ACKNOWLEDGMENTSJoanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, and Christine Strumpen-Darrie, a Columbia University law student and intern with Americas division, researched and wrote this report. It was edited by Malcolm Smart, program director of Human Rights Watch, and José Miguel Vivanco, Americas division executive director. Wilder Tayler, Human Rights Watch legal and policy director, reviewed the text for legal accuracy. Jon Balcom, Americas associate, and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager, provided invaluable production assistance. The report is based on a fact-finding mission to the Dominican Republic and Haiti from May 31 to June 14, 2001, which included visits to both sides of the Dajabón-Ouanaminthe border area and the Jimaní-Fonds Parisien border area, and interviews with numerous recent deportees. It is Human Rights Watch's sixth report on the Dominican Republic. 1
1 The previous reports are: Americas Watch (now the Americas division of Human Rights Watch), "Haitian Sugar-Cane Cutters in the Dominican Republic: A Preliminary Report," An Americas Watch Report, May 1989; Americas Watch, National Coalition for Haitian Refugees, and Caribbean Rights, Haitian Sugar Cane Cutters in the Dominican Republic (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1989); Americas Watch, "Harvesting Oppression: Forced Labor in the Dominican Sugar Industry," An AmericasWatch Report, June 1990; Americas Watch and National Coalition for Haitian Refugees, "Dominican Authorities Ban Creole Radio Program and Crack Down on Protestors," A Human Rights Watch Report, vol. 4, no. 3, April 1992; Americas Watch, "A Troubled Year: Haitians in the Dominican Republic," A Human Rights Watch Report, October 1992. |