Human Rights Council Report on the Dominican Republic

The Human Rights Council released its draft report on the Universal Periodic Review of the Dominican Republic which took place on 5th February 2014. There were a number of mentions involving Haiti, Haitian-Dominican relations and people of Haitian descent residing in the Dominican Republic. Most notably the country received widespread criticism for its decision in September 2013 to rescind the nationality of a large number of Dominicans of Haitian descent.

It was asked to take urgent steps to ensure full respect for the right to a nationality, to implement a regularisation process to prevent discriminatory deprivation of nationality and to seek technical advice with UNHCR to identify and prevent statelessness and protect stateless persons. All documents and outputs related to this event can be found here.

You can also watch a video of the Periodic Review here:

The main recommendations/conclusions of the report in relation to Haiti and matters of Haitian interest were as follows:

• 98.39. Introduce awareness-raising activities with the aim of eliminating conditions and attitudes perpetuating discrimination against Haitian migrants as well as the Dominicans of Haitian descent (Slovenia);
• 99.121. Collaborate with the Haitians authorities on migration issues (Belgium);
• 99.122. Effectively follow up the guidelines adopted by the Dominican Republic and Haiti Joint Commission on concrete measures to safeguard the fundamental rights of people of Haitian origin (Brazil);
• 99.123. Continue the dialogue with Haiti and the efforts made to date, with the support of the international community, in order to deal with the migration problems affecting the Dominican Republic (Guatemala);
• 99.133. Take all necessary measures to prevent statelessness and allow all residents to fully enjoy their fundamental rights in particular persons of Haitian’s descent who have been affected by the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal of the 23rd of September 2013 (France).

The Dominican Republic has come under increased criticism in recent months from the international community and has been urged to take measures to ensure that people of Haitian descent and the children of undocumented migrant workers do not become stateless in light of the Constitutional Court ruling. The Universal Periodic Review highlighted the condemnation by the international community towards the Dominican Republic because of this ruling.