Sonia with her daughter on her right and other staff members of MUDHA who serve the Haitian and Dominican-Haitian population in the Dominican Republic

Sonia Pierre of the Dominican Republic is the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy 2006 Human Rights Award, joining 22 previous recipients, all international human rights activists, who have been threatened, intimidated and jailed as they stand up for human rights. For her entire life, Sonia Pierre has worked tirelessly on behalf of her people, Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent.

Presenting the award was Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts who spoke of this award named for his brother: “It serves as a reminder to all of us of the vital importance of human rights and the many challenges we face at home and abroad to protect those rights. It also reminds each of us of the power of an individual to make a difference in the lives of many.”

Turning to Sonia, he said: “It’s a privilege to present this year’s award to one of those individuals, Sonia Pierre. Sonia has devoted her life to the cause of equality and justice, two of the most fundamental human rights.”

Sonia Pierre with the lawyers and law students of the UC Berkeley law clinic who petitioned the Inter-American Court on behalf of children of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic

Sonia’s mother came to the Dominican Republic 54 years ago searching for her husband who had migrated earlier. After her father died when she was two years old, her mother, a cane cutter, an unusual profession for a woman because of the immense physical stamina required, raised Sonia and her eleven siblings in a one-room portion of a barrack with a dirt floor. Because of the respect her mother had earned among sugar workers, Sonia and her sisters did not have to endure the rape and physical abuse that was commonly inflicted on the migrant community by the authorities.

Sonia was among the lucky 100 children in a community that had no school to receive two hours of instruction daily from a local resident. Later, she walked several miles to go to school.

The path of her life was set in 1976 when, at the age of 13, she spoke out and was arrested at a demonstration for Haitian sugarcane cutters. Continuing to champion the rights of her people, she later founded MUDHA, an organization based in Santo Domingo, dedicated to the empowerment of women in the community. As it grew and the needs of the community were recognized, MUDHA expanded to serve more people, including men and children.

There are somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million Haitians or Dominicans of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic, most in isolated rural and impoverished villages called bateys. Haitians do the manual labor needed to sustain the growing Dominican economy, including agriculture and construction work.

The Dominican Republic has created a system that makes it very difficult for the children born in the worker camps to obtain their birth certificates. This is a basic human rights violation because it prevents these children from having a nationality. The children are born in the Dominican Republic, many from parents who have lived there for decades, yet they have no nationality.

MUDHA was a petitioner before the Inter-American Court for Human Rights in Costa Rica, which upheld human rights laws prohibiting racial discrimination in nationality and citizenship. In spite of the fact that the Dominican government has been ordered to admit all children to its schools, it has refused to comply.

In addition to assistance in obtaining birth certificates for children of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic, MUDHA provides human rights education, legal representation, medical assistance and improvement of women’s health.

MUDHA also has a small school that provides pre-school and education for first and second graders.

“Her colleagues compare her to a Nobel Peace Prize winner and call her a hero,” Sen. Kennedy said, praising her contributions. “Sonia has personally affected the lives of thousands of her people. She has given voice to their struggles, won landmark legal victories for them, and created new networks to meet their basic needs. Because of Sonia, this neglected, impoverished, downtrodden community has greater rights and greater hope for a future where equality and justice are not just ideas, but reality.”

On receiving the award, Ms. Pierre said, “I find inspiration in the life of Mr. Kennedy because I believe that our efforts and his are part of the same fight for equality and justice.”

She thanked her children, her mother, who was her inspiration, those in the New York Haitian community who have stood with her and those in the New York Dominican community who work in solidarity with her. She thanked the lawyers who helped petition the Inter-American Court.

Then, daring to discuss human rights violators, she said: “This award also belongs to my adversaries, from the purist intellectuals who search in the most profound knowledge (for) arguments to justify their discriminatory attitude and at the same time silence the impurity of their conscience, to the most primal ones who cannot hide their hatred and rancor.

“Their arguments and constant anger do not cause us to wane. On the contrary, they inspire and fortify us, by showing us the way that is opposite to them, with no hatred or rancor, showing us what we should do.”

Before Ms. Pierre returned to the Dominican Republic, she met fellow Dominican, Commissioner Guillermo Linares of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. She spoke of the work she does and the abuses on the Haitian immigrant population in the Dominican Republic.

Most recently, this population is now subject to arbitrary citizenship annulments – including the citizenship of their children – without any legal due process. Ms. Pierre has recently been threatened with having her citizenship revoked because she “travels too much.”

Commissioner Linares recognized this obvious form of intimidation. He spoke of the work his governmental office does on behalf of New York’s vast immigrant population.

©2006 Tequila Minsky, who can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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