Haiti won’t accept ´stateless’ people from Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo- HaitiForeign minister Lener Renauld on Wednesday criticized the start ofrepatriations of their undocumented compatriots from Dominican Republic withoutadherence to a new protocol to enforce the procedure, as Port-au-Prince hasbeen demanding for several months.

"Some peopleliving illegally in Dominican Republic have just been deported. The Haitianstate does not receive persons at risk of statelessness in its territory,"Renauld tweeted.

The Dominican governmenton Saturday confirmed the start of repatriations of undocumented aliens underthe National Regularization Plan (PNR) initiated last year.

In one of only threemessages, the Foreign Minister said he "deplores the provisions of theDominican government to which occur before concluding a dialogue to review therepatriation protocol" between the two countries, noting that Haitimaintains its position stated at the Community Caribbean (CARICOM) and theOrganization of American States (OAS).

During several weeks beforethe first phase of regularization expired on 17 June, Haiti has stressed theneed to negotiate a new protocol for the repatriation of undocumented immigrantsin the Dominican Republic, whose authorities have rejected the proposal citingsovereignty.

The Hispaniola neighborssigned a "Memorandum of understanding on the mechanisms of repatriationbetween the Dominican Republic and Haiti" on December 2, 1999, which states that Dominicanauthorities would avert the separation of "nucleated" families(parents and minor children) in deportations, which also cannot be be carriedout at night or on Sundays, or after noon on holidays.