian workers and the help he gave to
Gautier, led
to his forcible departure from the Dominican Republic in 2006.
     "My work was damaging their financial interests, this story is all
about money it has nothing to do with anything else, it has nothing to
do with
the international image of the Dominican Republic, nothing of that kind.
Nothing represents less the Dominican Republic than these three very,
very
rich, wealthy families," said Father Christopher Hartley.
     Amnesty International has co-sponsored the exhibition.
     "We are supporting this exhibition because it illustrates well the
point at which these men, women and children are in a completely
destitute
situation, which is a long way from the rights we acknowledge every
human
being has. We are in a situation where the government of the Dominican
Republic does not assume its international obligations. That is to say
the
respect for the rights of these people, even if they are immigrants,"
said Genevieve Garrigos , Head of the Americas Department at Amnesty
International in Paris.
     Some Haitians working in the Dominican Republic said they had not
encountered  abuses.
     "I have never seen any abuse against them.  I have never seen
anyone beat them, I have never seen any of them imprisoned unjustly, I
have
not seen any of that," said Estela Martinez in the Dominican Republic.

     Other Haitians said they would continue to work in the fields doing
a
job most Dominicans won't do.
     "You know, all the heavy work the Dominicans won't do, the
Haitians will do," Haitian cane cutter Pablo Garcia said.  "Do you
think that the Dominicans are going to come here and cut cane?  Maybe a
couple
of them like me, maybe."
     The government of the Dominican Republic said the exhibition was
damaging.
     "They want to affect tourism but I think that won't happen.
Anyone who comes here will see that this country is free, democratic
where
foreigners, whether they are Haitians, North Americans, South Americans,
Europeans and Asians are treated well," Foreign Minister Carlos Morales
Troncoso said.
     The exhibition continues until June 15.