UNHCR welcomes Dominican Republic move on citizenship

WASHINGTON – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes a decision by the Dominican Republic to allow the naturalization of around 750 people born and raised in the country who were previously deprived of citizenship due to the immigration status of their parents.

“This gives hope and dignity to hundreds of stateless people whose lives had been in limbo for many years. We commend the Government of the Dominican Republic for taking this important step towards finding nationality solutions for people born and raised in the country, and we look forward to continued constructive cooperation with the government to find practical solutions for everyone’s benefit,” said Matthew Reynolds, UNHCR representative for the United States and the Caribbean

The decision, announced by presidential decree on July 16th, eased restrictions imposed in a ruling by the Dominican Constitutional Court known as Judgment 168-13, which was issued seven years ago on September 23rd, 2013.

That ruling affirmed that children born in the Dominican Republic to parents with irregular immigration status were not entitled to Dominican citizenship. Its application also resulted in the revocation of nationality for thousands of people who were born in the Dominican Republic, most of them of Haitian descent.

It also effectively blocked their access to fundamental rights and basic public services such as higher education and health care, which are available only to Dominican citizens.

The presidential decree was issued in accordance with Law 169-14, a multi-party agreement passed in 2014 to mitigate the impact of the Constitutional Court’s ruling which has resulted so far in the recognition of Dominican nationality and documentation of over 26,000 people.

Still, there are thousands of people in the Dominican Republic who remain without a nationality, as they are not recognized as citizens under the law of any country. UNHCR encourages the government to continue working on a solution for the additional estimated 6,400 persons who have filed applications for naturalization.

UNHCR will continue supporting the government’s work in the Dominican Republic to fulfill the #IBelong Campaign objective of ending statelessness globally by 2024. This objective, which is in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aims to leave no one behind and to guarantee the right to a nationality for all.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

• In Washington, D.C. Andrea Mucino-Sanchez, [email protected], +1 202 751 9000