Annulled citizenship: refusing the right to nationality and social marginalizing of Haitian-Dominicans

Seven years after decision 168-13 denationalized over 200,000 Dominicans
of Haitian ancestry, that population has yet to recover fully the right that
was denied. Law 169-14 issued amidst the international scandal caused by
the decision deepened segregation by assigning Haitian-ancestry citizens
into two groups: “A,” those with birth certificates and “B,” those who – in
most cases due to social exclusion and governmental legal hurdles – had
no official identity papers in 2013. That law partially solved the situation
for part of group “A,” but turned group “B” into permanent foreigners. The
promise of naturalization for this group has been generally unmet and
the risk of generational displacement increases – not just for them but
also for a wider set of Haitian-Dominicans that falls outside this arbitrary
classification. This article summarizes the research results of analyzing the
impact of Law 169-14 on these population group and the effect of losing
one’s nationality in terms of human, civil, and political rights, as well as
evaluating the process they lived through when trying to follow the law.