Page 12 - Aruba Today

A12 Thursday 31 March 2016

WORLD NEWSThursday 31 March 2016

Haiti migrants no longer stranded on desolate border

DAVID McFADDEN the nearby Haitian border Their move comes amid ing the effort with $2 mil- residency for their children.
Associated Press town of Anse-a-Pitres. They efforts to cope with an in- lion from a U.N. emergency The Dominican Republic,
ANSE-A-PITRES, Haiti (AP) lack running water and flux of people from across fund. which has long had an
— Forced out of the Do- electricity, but they are no the border setting up tent “We’re seeing that they uneasy relationship with its
minican Republic, Anise longer in a forlorn camp camps similar to those that move to houses for a year much poorer neighbor, has
Germain and her fam- of Haitians and people of aid groups and the govern- to give them enough time become much less hospi-
to identify economic op- table to its migrants.
Yvelaine Herisse of the International Organization for Migration takes notes while talking to a resi- portunities so they can sup- Over the last several years,
dent of an encampment outside the southeast Haitian town of Anse-a-Pitres. The encampment port themselves,” said Fa- Dominican authorities have
is filled with people who either fled or were deported from the neighboring Dominican Republic bien Sambussy, the IOM’s begun trying to bolster the
amid an immigration crackdown. Within a month, authorities hope to move nearly 2,400 people operations chief in Haiti. largely porous border with
in a half-dozen encampments by providing enough money for them to rent homes for a year in The border camps, with Haiti, increasing security at
nearby towns. clusters of makeshift shacks the main crossing points
that bake in the sun and and deporting people who
(AP Photo/David McFadden) flood when it rains, are filled can’t prove legal residen-
with destitute migrants who cy.
ily pitched a flimsy tent Haitian descent who have ment spent years trying to often speak a mix of Haitian In September 2013, the
of blankets and card- fled or were expelled in a clear out after Haiti’s dev- Creole and Spanish. More Dominican constitutional
board on a patch of rocky Dominican crackdown on astating 2010 earthquake. than half are children, and court issued a much-de-
ground just across the migrants. Within the next month, health authorities feared bated ruling that children
border in Haiti. She feared “I think life will be better for authorities hope to move that a growing number of born in the country to non-
they might never leave the us here,” Germain said as nearly 2,400 people out of cholera cases would turn citizens did not qualify for
camp. she watched her young- six encampments by pro- into a more widespread automatic citizenship be-
Ten months later, things are est daughters play in the viding subsidies for them outbreak. cause their migrant par-
looking up. Germain, her backyard with several ba- to rent homes for a year The camps emerged on ents were “in transit.” The
husband and three chil- nana and papaya trees in southeastern Haiti. The the outskirts of Anse-a-Pi- decision was retroactive,
dren have been relocated and enough space for a International Organization tres last June as increasing rendering people who
to a cinderblock shack in small vegetable plot. for Migration is coordinat- numbers of people left the thought they had legal sta-
Dominican Republic. A few tus effectively stateless.
thousand people found With its migrant policies un-
nowhere to go in Haiti, der international criticism,
often because they had the Dominican govern-
been gone so long they ment created a program
didn’t have the social con- that allowed people born
nections needed to survive in Haiti to qualify for legal
on the poorer side of the residency if they could get
island of Hispaniola. the necessary paperwork
Germain, 32 and pregnant, proving they had been in
fit that category. Her par- the Dominican Republic
ents went to the Dominican since before October 2011.
Republic to work in farming Many people couldn’t
when she was 6. The fam- meet the requirements
ily settled in a shantytown and moved on their own,
near La Ceiba. fearing a crackdown. The
“Life was hard in Haiti, but International Organization
life was hard in the Domini- for Migration says at least
can, too,” she said. 78,000 people have left
Her parents, who have the Dominican Republic for
since died, never got legal Haiti.

Mexico City temporarily restricts all cars after smog alert

PETER ORSI lopolis, a cross-government anti-pollution measures 1.4 million vehicles back on ery six months, though it’s
agency comprising the since a Phase 1 emergency the roads each day. common knowledge that
Associated Press capital and surrounding due to high ozone levels — Smog levels dropped signif- for a bribe of $20 or so driv-
suburbs that together are the first since 2005 — was icantly during Easter Week, ers can ensure a car comes
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Met- home to more than 20 mil- declared two weeks ago, when much of Mexico City out “clean.” “The definitive
lion people, said via Twitter when warm temperatures empties out due to the holi- ‘no circulation’ program
ropolitan authorities on that all cars must now com- and still air left pollution day. But on Wednesday will align with the new
ply, even if they have the trapped in Mexico City’s afternoon authorities were rule for vehicular verifica-
Wednesday temporarily exemption sticker. volcano-ringed valley. At reporting a pollution index tion that will be presented
Vehicles will also be forced the time, government of- of 108 — officially “bad,” soon,” federal Environment
ordered all cars to remain from the roads one Satur- ficials and environmental though about half the lev- Secretary Rafael Pacchi-
day a month. The measure activists pinned at least els recorded at the peak of ano tweeted. Pacchiano
idle one day a week in re- will begin Tuesday and run some of the blame on a Su- the Phase 1 alert. said that in addition to
until June 30, around the preme Court decision last The commission said that Wednesday’s emergency
sponse to this notoriously time that summer rains typi- year that overturned a rule starting July 1, more mod- measures, authorities are
cally arrive and improve barring all cars over eight ern technology will be put working on medium-term
smoggy capital’s worst air- the region’s air quality sig- years old from the streets in place at smog-check solutions including improve-
nificantly. Officials have one day a week. The ruling centers. Vehicles are sup- ments to public transporta-
quality crisis in over a de- been meeting to consider is said to have put an extra posed to get checked ev- tion.

cade. Until now vehicles

have been exempt from

Mexico City’s “no circula-

tion” rules if owners obtain

a holographic sticker from

a smog-check center cer-

tifying them as lower-emis-

sion. But the Environmental

Commission of the Mega-