The Mass Expulsions and Deportations of 1991 and 1997

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In response to increasing attention and pressure generated by an international campaign in favor of Haitian workers’ rights, President Joaquín Balaguer adopted severe measures that triggered the first wave of mass expulsions of the 1990s.⁵ On June 13, 1991, he issued Presidential Decree 233-91, which ordered the "repatriation" of foreigners, mostly Haitian cane cutters, under the age of 16 and over the age of 60.⁶ Five days later, the government of the Dominican Republic waged a campaign of its own, initiating widespread and systematic expulsions of Haitians and their descendents.⁷ Though, in theory, Decree 233-91 imposed some limits, in practice, all Haitians and Dominico-Haitians were vulnerable during the frenzy of collective deportations and expulsions that took place through September of 1991. It is estimated that as many as 35,000 people were expelled, with many thousands more fleeing of their own accord.⁸ The Inter-American Commission concluded, in 1991, that Decree 233-91 "imposed a mass expulsion [and] unleashed an indiscriminate persecution against Haitians and their descendants, whether or not born in the [country], to remove them from the country."⁹

A second wave of collective deportations and expulsions occurred in the end of 1996 and early 1997. During the 1996 presidential elections, Dominican authorities carried out round-ups throughout the country, destroying the identification cards and documents of Haitian workers and Dominicans of Haitian descent and arbitrarily detaining, deporting and expelling them.¹⁰ In January and February, this persecution escalated, leading to what the Inter-American Commission again recognized as "massive expulsions and deportations of Haitians and even [] Dominicans of Haitian origin," affecting approximately 25,000 victims.¹¹

The Inter-American Commission carried out its second on-site visit to the Dominican Republic in June of 1997 and documented the reports of mass expulsions. The Commission, building on similar findings from its 1991 visit, was able to discern a systematic pattern in the way Haitians and Dominico-Haitians were expelled. According to the Commission, victims of this policy were singled out because they are presumed to be Haitian, a determination made based primarily on their color. They were neither afforded a hearing nor given any other opportunity to prove their legal status or establish the length of their residency in the Dominican Republic.¹² Dominican officials rounded up victims and detained them, giving them no opportunity to contact their families or their employers. Consequently, victims were unable to collect their belongings or their wages before their expulsion.¹³ Dominican documentation, when presented, was often confiscated or destroyed by those same officials. Dominican authorities detained victims under inhumane conditions and frequently mistreated them prior to expelling them from the country. While held in detention, victims received little to no food and, in some cases, were physically abused.¹⁴ They were summarily shipped to the border on trucks or buses and collectively dumped on the Haitian side of the border. As was the case in 1991, this practice frequently led to the forced separation of families, with a "consequent detrimental impact on children."¹⁵

As after its 1991 visit, the Inter-American Commission concluded that the Dominican authorities’ practice of deporting and expelling Haitians violated numerous provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights. This time, however, the Commission went further and stated that, in addition,  "[c]ollective expulsions are a flagrant violation of international law that shocks the conscience of all humankind."¹⁶

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