The social justice reality in the Dominican Republic and Haiti

Migration issues at the Haitian-Dominican border

Challenges surrounding migration at the Haitian-Dominican border was one of the main topics that stood out during this study tour. Due to lack of opportunities in their countries, a lot of Haitians migrate to the Dominican Republic in hopes of finding jobs in order to support their families.

During our visit to Centro Montalvo in Dajabón, we had the opportunity to sit with Gustavo. He is the Centre’s Coordinator as well as its National Director for Migration. Centro Montalvo’s mission is to address human rights violations that migrant Haitian workers face when they cross the border to the Dominican Republic. According to the Centre’s employees, who actively work on the field, Haitian migrants (including children) are oftentimes victims of sexual abuse at the border, are victims of violence from the military police at the border, are highly vulnerable to human trafficking and are exploited by their employers. To address and prevent these human rights violations, the Centre collaborates with other local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) to empower migrant workers by helping them form associations and providing capacity building so that they are aware of their rights as workers and to obtain their legal documentations. In addition to human rights violations, the Centre ensures that children of Haitian migrants have access to education.

Haitian children on the streets of Dajabón

During our study tour, we had the opportunity to accompany Father Mario Serrano Marte to the “Hogar de Cristo”, which is a youth shelter for street children that he founded. We learned that, while searching for better opportunities in the Dominican Republic, some Haitian migrants have no choice but leave their children behind in Haiti. The latter would sometimes be left with extended family, who most of the time cannot take care of them or who would abuse them. This instability and violence at home would lead these children to cross the border and look for small jobs as a way to support themselves. In Dajabón, they would go to churches for food and their frequent visits often led to an outcry from Parishioners. Seeing these children get rejected from the churches motivated Father Mario to create a shelter for street children. Unfortunately due to a lack of resources, these children are only allowed to come in at night for a hot meal and for a place to sleep. Father Mario strongly believes that it is very important to keep the children off the streets at night as it is a time when they are most vulnerable to crime and trafficking.

Our group had the greatest honor of spending some time with the children at Hogar de Cristo. We were welcomed by a song in Haitian creole, which they have prepared with the help of the amazing staff from the shelter. I was once told that children are resilient. This could not have been truer after I met with the children at Hogar de Cristo. Despite all the hardships that they faced, these children have hopes and dreams and they were not shy to share their future aspirations with us. We indeed have a lot to learn from children!

Meeting the kids at Hogar de Cristo

Poor working conditions of Haitian migrant workers

If you go to the countryside in the Dominican Republic, you will very likely see Haitian migrants occupying hard labour jobs on Dominican plantations, ranches and construction areas. In fact, our visit to Villa Copa, a banana plantation located in the Monte Cristi province, confirms Father Mario’s statement. The HR Director of this high-producing organic banana plantation admits that 25% of his workforce is Dominican while the remaining 75% is Haitian. After spending a day there, we learned how labour-intensive the banana production actually is. While Villa Copa may provide good working and living conditions to its employees, other employers do not.

Luckily, we were able to accompany Johnny, a leader of the Asociación Solidaria Labores Migrante de la Línea del Noroeste (The Solidarity Association for Migrant Workers of the Northwest Line), to one of the housing compounds in Guayubín. This is where workers from various plantations live and we wanted to witness their living conditions and to listen to their stories.

Johnny explaining the hardships that migrant workers face on plantations

This association is made up of 7000 members and represents and defends the rights of migrant workers who work on banana plantations, ranches and in construction areas. It also accompanies migrant workers in court and to government offices whenever there are grievances made against their employers and also assists migrants at border control checkpoints.

When we first got there, my first observation was the size of the housing compounds. They were made up of several narrow and low-ceilinged wooden houses which were very close to each other and which housed quite a few families. It should be noted that those houses in the compounds are not rent-free and occupants have to pay 500 pesos per month to live in them.

As we followed Johnny through the compound, Haitian migrant workers curiously started peeking out of their houses to see who was coming in to visit them. Only a few minutes later, when they finally noticed that we were accompanied by Johnny, we were surrounded by a group of Haitian migrant workers who were interested in talking to us.

Our group walking into the compound.

