Labour Discrimination in the Dominican Sugar Industry

Sugar companies in the Dominican Republic barely show any concern for the Haitian cane cutters working on the plantations. Their employees suffer a precarious situation in terms of food, health, and housing. By raising awareness on the availability of instruments provided by the legal system, the situation of Haitian workers could improve considerably, as workers could base their complaints against the owners of the sugar industry for violating labour rights on a legal framework. In order to protect these rights and eliminate any sort of labour discrimination against Haitians based on their ethnicity and cultural differences, it is necessary to analyse all labour rights violations committed against Haitians at the workplace –known as “batey”– and search for legal measures to ensure that the sugar industry complies with international and national law