What: The Trinity College human rights program is hosting two events led by Sonia Pierre, winner of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2006. Pierre will be featured in a panel entitled, Migrants, Race, & Rights: Forgotten Haitians in the Dominican Republic, and there will be a viewing of The Price of Sugar, followed by a Q & A session with Pierre after the film. Her lecture will address her work with MUDHA and the plight of Haitian (sugarcane) workers in the Dominican Republic. The acclaimed film, narrated by Paul Newman, depicts thousands of Haitian sugarcane workers who work under armed guards on plantations in the Dominican Republic—producing sugar mostly to be consumed in the United States—and demanding their basic human rights.
The two events are on separate days. Both events are free and open to the public and are co-sponsored by the Albert L.E. Gastmann Fund/Political Science, Hispanic Studies/PRESHCO, History, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
When:
Lecture: Monday, March 9 ~ 4:30 p.m.
Film/Q &A: Thursday, March 12 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Where:
Lecture: Smith House on the campus of Trinity College
Film/Q & A: Life Sciences Auditorium, on the campus of Trinity College
Background: Sonia Pierre grew up experiencing the social, economic, legal and cultural barriers that prevent Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent from enjoying their basic human rights in the Dominican Republic. Ms. Pierre went on to study social work and law and took a leadership role in the social movement for the rights of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. She founded MUDHA (the Movement of Dominican Women of Haitian Descent) in the early 1980s with a group of advocates who decided they needed an organization specifically to promote empowerment of women in the Dominico-Haitian community.
Pierre has served as MUDHA's director for the past 14 years, becoming one of the world’s leading grassroots activists for Haitian immigrants and their children, developing educational programs and works defending the rights of women in the Dominican Republic through promoting labor rights, healthcare and legal education. She has received national and international attention for spearheading a campaign using public education and legal action to reform and regularize the Dominican Republic's birth registration system, which functionally denies the right to nationality and a legal identity to children of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic, affecting possibly as many as 280,000 Dominicans. The system has denied the legal documentation necessary to reap the benefits of nationality and citizenship; specifically legal equality, freedom from fear of illegal deportation and access to crucial human rights like healthcare and education.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Human Rights Program at hrp@trincoll.edu.
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