The measures allowing the participation of the National Police, the Armed Forces and other public security forces in migration operations have led to a fragmentation of roles in migration issues and to arbitrary and opaque procedures. Also worrying is the lack of training of these law enforcement agencies in human rights issues to ensure that migrants are treated with dignity and without discrimination.
Amnesty International has been made aware of corruption, extortion and possible interference by the authorities in arrests, transfers and detentions in the course of migration operations, including in the border areas.
Numerous testimonies indicate that this division of roles creates confusion about the paths that migrants and persons seeking international protection should follow after their detention. It fosters a widespread network of extortion against migrants and limits access to justice for Haitian migrants, who are afraid to turn to institutions such as the police or the public prosecutor’s office when they have been victims of a crime. In particular, this limits the reporting of gender-based violence against Haitian migrant women and girls. Despite investigations involving migration officials, the authorities have not taken consistent and concrete measures to ensure access to justice for migrants who have been victims of human rights violations.
Amnesty International has received information that the procedures people go through after being arrested in migration operations vary depending on the authority that arrests them. When they are arrested by DGM migration officers, they are taken in trucks known as “trucks”Although these camps have a capacity of 30 to 40 people, reports suggest that in practice they hold far more. Detainees are beaten and forcibly confined to the camps, often with no freedom of movement and little air to breathe. They are left there for hours in high temperatures before being transferred to a detention centre where they have no access to water, sanitation or food, seriously endangering their physical integrity.
Amnesty International has received reports of appalling conditions in some of the detention centres where people are taken to have their migration status “assessed” before deportation. The facilities lack adequate services or space, are overcrowded, lack access to water and food, have restrictions on communication with family members or lawyers, and have mobile phones confiscated. Authorities do not ask or check whether any of the detainees have a medical condition that requires treatment, and detainees are denied access to apply for international protection. Amnesty International has also received reports that women in these detention centres and during the deportation process face sexual violence by the authorities, including groping, comments about their bodies, and demands for sexual favors in exchange for their release. In some cases, these situations escalate to rape by the authorities.
These reports indicate violations of the right to protection from torture and cruel, inhuman and/or degrading treatment in the context of migration operations.
Amnesty International has learned that black people, both Dominicans and foreigners, have been arbitrarily detained for racial profiling and for deportation purposes. This puts at risk Dominicans of Haitian descent, including beneficiaries of Law No. 169-14, which establishes “a special regime for persons born in the national territory who are illegally registered in the Dominican Civil Registry, as well as for naturalization.”
