经济学人314:多米尼加共和国的移民 何处为家乡

 　　Migrants in the Dominican Republic

　　多米尼加共和国的移民

　　No place like home

　　何处为家乡

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

　　在多米尼加，海地移民的孩子承受着艰难困苦

　　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.

　　多米尼加共和国将近24000海地移民的噩梦即将消散。几个月以来，一项法庭裁决致使他们进入了无国籍的窘境，因而使得多米尼加共和国和它在加勒比伊斯帕尼奥拉岛上家徒四壁的邻居海地关系愈发紧张起来，除此以外，其实很多时候移民苦难的余烬都生生不息。

　　多米尼加共和国.jpg

　　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.

　　但10年前的一项规定带来一线转机：即使父母双方都为非法移民，但在多米尼加出生的孩子仍为多米尼亚公民。但2004年，政策开始发生变化，2010年新颁布的宪法规定，只有合法公民的孩子出生后才具有公民资格，去年9月，宪法法庭又规定，若海地非法移民在2010年法律调整前抵达多米尼加，则他们的孩子不具有公民身份。

　　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.

　　多米尼加政府表示，这些修订以合法的方式抹去了本国法律的特殊性，与其他国家一致。但该法律牵涉的孩子已步入中年，突然失去公民资格无异于晴天霹雳，从今往后也无权持有新的多米尼加身份证，而必须申请本土国身份证，但他们大多从未去过海地，只能说一口西班牙语，无力证明他们具有成为海地公民的资格。

　　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.

　　海地1821年侵占多米尼加，直到1844年多米尼加才独立，两国关系自此剑拔弩张，但这一次世界终于开始关注这里的紧张局势，利益集团和美洲人权委员会都谴责了海地对多米尼加的统治，加勒比国家集团——加勒比共同体搁置了多米尼加的加入申请，与此同时，海地总统米歇尔·马尔泰利因为引用一位多米尼加记者的话，称该决定是“种族灭绝”而引起混乱，这将多米尼加新上任一个月的总统达尼洛·麦迪纳置于尴尬处境，多米尼加固然不能承担孤立无援的代价，但举手投降未免也显得自己是把软骨头,对海地示好更是暗含成为多米尼加政客众矢之的风险，毕竟此举此前就一直受其含沙射影的攻击。强硬派所罗拉·巴拉格曾断断续续统治了多米尼加30年，他曾警告说海地移民会形成“和平侵略”势力。麦迪纳的继任者莱昂内尔·费尔南德斯嫁给了麦迪纳在任时的副总统，在对这位黑皮肤，海地裔的总统一番指手画脚称其企图再次联合两国后，他在1996年赢得大选。

　　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.

　　最终麦迪纳及立法机关还是谨慎的选择了一条折衷的道路，24000名海地移民现有身份证已经失效，深受其害，但对于他们的救助正落实到位，5月23日，麦迪纳签署了一项法案，重新授予他们公民身份，虽然多米尼加政府有时专横霸道，难以对付，但它如今确实正式授予海地移民新的出生证，驾驶执照和护照。其他一些人比如2007至2010年间出生的儿童，即使没有身份证，只要能向官方证明他们出生在多米尼加，也能延期2年申请公民身份，除无权担任高级要职外，享有所有国民权利。

　　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.

　　但该法律并未给最大受害群体指明一条出路，这些人的父母没有也无力证明合法身份，他们无家可归，流离失所，处于驱逐出境的当口。联合国2013年的调查显示，在多米尼加，244000人的父母都是无身份的外国人，这就意味着将近200000人或许还将深陷此等窘境。

　　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.

　　人权组织愤言新法律的出台无法改变大多数被统治阶层水深火热的境况。但麦迪纳这种管窥蠡测的做法将再一次减轻政治压力，比起那些没有身份证的群体，已经获得的人更为富裕，也更具影响力，很多对法庭决定坦言不满的受害者都是一些受过教育的专业人士，他们能有效运用媒体，游说打动人心，新的体系平息了这些高姿态群体的怒火，但那些处在多米尼加社会边缘的人民只能自力更生。

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。