2022-23 Advocate Ana Belique of Reconoci.do in the Dominican Republic recently participated in a number of public events on the need for reparative justice for Afro-descendant communities across the Americas. She shared the following updates on the events:
"On April 11, I had the honor of participating in a panel titled “The Cost of Freedom,” organized by the Haitian Student Association at Columbia University. The event was held as part of a broader initiative commemorating the bicentennial of the indemnity France imposed on Haiti following its independence—a payment extracted as compensation for the losses claimed by former French slaveholders. Two hundred years later, academic, political, and social organizations are coming together to critically examine the historical and ongoing implications of this unjust debt and to call for reparations for people of African descent.
"As a Dominican of Haitian descent, I contributed to the panel by sharing personal and political reflections on my relationship with Haiti, and on how the global perception of the country might shift if its history were understood through the lens of extorted debt rather than deficit. I also addressed how the question of restitution intersects with the lived struggles of Dominicans of Haitian descent, particularly those affected by denationalization. The panel, moderated by the renowned author Edwidge Danticat, also featured Ericq Pierre, Haiti’s representative to the United Nations, and Columbia PhD student Natasha Robert.
"From April 14 to 17, I also took part in the Fourth United Nations Forum on People of African Descent, held in New York. Throughout the week, I engaged in several side events focused on reparatory justice and restitution. At a panel hosted by New York University, titled “The Time for Action Is Now,” I spoke about the urgent need to frame migration and human rights within the broader reparations discourse. I focused in particular on the migration of Haitian people across the Americas, and the systemic marginalization their descendants continue to face. I emphasized the importance of expanding the reparations framework beyond historical enslavement to also include the present-day injustices faced by Black migrants—especially Haitians—across the hemisphere.
"In collaboration with the Malunga Network, I also co-organized a panel titled “What Restorative Justice Are We Talking About? Towards the Construction of Paths of Equity.” Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the event created space for deeper reflection on the diverse realities of Afro-descendant communities across the Americas and the global call for reparations. The panel featured activists and scholars from Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. My own intervention centered on the experience of Dominicans of Haitian descent and their demand for the restitution of Dominican nationality as a concrete form of reparative justice. In doing so, I underscored how structural realities—such as the statelessness of children born to Haitian migrants—are manifestations of a colonial legacy of anti-Black racism that persists within modern nation-states."
