Sonia Pierre: Difference between revisions
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Human rights groups have decried this decision, but Dominican government officials blame the ruling on trouble caused by Pierre.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/world/americas/29sonia.html?hp "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans"] by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.</ref> The Dominican government has also "questioning her nationality" due to disparities in her birth record.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/world/americas/29sonia.html?hp "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans"] by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.</ref> |
Human rights groups have decried this decision, but Dominican government officials blame the ruling on trouble caused by Pierre.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/world/americas/29sonia.html?hp "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans"] by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.</ref> The Dominican government has also "questioning her nationality" due to disparities in her birth record.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/world/americas/29sonia.html?hp "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans"] by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.</ref> |
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===Smear campaign === |
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Dominican authorities along with the Dominican press agree that Ms Pierre work and corresponding awards are mostly due to a systematic [[smear campaign]] against the Dominican Republic.<ref>[http://manuel-miranda.blogspot.com/2006/11/migracion-haitiana-en-dominicana-las.html "Inmigración haitiana en dominicana" ''Haitian inmigration in Dominican Republic'']</ref> |
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Her efforts can be considered as an effort to widen (instead of healing) the historical differences between the Dominican Republic and Haiti<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/world/americas/29sonia.html?_r=1&hp "A Rights Advocate’s Work Divides Dominicans"] by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.</ref> |
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, the former being a nation that was military invaded and occupied by the latter for over 22 years. (See: [[Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo|Haitian invasion of Santo Domingo]]) |
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== Awards and honors == |
== Awards and honors == |
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Revision as of 07:17, 9 January 2011
Solange Pierre (born 1963), known as Sonia Pierre, is a human rights advocate in the Dominican Republic who works to end antihaitianismo, which is discrimination against individuals from Haiti or Dominicans of Haitian origin.[1] For this work, she won the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.[2]
Life
Pierre was born in the Dominican Republic in 1963 to parents of Haitian descent. One of twelve children,[3] she was raised in a migrant worker camp called a batey, where many of the Dominican Republic's 650,000 people of Haitian descent live. Her birth certificate lists her name as Solain Pie, which Pierre "says is the result of an error by a government clerk."[4] Her nationality is disputed by some on the grounds that her birth certificate is forged, the residence status of her Haitian parents and the lack of evidenciary documentation from Haiti.[5]
At the age of 13, she organized a five-day protest by sugar cane workers on one of the country's bateyes, which lead to her being arrested. However, the protest attracted enough public attention that the worker's demand—namely, that to have their living quarters painted and be given better tools and pay raises—were met.[6]
Work
Pierre works as director of the non-governmental organization Movement for Dominican Women of Haitian Descent (MUDHA),[2] which aims to end antihaitianismo or bias against individuals from Haiti in the Dominican Republic.
In 2005, Pierre petitioned the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the case of two ethnic Haitian children who were denied Dominican birth certificates. Called Yean and Bosico v. Dominican Republic, the case "upheld human rights laws prohibiting racial discrimination in access to nationality and citizenship."[2] The court also ordered the Dominican government to provide the birth certificates.
However, the Dominican Supreme Court later ruled that "Haitian workers were considered 'in transit,' and that their children were therefore not entitled to citizenship."[7]
Human rights groups have decried this decision, but Dominican government officials blame the ruling on trouble caused by Pierre.[8] The Dominican government has also "questioning her nationality" due to disparities in her birth record.[9]
Awards and honors
For her work, Pierre won the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award handed down by former US Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, but NOT on behalf of the US Congress.(see.[2] U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy said of her that "With certitude, I can affirm that Sonia is one of the most selfless, courageous and compassionate human beings of my generation. Sonia is very near the top of my list of heroines."[10]
Pierre also won Amnesty International's 2003 Human Rights Ginetta Sagan Fund Award,[6] and she and MUDHA were nominated for the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education in 2002.[11]
References
- ^ "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans" by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.
- ^ a b c d "DOMINICAN BORN HAITIAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST WINS 2006 RFK HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD" Press Release, RFK Memorial Center, accessed Sept. 28, 2007.
- ^ "Activist Sonia Pierre Receives RFK Award" by Andrew Miga, The Associated Press, printed in the Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2006.
- ^ "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans" by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.
- ^ "Jurista asegura Sonia Pierre no es dominicana" Dominican jurist affirms that Solange Pierre is not Dominican" by Antonio Santana. 2010-03-11 dominicanoshoy.com
- ^ a b "Dominican-born Sonia Pierre Wins Amnesty International's 2003 Human Rights Award for Working for Her People" by Tequila Minsky, April 2003, Haitian Support Group website, accessed Sept. 29, 2007.
- ^ "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans" by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.
- ^ "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans" by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.
- ^ "A Rights Advocate's Work Divides Dominicans" by Marc Lacey, The New York Times, September 29, 2007.
- ^ "Activist Sonia Pierre Receives RFK Award" by Andrew Miga, The Associated Press, printed in the Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2006.
- ^ "Interview: Solange Pierre, focusing on Dominican-Haitian immigration" by Charles Arthur, Latin American Press, Oct 16, 2002.