OAS proposes mechanisms for Dominican Republic-Haiti dialogue

WASHINGTON (CMC) – The Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, has recommended the establishment of mechanisms of dialogue between the Dominican Republic and Haiti to resolve the situation in the border zone between the two countries, beginning with a meeting between the two sides.

On Wednesday, the OAS leader proposed seeking mechanisms to help the displaced persons, especially the most vulnerable.

In particular, Almagro proposed that the OAS facilitate the dialogue and that it support the processes of registration of migrants underway through the Universal Civil Identity Project of the Americas (PUICA).

The recommendations include – facilitating dialogue between the two countries; to find paths of solution to the present difficulties and establish a mechanism of understanding.

Almagro recommended that “the good offices of the OAS” be used to “strengthen the processes of registration underway, in particular in the support for the Programme d’Identification et de Documentation des Immigrants Haitiens through the Universal Civil Identity Project of the Americas – or ‘PUICA’ of the OAS.”

Almagro, who presented the report to the member states in the Permanent Council of the OAS, also requested that the national authorities and the international community seek mechanisms to help the displaced persons, in particular the most vulnerable.

The report, compiled on the basis of the observations of the OAS Mission to the two countries from July 9 to 14 headed by the Secretary for Political Affairs, Francisco Guerrero, was sent on Tuesday to the governments of the Dominican Republic and Haiti simultaneously.

A constitutional court in the Dominican Republic has ruled that the government can deport Dominicans of Haitian descent even though they were born in the Dominican Republic.

The contentious issue has evoked global condemnation, with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United Nations, among others, calling on the Dominican Republic to reconsider its decision and decrying the proposed action in violation of international human rights norms.