President of the Committee of Recognized Refugees and Applications of Refuge United for our Rights Mr. Blot Jean Ederme demanded today along with over 2,000 members a stop to the alleged violence committed against them in the Dominican Republic. 

Mr. Ederme has put our a call for help to the United Nations High Commissioner for the Rights of Refugees and the Dominican Government to respect agreements established in 1967 and 1960 at the Refugees Statutes Convention.

The laws were made in the sixties as part of the Protocol on Human Rights as well as the Conception and Territorial Asylum. 

Mr. Ederme held a press conference on Monday afternoon at the Bono Center and said that for over eight years the Dominican Government has been denouncing that they don’t have legal documents and the Government refuses to renew them, arguing that the files were lost, although the time anticipated for that proceeding is from 30 to 90 days. 

He also said “When not counting on a legal residence, our children have not been able to obtain birth certificates, we do not know if it’s because they are children of refugees or if it’s because we are Haitian.  Those children who are born here are refused the nationality.” 

Mr. Ederme continued to say that anti Haitian racism is very marked “The Government doesn’t offer them security and sometimes, many have been prisoners, also the Immigration Agency deports them, ignoring their rights.  We demand that the United Nations designate an honest and human team to end the abuses by the officials against the Haitians.” 

Closing his argument he sadly said “the life of a ‘slave’ was worthier than those of them here.  To a slave, his master obligatorily gives them a bed or bread, but to us no.  The Haitian refugees, if it weren’t for the Jesuit Service, our children would have died from different causes: for hunger or health: many sleep underneath bridges.” 

He ended by saying that they are living by the grace of God and cannot return to Haiti.