UN concerned about Dominican Republic’s ruling on regional court

Santo Domingo.– The United Nations human rights office expressed Friday its deep concern about a recent Dominican Constitutional Court"s ruling that the country"s recognition of the competence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) is unconstitutional.

According to Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this ruling may jeopardize the capacity of Dominican people to protect their rights, "and deny them a system of protection designed to complement the Dominican legal framework and institutions."

Two weeks ago, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the country to revoke a judgement issued in September 2013 saying that the children of undocumented migrants who have been in the country and registered as Dominicans as far back as 1929 cannot have Dominican nationality, as their parents are considered to be "in transit."

Earlier this week the Constitutional Court said that when the Dominican Republic joined the jurisdiction of the regional court in 1999, it had done so without respecting its own constitution. Colville stressed that regional human rights bodies, such as the IACHR, play "a very important role" in the promotion and protection of human rights in the region.