In the days and weeks following the earthquake, many praised the neighboring Dominican Republic for its humanitarian response. Amid the cholera outbreak in Haiti later that year, the Dominican Republic began implementing policies motivated by xenophobic attitudes.
Background Information
- Introduction
- Overview of the Earthquake and Cholera Outbreak
- Overview of Dominican Haitian Relations
- Overview of Human Trafficking on the Island of Hispaniola
Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, which attracts many sex tourists to the island. The first is an increase in the movement of people within the country and across the border to the Dominican Republic. Public justice system response to commercial sexual exploitation of children in the Dominican Republic.
A high court ruling in the Dominican Republic in 2013 deepened Haitians' vulnerability.
Theoretical Framework of Trafficking Factors
Introduction
Research into human trafficking has major limitations due to the underground and illegal nature of the work traffickers do. The information that is available comes from non-profit organizations, government agencies and researchers who have researched the topic. Within the island of Hispaniola, research into human trafficking has been conducted on a smaller scale by organizations such as UNICEF, the International Justice Mission, the US State Department, and the International Organization for Migration.
I have not found any information about human trafficking coming from the governments of Haiti or the Dominican Republic. This is to be expected as the State Department's Trafficking in Persons report categorized both countries as Tier 2 Watch List, Tier 3 or Special Cases from 2007 to 2012, meaning their governments "do not fully meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.”72 Most NGO reports on human trafficking in Haiti and the Dominican Republic focus on the problem of the forced servitude of children in Haiti and child trafficking within both countries and across the border. Organizations such as International Justice Mission entered the area only years after the earthquake and thus do not provide information on human trafficking before and after the earthquake.
To gain a more complete understanding of island trafficking around the earthquake, I use theor.
Factors that Predict Trafficking
In addition, he identified discrimination based on race and ethnicity as a motivator for human trafficking. As a result, smugglers have to be resorted to for movement within the country and across borders, leading to higher levels of human trafficking. In addition, they analyzed more than 200 ILO reports that calculate aggregate estimates of human trafficking and forced prostitution.
Although these factors are not necessarily the direct causes of human trafficking, they are predictive of high levels of human trafficking based on historical data. Women therefore have to find illegal means of migration, which often result in cases of human trafficking. Newman and Cameron found that discrimination based on race, both at home and in the destination country, is common in regions with high levels of human trafficking.
The factors that most directly apply to the case of Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the years after 2010 are the level of economic factors, the level of discrimination and the openness of borders. These studies argue that the deterioration of the economic situation and the increase in poverty stimulate migration and can increase the risk of human trafficking. Finally, Obokata argues that strict immigration policies lead to more human trafficking, while Denailavo-Trainer and Belser argue that less protected borders lead to more cases of human trafficking.
Poverty and Economic Conditions
Introduction
Increased Migration
They estimated that over 105,000 homes were destroyed and 208,000 suffered major damage.85 Due to homelessness and a lack of job opportunities, large numbers of people were forced to either rely on international aid resources such as tent cities or leave Port-au-Prince . According to the National Census of the Dominican Republic in 2010, over 300,000 Haitians immigrated to the country that year.88 Research in Eastern Europe conducted by Toman Omar Mahmoud and Christoph Tresbech in 2006 found that "both supply and demand side predictors of individual trafficking. risks to be higher in areas with large-scale emigration".89 Since emigration from Haiti thus increased sharply in the period after the earthquake, it is likely that the risk of human trafficking has also increased.
Desperation and Risk-Taking
The earthquake results in an increase in unemployment, loss of homes, and an overall economy for the country of Haiti. Individuals found themselves in situations that seemed impossible to escape and thus, were likely to take more risks to provide for their family and bring them to a place of greater opportunity. Marie-Elie Alexis, UNICEF Border Project Manager, stated that post-earthquake traffickers "promise something, education, a better life, food for their children".95 Parents who are desperate to help their children are more likely to fall into traps. of cunning traffickers.
One of the Haitian mothers interviewed admitted to selling four of her five children for 50 gourdes (approximately US$1.20) each while living in a tent city in an attempt to provide for her one remaining son.96 Trafficker promised that her children would get a family that would be able to support them. Another example of trafficking that shows the ease with which traffickers were able to purchase children is that of ten US citizens who were charged with trafficking at the border in February 2010.97 While this church group was reportedly in the country to help after the earthquake and was In an effort to help the children they were transporting, they discover the shocking truth about vulnerable children after the earthquake. With just that promise and no legal action, 10 foreigners were able to take control of 33 children from Haiti and take them to the border.
