Haitian Lives Matters --- St. Maarten may soon be flooded with these people that are being deported from the Dominican Republic to Haiti.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel has issued an open call to the Governor of St. Maarten whom he said met recently with the President of the Dominican Republic. MP Emmanuel said he is fully aware that St. Maarten does not have Foreign Affairs in its hands but he is of the opinion that St. Maarten’s Governor should contact his “bosses” in The Hague and ask them to intervene in the repatriation of Haitians that were living in the Dominican Republic for years.
Emmanuel said that he has no problem what so ever with any country that trying to protect its borders or even revising is immigration laws that would deal with all foreign nationals living in a specific country. “I feel what is taking place in the Dominican Republic is discriminatory, and even atrocity against nationals of Haiti. If the Government of the Dominican Republic had said they would have sent back home those persons they rescued after the earthquake then I would say they are right because things in Haiti are much better than it was when they were struck with the earthquake some years ago. But here you have people that was born in the Dominican Republic from Haitian decent and they do not know anything about Haiti and they are being sent to a homeland they don’t even know. The current situation is affecting about half a million people most of whom were born in the Dominican Republic. Further to that my major concern in this whole matter is that it will affect St. Maarten/St. Martin because everyone knows that this county is known for having human smuggling/trafficking and how many boats have capsized while taking Haitians or Dominicans to other places. These Haitians that are being repatriated probably have relatives here or even friends and since they may not have that in Haiti they will head towards our shores.”
Emmanuel said that the Court of Human Rights is in The Hague and The Hague can quickly intervene in this matter because it affect its overseas countries.
Emmanuel said he is supporting the Haitian community on St. Maarten because he understands their pain however, he said that just last week the Dominican Association held a meeting at the library where they invited the general public. Emmanuel said he attended the meeting but left very quickly because those that organized the meeting chose to speak Spanish while the invited the general public to the meeting. He said several other persons left the meeting too because they felt it was disrespectful to have a meeting held in Spanish in country where most people speaks the English Language.
