Dominican Republic nixes Human Rights Court jurisdiction

Santo Domingo .- As local media predicted, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional the acceptance of the Inter-American Human Rights Court’s (IACHR), jurisdiction, signed into law February 19, 1999, by then Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernandez

The Constitutional Court ruled that Congress hadn’t ratified the pact as the Constitutional Article 55.6 stipulates.

It noted that since it’s up to Congress to approve or reject international treaties and conventions agreed to by the Executive Branch, to be binding to the Dominican State, the jurisdiction of the Human Rights Court had to comply with Constitutional requirements.