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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REAFFIRMS UNCONDITIONAL
SUPPORT FOR OAS CHARTER PRINCIPLES

  May 21, 2003

The Dominican Republic remains firmly committed to its policy of unconditional support for the principles and values articulated in the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Charter, according to that country’s new Permanent Representative to the OAS.

In her first address to the Permanent Council, on Wednesday, Ambassador Sofía Leonor Sánchez Baret said she would, as instructed by President Hipólito Mejía, monitor developments in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on an ongoing basis. “And I will do everything I can to facilitate dialogue between those institutions and the Dominican state, and to settle pending cases.”

Ambassador Sánchez Baret pledged to collaborate on gender equality initiatives, and offered to lend the OAS her expertise in electoral law, “if that would help the Americas conduct more elections that are free and fair, as stipulated in Articles 23 and 24 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.”

The Dominican envoy urged the Permanent Council to “spare no effort to reactivate economic and technical assistance as well as humanitarian aid so the people of Haiti can fully enjoy good governance, respect for human rights and social stability.”

A law graduate of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Ambassador Sánchez Baret also holds a Master’s degree in political science and a postgraduate certificate in international relations from Pedro Henríquez Ureña University. A two-time deputy in the Dominican Congress, she also served for twelve years as Vice President of Socialist International, and is currently a member of the National Executive Committee of the Dominican Revolutionary Party and its Political Committee.

Reference: E-111/03