Very soon, we heard testimonies of instances of labor abuse on the job:

1. Several migrant Haitian workers, who work for plantations whose products are certified Fairtrade, claimed that they do not receive the premium that are owed to them as part of the fair trade agreement. As a matter of fact, according to Fairtrade Canada :

“When you buy products with the FAIRTRADE Mark, you support farmers and workers as they work to improve their lives and their communities. The Mark means that the Fairtrade ingredients in the product have been produced by small-scale farmer organizations or plantations that meet Fairtrade social, economic and environmental standards. The standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment, payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business or community projects” http://fairtrade.ca/en-CA/What-is-Fairtrade/What-Fairtrade-does .

2. In addition, workers often times do not receive the compensation that was agreed upon at the time of hiring.

3. Most importantly, we learned that sometimes when the crops are being sprayed with pesticides, workers are not removed from the plantations and are expected to continue working.  If they happen to get sick, they can seek care at public hospitals but however, tests need are ran at private hospitals. Therefore, workers have to pay out of their own pocket to have them done. Unsurprisingly, not a lot of them will carry on with the tests.

4. Employers do not assist its employees with their legal documentations and hence, for fear of deportation, migrant workers comply by all conditions imposed by the employer. In the past, it did happen that Haitian migrants were denied re-entry in the Dominican Republic after spending Christmas with their family in Haiti.

Meeting the Haitian migrant workers living in the compounds

One of the workers telling us about instances of labour abuse on the job

The negative impact of mining operations in the Dominican Republic

I. Mining in the city of Restauración, Dominican Republic

On the second day of our trip, we drove to the city of Restauración. This city is very close to the Haitian border and has been the place where Unigold, a Canadian mining company, has started exploration. At a local library, we met with the members of the Restauración Ecological Society (Sociedad Ecologica Restauración). This association was created in 2013,  by 26 community leaders,  out of concern for the environmental issues existing in the province of Dajabón. The group is actively advocating for the labour rights of the mining workers and it is also raising awareness in the community about the detrimental effects of mining on the environment. In fact, if exploitation occurs, Haitians living close to the Dominican border will be affected as their main river source will be contaminated.

Community leaders at Restauracion

According to local community leaders and activists, the Canadian mining company has been dividing the community on the issue of mining in their city. These activists claim that in order to gain the trust of the community, the company offers local workers short-term 15-day contracts to ensure that anyone who looks for a job gets one (even if it is just for a few days) and has built roads in the area. The ecological society is against mining exploration as it usually leads to exploitation.

II. Mining in Loma Miranda

During this study tour, our group also had the opportunity to visit Cotui, a town located at the base of the Loma Miranda Mountain, where several mining companies have been operating.  Over there, we met a group of community activists, led by Father Rogelio, who are actively putting pressure on the Dominican government to shut down the mining exploitation in Loma Miranda and to be designated as a protected area or at the very least have the affected inhabitants relocated.

The camp where the group of community activists met with us

Our group meeting with community activists in Cotui. 

A community activist explaining the detrimental effects of mining in Loma Miranda

Presentation from a community activist

Signs against mining all around Loma Miranda 

Translation : ''Where will the kids play''?

Mining operations in Loma Miranda have caused detrimental effects on agriculture and the health of the inhabitants of Cotui and of other neighbouring cities. Following the group’s presentation, we learned that more and more people are experiencing health issues, with some inhabitants reportedly diagnosed having lead in their blood. Furthermore, mining explorations cause persistent  sound and air pollution, they affect the rivers that the local communities use and they also consume an abundant amount of water. As per an analysis of the water in the subsoil, conducted by the mining company Barrickgold, the river water is not reliable for human consumption anymore. Moreover, in just 1 day, a mining company uses the same amount of water as what a household would use in 20 years. The local government offers each household, regardless of family size, two 5-gallons of water per week, which is insufficient as they are to be used for drinking, cooking, livestock, and washing.

In this region, the water from the rivers is mainly used for agriculture and for household use. Therefore, the health and livelihood of the inhabitants depend on the cleanliness of the river water. As per the picture below, the communities will not be able to rely on agriculture to make a living in the long run, as their produce has considerably deteriorated.

The grey part is the cobalt used in mining.

On the left, vegetables which are farmed in Cotui now. On the right, how vegetables used to look like.

People of the community enjoying the rivers of Cotui.