2015年经济学人 身在多米尼加共和国的海地移民 无处为家

Migrants in the Dominican Republic

No place like home

The travails¹ of the children of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic

NIGHTMARE is about to end for some 24,000 people in the Dominican Republic (DR).

For months a court ruling has in effect rendered them stateless, in the process straining the country's tense relations withHaiti,

its poorer neighbour on the CaribbeanislandofHispaniola.But for many others, the ordeal² is continuing.

Until a decade ago the children of Haitian migrants who were born in the DR were recognised as Dominican nationals,

even if their parents had immigrated³ illegally.The rules began to change in 2004,

and in 2010 a new constitution made a legally resident parent a requirement for citizenship⁴ at birth.

Then, last September, a ruling of theConstitutional Courtdenied citizenship to the offspring of illegal immigrants who had arrived before that change.

The government maintains that these revisions justly removed an anomaly and conform with practice elsewhere.

Yet the children concerned—many well into middle age—were at a stroke reclassified as foreigners,

and have since been refused new identity documents.Instead they were told to request new papers from their purported⁵ country of origin,

even though the vast majority have never been toHaiti, speak only Spanish and cannot prove they are eligible⁶ for Haitian citizenship.

Relations on Hispaniola have been tense ever sinceHaitioccupied the DR in 1821-44, but this time the world took notice.

Pressure groups and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned⁷ the ruling.Caricom, a group ofCaribbeancountries,

suspended the DR's membership application.

Meanwhile Michel Martelly,Haiti's president, caused a stir by quoting a Dominican journalist who called the decision “civil genocide”.

All that left Danilo Medina, who was inaugurated as the DR's president just a month before the ruling, in a fix.

His nation can ill afford to be ostracised, yet capitulating would make him look weak.He would risk seeming too friendly toHaiti,

which Dominican politicians have long used as a rhetorical punchbag.Joaquin Balaguer, a strongman who ruled the DR intermittently⁸ for 30 years,

once warned of a “peaceful invasion” of Haitian immigrants.Leonel Fernández, who was Mr Medina's predecessor⁹ and is married to his vice-president,

won a close election in 1996 after accusing his darker-skinned, Haitian-descended rival of wanting to reunite the two countries.

In the end, Mr Medina and his legislative¹⁰ allies chose a cautious middle path.

For the group most starkly¹¹ disadvantaged—the 24,000 people with previously¹² valid¹³ Dominican identity papers—help is on the way.

On May 23rd the president signed a law reinstating their citizenship.Although Dominican bureaucracy can be arbitrary and arduous¹⁴,

they are now formally eligible to renew their birth certificates, driving licences and passports.

People without such documents who can still prove to the authorities' satisfaction that they were born in the DR—

a group that includes 21,000 children born from 2007-10—will also get a reprieve¹⁵.

After a two-year waiting period they will be eligible to apply for naturalised citizenship,

which carries all the rights of the native-born except the ability to hold high office.

However, the law offers no solution for the biggest group involved: those who were born in the DR to parents without legal residence, but cannot demonstrate it.

They will in effect remain stateless and officially eligible for deportation¹⁶, though they have nowhere else to go.

A UN survey of 2013 found there were 244,000 people in the DR whose parents were undocumented foreigners, meaning around 200,000 may be in this predicament.

Human-rights groups angrily point out that the new law thus leaves most of the people affected¹⁷ by the ruling in limbo¹⁸.

All the same, Mr Medina's meticulous¹⁹ segmentation of the problem will probably relieve much of the political pressure.

People who already had identity papers tend to be richer and more influential²⁰ than those who did not;

many of the most outspoken²¹ victims of the court decision were educated professionals who could use the media and lobby effectively.

The new system placates²² this high-profile group, while leaving those on the fringes of Dominican society to fend²³ for themselves.

1 travails   

n.艰苦劳动( travail的名词复数 )；辛勤努力；痛苦；分娩的阵痛

参考例句：

• In the and travails of businesses you'll always need hometown help. 就算你的业务扩大到其他城市，也不要忘了你的发源地。 来自互联网
• Tata Motor's travails with Land Rover and Jaguar spring to mind as recent less-than-favorable examples. 印度塔塔汽车公司对陆虎和捷豹品牌的辛苦收购就是最近一个不如人意的例子。 来自互联网

2 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

3 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

4 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

5 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

7 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

8 intermittently   

adv.间歇地；断断续续

参考例句：

• Winston could not intermittently remember why the pain was happening. 温斯顿只能断断续续地记得为什么这么痛。 来自英汉文学
• The resin moves intermittently down and out of the bed. 树脂周期地向下移动和移出床层。 来自辞典例句

9 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

10 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

11 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

12 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

13 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

14 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

15 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

16 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

17 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

18 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

19 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

20 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

21 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

22 placates   

v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

23 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。