Above: CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque

By the Caribbean Journal staff

CARICOM Secretary General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque is urging the Dominican Republic to “right the wrong” resulting from the country’s controversial ruling on citizenship.

The ruling, which retroactively stripped thousands of Dominicans of mostly Haitian descent of their citizenship, has led to strained ties between the Dominican Republic and CARICOM, which suspended its consideration of the country’s bid for membership in the regional grouping.

CARICOM’s Bureau of the Conference of the Heads of Government has already condemned the ruling, which it said “violated regional and international human rights obligations.”

LaRocque said the regional body would “continue to provide support to Haiti as it fights for the respect for the rights and citizenship of members of its Diaspora.”

He was speaking at a ceremony where Haiti’s first plenipotentiary representative to CARICOM, Peterson Noel, presented his letters of credence.