PORT-AU-PRINCE — Following the expulsion of more than 60 pregnant Haitian women from the Dominican Republic in recent weeks, the United Nations and other organizations have called on the country to stop the practice.
The expulsions “endanger the physical integrity and the lives of these women seeking health care,” the UN officials said through a Nov. 16 statement, according to Le Nouvelliste. The expulsions also violate international conventions and standards for the treatment of migrants.
About 7,300 Haitians were repatriated between Sept. 1 and Oct. 3, according to local news outlet Dominican Today.
Among the latest Haitians expelled Nov. 16 were six pregnant women, four who are currently breastfeeding and 15 children, according to the Support Group for Refugees and Returnees, or GARR. Five buses transported the group to the border of Elias Pinas and Belladère in the northeast region of Haiti.
In the preceding week, according to GARR, the Dominican Republic repatriated 10 pregnant women in their third trimester to the same border town on Nov. 12, 28 on Nov. 11 and 25 on Nov. 10.