Daniel Supplice, the Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, indicated that he will travel this month in the Dominican Republic, to inform the Haitians students and workers, about the plans of the Haitian government regarding a census of the Haitian community living in this country.

"We want to give a national identity card to the Haitians in all countries where they are" said the Minister, who stressed that the President Michel Martelly wants to know exactly the number of Haitians living in the Dominicans territory, to address seriously this sensitive issue, among others, as part of the Joint Bilateral Commission. An estimate that is the subject of different versions on both sides of the border, in Haiti, the figure is 600.000 while on the Dominican Republic side, we talk mostly of one million Haitians who reside without legal documents, on their territory.

The Dominican Republic recently announced that it will conduct a census of all foreigners residing in its territory as of June 2012, with funding from the European Union and technical support of the United Nations Population Fund.

TB/ HaitiLibre