The UN to help Dominican Republic control Haiti border

Santo Domingo.- The Armed Forces Ministry on Monday signed a agreement to boslter mechanisms to protect victims of trafficking, including the Border Police (CESFRONT), the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), and the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The project aims to improve prevention, investigation and punishment for such crimes at the border, taking into account the international conventions ratified by Dominican Republic, through a plan to train CESFRONT agents.

As part of the agreement members of the armed forces stationed at the border will be trained in Human Rights, Children’s Rights and International Refugee Law to protect victims and control the crimes of trafficking.

Armed Forces Minister Sigfrido Pared said the agreement includes the creation and training of a team of trainers in those areas and stronger coordination between government agencies, civil society and the military, to identify and protect victims of human rights violations, persecution and transnational crimes.

In addition, the UN agencies will provide technical assistance to the armed forces, to design and implement monitoring and evaluation of the situation and to develop a Code of Conduct and contingency plans to handle cases of trafficking and smuggling across the border.

The agreement comes just one month after the Jesuit priest Regino Martinez, head of the NGO Border Solidarity, called the smuggling of aliens across the border from Haiti a multi-million dollar business shared by the owners safe houses, transporters and law enforcement agencies.

Upon making the complaint, the prelate said that although the volume of observed migrants seemed small, it was a 24 hour per day traffick.