The extreme situations that Haitians experienced after the earthquake forced them to provide for themselves and their families in any way they could. Many have resorted to moving out of the capital and entering risky situations to get their children to a better place. The combination of increased movement of people and the desperation of those impoverished led to circumstances in which human trafficking from Haiti to the neighboring country of the Dominican Republic was more likely to occur.
Discrimination
Introduction and Methodology
He discusses the blatantly racist portrayals of Haitians in the “funny” section of the Listín Diario. This increased use of a term that reflects poorly on Haitians demonstrates the increased discrimination they faced in the Dominican Republic after the earthquake. The final theme I identified in these articles from the Listín Diario newspaper is the use of discussion of cholera and hygiene among “other” Haitians in the Dominican Republic after the earthquake.
Those who are black are excluded from the Dominican Republic because they pose a perceived threat to cleanliness and health in the Dominican Republic. After the earthquake, Daly Guilamo conducted an investigation into "Dominican jokes" in the newspaper Listín Dario. The blatant racism portrayed here and the lack of response show how negatively Haitians were perceived in the Dominican Republic.
International Justice Mission conducted a research project on sex trafficking in the Dominican Republic from 2010 to 2015. Under the 1924 Dominican Constitution, children of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic were legally required to receive citizenship until 2004. Haitian women who worked were much more likely to have jobs in the informal sector.
Analysis of Newspaper Articles and Cartoons
Border and Immigration Policies
Introduction
Growing xenophobic attitudes in the Dominican Republic, especially towards Haitians, had a drastic impact on policy changes on the island, ultimately increasing the vulnerability of Haitians within the country and at the border. At the same time, large parts of the border remained accessible through unofficial crossings with the help of human traffickers.
New Immigration and Citizenship Policies
In 2010, the Dominican Republic adopted a new constitution that essentially re-implemented what was achieved in Law 285-04, but was now part of the supreme law in the country and was stated in such a way that it was not open to interpretation is not. It declares that those born on Dominican territory are citizens with the exception of children of diplomats, foreigners in transit, or those living illegally in the Dominican Republic.124 The constitution, even more directly, barred any children of Haitian immigrants. to receive citizenship. , no matter how long their parents lived in the country. This constitutional change would have serious impacts on Haitians in the following years as more and more attempted to cross the border.
In the midst of the cholera outbreak that began in October 2010 in Haiti, the Dominican Republic began using these new immigration laws as justification to deport thousands of Haitians without due process. In the TC168-13 ruling, the new definition of citizenship adopted by the 2010 Constitution was decided to be applied retroactively as far back as 1929. Under this implementation, thousands of individuals who had lived their entire lives in the Dominican Republic Republic, who spoke only Spanish and had never visited Haiti, were stripped of their Dominican citizenship.
Many of these individuals came from families who had lived in the Dominican Republic for decades.127 International organizations and governments considered this court decision a major violation of human rights and called on the Dominican Republic to make a change. Meanwhile, there were more repatriations, and anyone who appeared to be Haitian who had no documentation was at risk of being picked up and taken across the border. There was a four percent decrease in the number of Haitians attending school in the Dominican Republic and a fifty percent increase in the likelihood that documentation barriers were the main reason for not attending school.129 As employment and school attendance for Haitian migration declined , it is likely that their.
Crossing the Border
This analysis, combined with estimates of human trafficking and migration on this island before and after the earthquake, suggests that trafficking of Haitians on Hispaniola increased as a result of the earthquake. Discussions with individuals would provide a better understanding of how Haitians were treated in daily life before and after the earthquake and how discrimination affected their ability to obtain employment and rely on authorities after the earthquake. Sinks to the Press: Cholera and the Execution of State Power on the Dominican Border.
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The 'First' Case of Cholera in Haiti: Lessons for Global Health." The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 86, no. Recipe for Disaster: Construction Methods, Materials, and Building Performance in the January 2010 Haiti Earthquake." Earthquake Spectra 27, no. From Hidden Hand to Heavy Hand: Sugar, the State and Migrant Labor in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.” Latin American Research Review 34, no.
