The United States deplores the abuses and impunity in the Dominican Republic

The United States government reported that in 2022 in the Dominican Republic, security forces committed abuses, including homicides, as well as arbitrary detentions of citizens and foreigners, and other violent acts. They also point out that the citizens had to endure “harsh and potentially deadly prison conditions; arbitrary detention; arbitrary interference with privacy; serious government corruption; and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people.”

It notes that while the government took steps in some cases to prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses or acts of corruption, “inconsistent and ineffective application of the law sometimes led to impunity.” Regarding the crimes and outrages attributed to the National Police and other government security forces, it is cited that they “committed arbitrary or illegal homicides of civilians.” The report cites that the National Human Rights Commission documented that “at least 170 people were killed by the Police during the year.

“While the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted some high-profile cases of police abuse, civil society representatives claimed that many killings and abuses went unreported due to the public’s lack of faith in the government to investigate and press charges or for fear of reprisals by the police”, adds the United States report.