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IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Will Conduct On-Site Visit to the Dominican Republic
November 27, 2013
Washington, D.C.—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will carry out an onsite visit to the Dominican Republic on December 2-6, 2013, in response to an invitation from the State of the Dominican Republic. This will be the IACHR’s seventh onsite visit to the Dominican Republic.
The Commission will aim to analyze the human rights situation in the Dominican Republic regarding the rights to nationality, identity, equality, and nondiscrimination, along with other related rights and issues. The Inter-American Commission will hold interviews with authorities from the three branches of government and will meet with representatives of different segments of civil society, both in Santo Domingo and in other provinces inside the country, in the interest of better understanding the human rights challenges and advances, as well as receiving complaints.
The delegation that will visit the Dominican Republic is composed of IACHR Chairman José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez; First Vice-Chair Tracy Robinson; Second Vice-Chair Rosa María Ortiz; and Commissioners Felipe González, Dinah Shelton, and Rose Marie Antoine. Other members of the delegation include Executive Secretary Emilio Álvarez Icaza Longoria, Assistant Executive Secretary Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, and Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Catalina Botero, along with other staff members of the Executive Secretariat.
During its visit, the IACHR will set up temporary headquarters in Santo Domingo. Also, the Inter-American Commission will accept complaints on human rights violations on Monday 2nd, Tuesday 3rd and Thursday 4th of December from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Club de Profesores in the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), located in George Washington Avenue between Maximo Gomez and Jose Maria Heredia. In addition, on Wednesday, December 4, the Commission will accept complaints in the provinces of Dajabón, Valverde, San Pedro de Macorís, and La Romana. The exact addresses where the Commission will receive complaints in these provinces will be published as soon as possible.*
The Inter-American Commission will present its preliminary observations at the end of its visit, at a press conference on Friday, December 6, at 11 a.m., at the Hotel Crowne Plaza in Santo Domingo.
The Commission appreciates the cooperation and facilitation provided by the government of the Dominican Republic and by civil society organizations in the planning and preparations for the visit.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
* This press release was modified on November 29, 2013, in order to make public the address to receive complaints in Santo Domingo and to change the dates.
No. 95/13