On the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican
Republic and Haiti, there is an ongoing and overlooked human rights
and humanitarian catastrophe. In recent years, the government of
the Dominican Republic has taken measures to essentially strip
ethnic Haitians of Dominican citizenship. New legal statutes have
the potential to render about 500,000 people stateless. (For
context and comparison's sake that is roughly the equivalent of the
number of asylum applicants in Germany stemming from the Syrian
refugee crisis)
 
The roots of discrimination against Haitians in the Dominican
Republic run deep, but these citizenship laws are relatively new.
On the line with me to discuss this largely overlooked humanitarian
crisis in the western hemisphere is human rights researcher Ryan
Bacci. He explains the contours of these laws, their human rights
and humanitarian implications on the ground, and offers some
important historical context to understand how this kind of
discrimination could be enshrined into a country's
constitution.