Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU) successfully conducted the Present and Future Seminar on Relations with Haiti: The Challenges of a Good Neighborhood.
At the event, Dominican-Haitian relations were discussed at length. The following themes were emphasized: The internal Haitian crisis and its impact on the country and the subregional level; the current and future challenges of immigration and Haitian social and political instability; the economic consequences of massive illegal immigration on employment and the social security system; illegal immigration and urban marginalization.
So does Chancellor Arq. Miguel Fiallo Calderón, expressed that the desperate situation in Haiti requires resolute and effective action by the international community and its complex network of governments, agencies, and organizations. “The serious events that stir up the Haitian crisis, their high levels of violence, that call into question the capacity of the Haitian State and generate the displacement of large portions of its population, as well as factors on our side, favor the present mass immigration. One of them, not the only one, is the depopulation of our border provinces due to the lack of opportunities for their inhabitants,” stated the rector.
The historians Miguel Reyes Sánchez, José Miguel Soto Jiménez and José Chez Checo presented their papers. The afternoon was attended by Juan Daniel Balcácer, president of the Dominican Academy of History; Miguel Guerrero and Reynaldo Espinal; as well as the political leader Pelegrín Castillo and the sociologist Wilfredo Lozano, director of the National Institute of Migration.
Architect Raúl De Moya Español, president of the Pedro Henríquez Ureña Education System and the Board of Directors at UNPHU, was in charge of closing the event, where he stated: “The Pedro Henríquez Ureña University Foundation (FUDPHU), has the commitment to collaborate with society, and UNPHU, as an academy, has to seek the truth above its own convictions.” He also declared the space open and
permanent, and said that what is sought is to generate beneficial actions for the situation.
This activity is part of the UNPHU Social Studies Forum.
During the conference, a space for debate was opened. The event was for all publics, and it was held at the Max Henríquez Ureña Hall, Building 4, and was broadcasted live on the UNPHU YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/unphu, where the recording can be viewed.
