Sonia Pierre
Solange, better known as Sonia, Pierre was
born in Villa Altagracia, San
Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, in 1963 to parents of Haitian origin. Her mother
migrated with a temporary work permit in 1957, and her father entered the
Dominican territory illegally. Both her parents worked as sugar cane cutters.
One of twelve children, she
was raised in a migrant worker camp called a batey
or a “village slum”, where
many of the Dominican Republic's people of Haitian descent (Dominico-Haitians) live.
The minority of Dominican-born ethnic Haitians, between 500,000 and a million
live in the Dominican Republic, live in bateyes.
Most of those born in the Dominican Republic are descendants of Haitians who
crossed the border fleeing violence or seeking economic opportunity
Pierre’s career as a human rights activist
started at the early age of 13. At 13, she organised a five-day protest by
sugar cane workers on one of the country's bateyes, which led to her being
arrested and threatened with deportation. However, the protest attracted enough
public attention that the workers' demands—namely, to have their living
quarters painted and be given better tools and pay raises—were met.
Since
then, Pierre fought to secure citizenship and education for the beleaguered Dominico-Haitians.
In 1963, Pierre founded and worked as director of the NGO, Movement for Dominican Women of Haitian
Descent (MUDHA). MUDHA endeavours to end antihaitianismo or discrimination
against Haitians in the Dominican
Republic. MUDHA seeks to give
visibility and address the needs of Dominico-Haitian and Haitian women, with
and for whom the organisation began to develop primary health care, family
planning services and educational programs in state neglected bateyes. Pierre and MUDHA’s “thinking on
social exclusion has been intersectional from the start, paying attention to
the ways in which gender and age make certain groups of Haitian migrants and
their descendants even more vulnerable than others. Their analysis and
corresponding action over the years has led them to focus on women, children,
the elderly, and entire batey communities who are excluded from public services
because the Dominican State does not recognize them as citizens, much less
rights holders.”
In 2005, Pierre petitioned at 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." 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."
The
situation is even graver today, following the highly criticised September 23,
2013 ruling of the Dominican Constitutional court which, in practice, deprives
many people of foreign descent of their Dominican nationality, making them
stateless. It is to be applied retroactively to all those born to parents with
irregular migratory status since 1929, potentially affecting hundreds of
thousands, mostly Dominicans of Haitian descent.
For her work, Pierre won the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award handed down by former US Senator Edward Kennedy. In presenting the
award to Pierre, Senator Kennedy quoted a long-time friend of hers who
said: "I am a better person today for having met, worked, and travelled
this road with Sonia Pierre. With certitude, I can affirm that Sonia is one of
the most selfless, courageous and compassionate human beings of my generation.”
When she received her award, Pierre denounced what she said were
"massive abuses" against people of Haitian descent, particularly
children.
Pierre also won Amnesty International's 2003 Human
Rights Ginetta Sagan Fund Award, and she and MUDHA were nominated for
the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights
Education in 2002. In 2008, she was
awarded the Giuseppe Motta Medal for protection of human rights, and in
2010, she was also honoured by the United
States Department of State with a
International Women of Courage Award.
However,
her work as a human rights activist was not entirely admired by many,
especially Dominican nationalists. Pierre was once chased out of her Santo
Domingo office by a man waving a pistol. She was also punched at a stop light
by another man who told her, "I know who you are."
On December 4, 2011, In the midst of fighting
for the Constitutional Court to grant Dominico—Haitians citizenship, Pierre had
a heart attack, and died, at the age of 48. Pierre is
survived by three children.
Edwin
Paraison, Executive Director of the Zile Foundation, a Haitian group that
attempts to improve relations between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, said,
"She was like a sister to me. The Haitian community has lost someone who
was a huge advocate in the fight for Haitian rights."
Throughout
her life, Pierre insisted she was trying to help her people and not criticise
the Dominican Republic. "I am not a critic of my country, and this is my
country," she said. "I am a critic of my government."
Sources:
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