PRIME MINISTER of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,Dr Ralph Gonsalves, has called on Caribbean Community governments to “take a very robust stance” against a controversial new law in The Dominican Republic (DR) that is severely impacting on the fundamental rights of people of Haitian descent in that country.
Dr Gonsalves is also seeking a suspension of Venezuela’s oil facility concessions to The Dominican Republic, under the regional PetroCaribe project, for, as he said, this was “discriminatory” treatment against Haitians following a recent judgment by that country’s Constitutional Court.
The Vincentian Prime Minister, who is the incoming chairman of CARICOM, has sent separate letters within the past 48 hours to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Irwin LaRocque, in his efforts to stimulate urgent and meaningful action in opposition to the DR’s new law.
For its part, the government in the DR—a member of the CARIFORUM group of countries (CARICOM plus DR)—denies that the judgement was targeted to affect thousands of immigrants of Haitian descent and that the country remains committed to observance of fundamental human rights principles.
However, in separate letters to the CARICOM Secretary General, and the DR’s President, Danilo Medina, Gonsalves
contends that the court’s judgment required serious reconsideration in the “name of humanity and decency”
Having sent a letter last month, on October 11, to President Medina, appealing to him for an ‘appropriate intervention’ to correct the negative implications of the court’s judgment, Gonsalves told him in his second letter of two days ago: “My dear brother, I urge that you act swiftly in pursuing a path to correct the court’s prejudiced denial of the human and citizenship rights of persons of Haitian descent born in your country…..
“Frankly”, Gonsalves added, “this is a matter on which quiet diplomacy and muted behind-the-scenes dialogue are wholly insufficient. Accordingly, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has taken a robust stance publicly on this matter, while urging you to act properly in the name of humanity and decency..’
He said to President Medina that in view of the prevailing status quo, his government “will not support any application by the DR to join CARICOM”.
Further, that his government would move “for the suspension of the DR from CARIFORUM, as well as for Venezuela to “suspend” the country as a beneficiary state under the PetroCaribe agreement.
In his letter to the CARICOM Secretary General, Dr Gonsalves said that to date the Community’s response “has been too tepid when “we ought to take a very robust stance and act accordingly..”
The Vincentian Prime Minister is scheduled to succeed the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, as the new chairman, and to host the first inter-sessional meeting of Heads of Government within the next two months.
(By Rickey Singh)
