Haiti: Concern Over Unaccompanied Children Deported from DR

On Wednesday, the increase in the number of Haitian children who were deported unaccompanied from the neighboring Dominican Republic caused concern in the Caribbean nation.

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The Haitian Zanmi Timoun Foundation reported that during the first four months of 2024, its transit center received 200 children without guardians at the border point known as Belladères/Elias Piñas.

The minors endured hellish conditions from the moment they were intercepted by Dominican migration authorities, suffering the same treatment as adults.

According to the foundation, the deportations reflect the hardening of the Dominican government's migration policy towards Haiti since the beginning of the construction of the irrigation canal in this country with a water intake in the Masacre River.

Zanmi Timoun denounced the mistreatment suffered by these children and called for respect for international agreements and treaties on the rights of the child.

These documents clearly stipulate that signatory states must ensure that children are not separated from their parents against their will, the statement said.

The children, the foundation said, arrive at the centre "in humiliating conditions: barefoot, with torn clothes, hungry, which is condemned by the convention and other international human rights instruments". The foundation called on the authorities to turn their attention to these children deported without their parents, insisting that measures be taken to protect the interests of this vulnerable segment.