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Statelessness in the Caribbean
PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS
Bert B. Lockwood, Series Editor
A complete list of books in the series is available
from the publisher.
Statelessness in the Caribbean
The Paradox of Belonging in a Postnational World
Kristy A. Belton
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2017 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A Cataloging-in-Publication record is available
ISBN 978-0-8122-4944-6
To those who fight injustice in all its forms
CONTENTS
PART I. RECONSIDERING FORCED DISPLACEMENT
PART II. DEMOCRACIES AS ENGINES OF FORCED DISPLACEMENT
Chapter 3. The Bahamas: Neither Fish Nor Fowl
Chapter 4. The Dominican Republic: Foreigners in Their Own Country
PART III. NONCITIZEN INSIDERS AND THE RIGHT TO BELONG
Chapter 5. Noncitizen Insiders
Chapter 6. Sharing the World with Others: A Right to Belong
ABBREVIATIONS
| CARL | Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers |
| CEJIL | Center for Justice and International Law |
| CESDEM | Centro de Estudios Sociales y Demográficos |
| COB | College of The Bahamas |
| CRC | Convention on the Rights of the Child |
| DRIP | Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples |
| DESA | Department of Economic and Social Affairs |
| DoI | Department of Immigration |
| DR | Dominican Republic |
| ECOWAS | Economic Community of West African States |
| FNM | Free National Movement |
| GULSHRI | Georgetown University Law School’s Human Rights Institute |
| GAP | Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014–2024 |
| GDJ | Global Distributive Justice |
| GNI | Gross National Income |
| HRC | Human Rights Committee |
| HRW | Human Rights Watch |
| ISI | Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion |
| IRB | Institutional Review Board |
| IDPs | internally displaced persons |
| IACtHR | Inter-American Court of Human Rights |
| ICCPR | International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights |
| IOM | International Organization for Migration |
| JCE | Junta Central Electoral |
| MENAMIRD | Mesa Nacional para Migrantes y Refugiados |
| MFA | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| MUDHA | Movement for Dominican Women of Haitian Descent |
| NSU | Nationality Support Unit |
| NOS | National Office of Statistics |
| NGO | Nongovernmental organization |
| OBMICA | Observatorio Migrantes del Caribe |
| OSJI | Open Society Justice Initiative |
| OAU | Organization of African Unity |
| OAS | Organization of American States |
| PLP | Progressive Liberal Party |
| SIDS | Small Island Developing States |
| MOSCTHA | Sociocultural Movement for Haitian Workers |
| SSD | Statelessness Status Determination |
| SCJ | Supreme Court of Justice |
| UDHR | Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNCTAD | United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |
| UNICEF | United Nations Children’s Fund |
| UNDP | United Nations Development Programme |
| UNHCR | United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
| UN HRC | United Nations Human Rights Council |
| OHCHR | UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights |
| UNSG | United Nations Secretary General |
| USCIS | United States Citizenship and Immigration Service |
PREFACE
This book is about belonging in a world carved into states. It asks us to examine our taken for granted assumption that we all seamlessly fall into place as citizens of one state or another and that we are able to retain the citizenship we acquired at birth throughout our life. Millions of people around the world have no citizenship. They do not formally belong anywhere.
Take a moment and imagine what it must be like not to exist in the eyes of a state’s bureaucratic machinery, not to be protected by national laws, not to have access to—or the ability to exercise—the rights and freedoms that are bound up with a particular state’s citizenship. What must it be like to be physically present, to have tried to make a life in a place, yet to be rejected by the place you consider home? What must it be like to see others, born in the same place that you were,