Premiere Screening of Expelled

On November 6, 2001 the Human Rights Clinic Project at Columbia Law School and the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) hosted a screening of Expelled, a short documentary depicting the tragedy of the mass expulsions of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, produced in cooperation with Witness. While the Dominican government has historically engaged in similar efforts to discriminate against, expel, deport, and even massacre people of Haitian origin and dark-skinned Dominicans, its most recent effort has come in response to reports of labor rights violations and other human rights abuses against Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic. The documentary was originally produced to use in a pending case with the Inter-American Court for Human Rights.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion with Michele Wucker, author of Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispañola; Merrie Archer, Associate Director of NCHR; and Arturo Carrillo, Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. Ms. Wucker’s presentation focused on the history of relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as well as the current situation of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic. Mr. Carrillo spoke about the Columbia Human Rights Clinic’s current case against the Dominican Republic before the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights.

The panel discussion was followed by a lively question and answer session with the audience that numbered over 200.

Donations were collected requested to go toward providing food, shelter, medical care and legal costs for the five client families living on the Dominico-Haitian border. More than $1000 was raised thanks to the generosity of the audience.

Order a copy of Expelled and the screening manual that accompanies it.