Newsletter: December 2002
Nancy Vuckovic and Janelle Taylor, Contributing Editors
Thanks to all who supported the SMA-sponsored events at the 2002 AAA Annual Meeting in Nov. While thoughts of the meeting are still fresh, it’s a good time to begin thinking about the type of sessions you’d like to see at next year’s meeting. Suggestions can be forwarded to me or sent to members of the SMA Board. You can find their contact information on the new SMA website (www.medanthro.net).
Human Rights—Haitians Living in the Bateye Communities of the Dominican Republic
By Lara Tabac (International Planned Parenthood Federation/WHR Inc)
Sociopolitical unrest and poverty converge in Haiti to a degree unparalleled in the Western Hemisphere. As Haiti struggles to find internal stability, the ongoing situation of turmoil—evidenced by the inability of the state to supply basic services such as running/potable water, a civil protection force and health care—means that 80% the population lives in absolute poverty, forcing many to look for havens beyond the borders of Haiti.
No country feels this pressure, or has a more ambivalent relationship to Haiti, than Haiti’s neighbor to the east—the Dominican Republic (DR), which shares the island of Hispaniola. In the early 1900s, Haitians were brought to the DR to harvest cane and expected to return to Haiti during the “dead time.” Haitians were confined to communities, called bateyes, which were initially conceived of as seasonal housing, but have in fact become permanent housing and zones of cultural reference for a stable population of first- and second-generation Dominco-Haitians (estimated to be between 300,000 to 1,000,000), most of whom speak Spanish and have no family in Haiti. The conditions in the bateyes mirror those found in the poorest slums of Haiti. In the DR, Haitians live in a Catch-22 limbo—invited/necessary/permanent, yet expelled/reviled/temporary.
Dominico-Haitians are not afforded the right to citizenship and therefore cannot access the education, public health or legal employment systems. With the fall of the cane industry in the DR, Dominico-Haitians now are working in other agricultural sectors, as well as cane, and still remain a critical source of low-paid labor in the underground economy, construction and domestic work. In none of these endeavors are they afforded the most basic protection from exploitation.
During a recent visit, I was told that it often is construction bosses who call the immigration authorities when a construction project is finished so that the Haitian workers will get deported rather than paid. Deportation remains a constant threat for Dominico-Haitians and any black person in the DR. (The army has been known to round up people based solely on the color of their skin, without asking for any sort of documentation.)
The illegal status of Dominco-Haitians in the DR and the racism and “anti-Haitianism” that defines public discourse is an obstacle for local NGOs who work with this group. At present, there are several small community-based organizations (CBOs) working with this population that tend to fall below the radar of the Dominican authorities, who de facto prohibit service delivery to Haitians. In theory, these CBOs offer health, legal, educational and micro-enterprise development services for bateye residents. In practice, these groups, which provide linkages to the outside world and the international donor community, participate in a much wider range of support services on an emergency basis.
The need for human rights—legal access to state services and freedom from racism—for Dominico-Haitians in the DR is stark. As an anthropologist and program designer, I am working with NGOs to create collaborative networks with CBOs to provide nested sexual and reproductive health services that are linked to other necessary services. The effort is only in its infancy, and funding is difficult to secure, but hopefully a larger movement is starting.
Please send your comments, contributions, news and announcements to SMA Contributing Editors Nancy Vuckovic (nancy.vuckovic@kpchr.org) or Janelle Taylor (jstaylor@u.washington.edu).