Full Text of SR0802 99th General Assembly
SR0802 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Generations of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian | 3 | | descent living in the Dominican Republic have experienced | 4 | | systematic discrimination and inhumane treatment, including | 5 | | being trafficked into the country to perform back-breaking | 6 | | labor in its sugarcane fields for little or no compensation in | 7 | | a system that has been characterized as modern-day slavery; the | 8 | | Dominican Republic's Haitian population has also faced | 9 | | escalating threats to its safety this year through anti-Haitian | 10 | | protests and violence, including the lynching of a Haitian man | 11 | | in a public park; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Throughout this shameful history, during which | 13 | | many Dominicans and the Dominican Republic as a whole have | 14 | | benefitted economically from the low cost labor of Haitians and | 15 | | Dominicans of Haitian descent, the establishment of barriers to | 16 | | legal Dominican citizenship for Haitian migrants and their | 17 | | children, even those born in the Dominican Republic, has | 18 | | remained a constant; in 2010, an amendment to the Dominican | 19 | | Constitution removed its birthright citizenship provision and | 20 | | instantaneously denationalized hundreds of thousands of | 21 | | Dominicans of Haitian descent born to immigrants subsequent to | 22 | | 1929; and
| 23 | | WHEREAS, In 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican |
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| 1 | | Republic applied this amendment retroactively, effectively | 2 | | revoking the citizenship of people born in the Dominican | 3 | | Republic to noncitizens; subsequent to this decision, the | 4 | | government of the Dominican Republic required all migrants and | 5 | | non-citizens to prove that they arrived in the country prior to | 6 | | October of 2011 and to either have a job or be attending school | 7 | | or else face deportation; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, By the government's deadline on June 17, 2015, | 9 | | many men, women, and children of Haitian descent had been | 10 | | unable to register to remain in the country because of a lack | 11 | | of access to formal documentation of their place of birth, date | 12 | | of arrival in the Dominican Republic, work status, or other | 13 | | required information; although the deadline has been extended, | 14 | | an estimated 40,000 persons, fearing sudden deportation, | 15 | | separation from family members, and the loss of their | 16 | | belongings, have already left the Dominican Republic for Haiti, | 17 | | where many lack employment and housing and where the sudden | 18 | | population increase is contributing to the lingering | 19 | | humanitarian crisis in that nation; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees | 21 | | estimates that more than 200,000 of those affected by the | 22 | | actions of the Dominican government are now not legally | 23 | | citizens of either Haiti or the Dominican Republic and are thus | 24 | | relegated to statelessness, putting the Dominican Republic in |
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| 1 | | violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to | 2 | | which the Dominican Republic and the United States are | 3 | | signatories and which states, "No one shall be arbitrarily | 4 | | deprived of his nationality"; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, In 2005, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights | 6 | | ordered the government of the Dominican Republic to issue birth | 7 | | certificates to all Dominican-born children, since residents | 8 | | without birth certificates cannot legally attend public | 9 | | school, marry, own property, or vote; however, the Dominican | 10 | | Republic has failed to comply with this ruling and has declared | 11 | | itself no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the court; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Hundreds of thousands of residents of the | 13 | | Dominican Republic are still at risk of deportation at a | 14 | | moment's notice; therefore, be it
| 15 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL | 16 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the government | 17 | | of the United States to bring pressure to bear on the Dominican | 18 | | Republic, using means including sanctions, travel bans, or | 19 | | other tools that leverage the Dominican government's | 20 | | dependence on foreign trade and tourism, to immediately halt | 21 | | any and all discriminatory deportations of Haitians living in | 22 | | the Dominican Republic and Dominicans of Haitian descent, | 23 | | comply with international law, and treat all of its residents |
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| 1 | | fairly and humanely, regardless of color, national origin, | 2 | | migration status, or native language; and be it further
| 3 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 4 | | delivered to President Barack Obama, the members of the | 5 | | Illinois congressional delegation, Secretary of State John | 6 | | Kerry, and Ambassador Samantha Power.
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