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For Immediate Release:
December 19, 2013

Media Contact:
Melonie Burke
[email protected]
305-694-2779



Commissioner Monestime urges the Dominican Republic to restore the rights of Dominican citizens of Haitian descent

Miami, FL – Commissioner Jean Monestime and the Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution on December 17th, 2013, condemning and opposing the action taken by the Dominican Constitutional Court to deny citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent.  On September 23, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling that stripped Dominican citizenship from any person born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents from 1929 to the present, effectively revoking the rights of hundreds of thousands of Dominicans and leaving them stateless. The government of the Dominican Republic has a long history of discriminatory behavior, targeting persons based upon their family lineage, national origin and race, in clear violation of international human rights norms and denying their basic civil and human rights.
 
“This ruling is prejudiced and cruel towards Dominican people of Haitian decent and it displaces more than 500,000 people from their rightful country,” said Commissioner Monestime. “I urge the government of the Dominican Republic to restore the civil and human rights of their people.”
 
For more information about the resolution, please contact Commissioner Monestime's office at 305-694-2779.


 

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MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COMMISSIONER JEAN MONESTIME DISTRICT 2