Amnesty: Dominican Rep. should revert “brutal” ruling on immigrants

Santo Domingo.- While the second round of talks between Dominican Republic and Haiti gets underway at the border town Jimani (west), Amnesty International on Monday asked the Dominican government to "revert" the Constitutional Court ruling it affirms denies nationality to thousands of citizens born in the country from undocumented parents since 1929.

In a statement issued in London Amnesty International investigator Chiara Liguori called to enforce the ruling affecting Dominicans of Haitian descent an outrage and a "brutal violation" of their human rights.

In that regard Constitutional Court chief justice Milton Ray Guevara recently noted that people and agencies are unfamiliar with the binding force of the actions or rulings, and refusal to enforce them would be unconstitutional.

Acknowledges sovereignty

Ligouri said that while the conditions to issue nationality depend on each State, international law stipulates that no one can be deprived of a nationality arbitrarily.