UN: Citizenship should be restored to all born in Dominican Republic

Geneva.- The UN task force of experts on people of African descent on Friday urged Dominican Republic’s government to restore Dominican citizenship to all those born in the country, but not registered in the Civil Registry at birth.

The experts voiced their appeal after lawmakers passed the law which fast tracks regularization for people born in the country registered irregularly in the civil registry and on naturalization, which mostly affects tens of thousands of undocumented Haitians.

"This is an important step to rectify the situation of tens of thousands of peopleof Haitian origin born in the Dominican Republic who, as a result of Constitutional Court ruling on September 23, 2013, became stateless persons," said human rights expert Mireille Fanon Mendès-France, who currently heads the group.

"However, it’s crucial to restore the nationality of those born in the Dominican Republic who were not registered at birth and represent a large majority," she said.

"It’s necessary to have an effective and transparent process that ensures a prompt solution to these people to restore their nationality."

The expert stressed that such a measure "would help strengthen the fight against discrimination and social exclusion faced by which people of African descent in the country," Mendès said, quoted by EFE.