Stateless: Born foreigners by Santi Vidal

Private Story

Stateless: Born foreigners

Copyright Santi Vidal 2024

Date of Work Feb 2014 - Ongoing

Updated Aug 2019

Location dominican

Topics Abandonment, Abuse, Activism, Documentary, Editorial, Human Rights, Immigration, Latin America, Loss, Migration, Minority, Photography, Photojournalism, Poverty, Workers Rights

In the Dominican Republic, there are around 100.000 persons in year 2017 who facing a life as ghosts for the rest of their lives. They are stateless, with no access to any ID documents or passport, that are essential to open a bank account, marry or travel abroad. Despite they were born in the Dominican territory and they can prove it, as some have their parents residence permits or birth certificates, and their Haitian parents were hired by the government for decades to work as labourers in their cane plantations, they are not considered Dominican citizens.

Dominican law classifies them as descendents from "people in transit", and never recognized those children as Dominican "ius soli" (just because they are born in the Dominican Republic). Haitian law does not recognize them as nationals neither. Plus, those people have never been to Haiti, and know no one there.

This people claim they are Dominicans because they were born in Dominican soil, but in the meanwhile, they see a future with no other light or opportunity than the batey and the plantations. Without any legal document, this people is dispossesed of any of the advantages of a citizenship, and is condemned to a life in deep poverty.

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Santi Vidal

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