THE last time the Dominican Republic committed an atrocity against residents of Haitian descent, the rest of the world paid little heed. In 1937 Rafael Trujillo, a brutal dictator, ordered troops to clear the country’s borderlands of Haitians whom he said were thieves. In five days thousands of people were killed. Haiti’s government issued only a mild protest.Such violence is fortunately a thing of the past. But tensions between the two countries have increased after what the Dominican Republic’s critics claim is a legal atrocity. In September its Constitutional Court ruled that the current policy, under which those born in the country are only granted citizenship if at least one of their parents was a legal resident, should apply retroactively to people born before it was implemented from 2004 onwards. According to human-rights groups, that leaves over 200,000 people of Haitian descent stateless. This time, Haiti and its allies are making more of a fuss.The government argues that the ruling clarifies an ambiguous situation. On November 29th the president, Danilo Medina, decreed that all undocumented foreigners have 18 months, during which they cannot be deported, to register with the authorities. Applicants who show “unquestionable” ties to the country, such as studying or working there, speaking Spanish, having native relatives and owning property, will be eligible for...
via The Economist: The Americas http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21591203-and-no-agreement-how-many-have-been-cut-citizenship-storm-hispaniola?fsrc=rss|ame
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