VZCZCXYZ0026
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0479/01 0642012
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 052012Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7586
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 4514
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000479 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/ECA:JYUTACOM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC DR PHUM PGOV PREF SMIG HA
SUBJECT: AT LAST, A BIRTH REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR 
NON-DOMINICANS 
 
REF: A. 06 SANTO DOMINGO 3282 
 
     ¶B. SANTO DOMINGO 0335 
     ¶C. 2006 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 
     ¶D. SANTO DOMINGO 0444 
     ¶E. 06 SANTO DOMINGO 3759 
     ¶F. SANTO DOMINGO 0013 
     ¶G. 06 SANTO DOMINGO 3521 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Dominican civil registry and elections 
authority has responded somewhat belatedly to complaints from 
the U.S. Embassy and others by voting to create a procedure 
to register the Dominican-born children of foreigners who are 
not legal Dominican residents. Such children, including 
American citizens, will soon be legally able to obtain 
official birth certificates for the first time since 2004. 
The registration process is called the "libro de extranjeria" 
(registry of foreigners). It will be separate from the 
procedure for registering the birth of Dominican nationals 
and is intended not to confer an automatic entitlement to 
Dominican citizenship. There are some indications that 
children registered under this procedure may be granted the 
right to opt for Dominican citizenship upon turning 18 years 
of age. Despite various shortcomings, the new procedure may 
well offer significant benefits, both to U.S. citizens and to 
the many thousands of functionally stateless persons of 
Haitian descent who reside in the Dominican Republic.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------- 
THE HAITIAN-DOMINICANS 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Throughout the twentieth century the Dominican sugar 
industry relied on the cheap labor provided by workers 
brought in from Haiti and housed near sugar plantations in 
settlements known as "bateyes." Many did not return to Haiti. 
 Over time the "bateyes" became permanent villages where 
Haitian nationals gave birth to children who learned to speak 
Spanish better than Creole.  This arrangement fostered the 
creation a sizeable ethnic minority. 
 
¶3. (U) Dominicans have long resented the presence of large 
numbers of Haitians within their country; relations between 
the two groups are colored by racism and a history of 
hostility. This is perhaps all the more true due to the fact 
that the Dominican population is predominantly of mixed race. 
 
¶4. (U) The first Fernandez government privatized 
government-owned sugar mills in the late 1990,s and within a 
short time the related sections of the sugar industry went 
bankrupt.  Populations on associated "bateyes" were further 
impoverished.  High unemployment there and continuing 
instability in Haiti have prompted large numbers of Haitian 
nationals and persons of Haitian descent into Dominican 
cities to seek employment.  Many Dominicans have reacted with 
hostility. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
NEW LAW ON MIGRATION BANS THE REGISTRATION OF FOREIGNERS 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶5. (U) The Dominican constitution grants citizenship to all 
children born on Dominican soil, except for the children of 
diplomats and the children of persons who are "in transit" 
(not further defined).  Despite this guarantee, for years 
civil registrars have refused to document children born to 
Haitians or to persons considered to be Haitians. In 2004 the 
Dominican Congress enshrined this exclusion in law by 
modifying provisions of its immigration law so to exclude 
from eligibility for Dominican citizenship the children of 
foreigners without legal residency. This law affected all 
foreigners, but it targeted Haitians; civil registrars 
typically make exceptions for other nationalities.  The 
Dominican Supreme Court upheld the law,s constitutionality 
in 2005. 
 
¶6. (U) The 2004 law contained provisions for a separate birth 
registration process for children not eligible for Dominican 
citizenship, but the executive took no action on draft 
implementing regulations.  As a result, all children born to 
mothers who were not legal residents in the country also 
became legally unable to obtain official certification of 
birth. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The denial of documentation has created a large 
community of Dominican-born persons of Haitian descent who 
are unable to obtain either Dominican or Haitian identity 
 
documents. This includes not only those individuals born 
since the 2004 law and the 2005 Supreme Court decision, but 
the vast numbers of adults who never had never obtained 
papers before those dates.  Tens of thousands ) perhaps 
hundreds of thousands -- are functionally stateless. Their 
access to Dominican society -- for example, to public 
schooling or to formal sector employment -- is severely 
limited by their lack of documentation. Once these persons 
come of age and have children of their own, the same 
difficulties of registration occur, thus perpetuating the 
vicious cycle of poverty. This community is particularly 
vulnerable to exploitation via trafficking, child labor, 
prostitution, and crime. See Refs A, B, C and D for more on 
the unique problems faced by the community of Haitian descent 
in the Dominican Republic. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The lack of a legal birth registration procedure for 
foreigners who lack legal residency affects U.S. citizens 
too. However, in practice U.S. citizens are usually able to 
circumvent the restrictions. Civil registrars generally make 
exceptions for non-Haitians; rules are not uniformly applied 
at the numerous local civil registry offices; consular 
intervention is usually enough to facilitate issuances in 
cases where U.S. citizens encounter problems. But these 
issuances are not technically legal under the 2004 Law, a 
fact that has long troubled the Embassy's consular section. 
Consular representatives have on several occasions raised 
with JCE officials their concerns over the lack of a legal 
registration process for foreigners. 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
ADVOCACY FROM DIPLOMATIC QUARTERS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) In late 2006, the issue escalated. The U.S. Ambassador 
publicly stepped into the middle of the debate in November 
when he advocated birth certificates for children born to 
non-citizens in a speech covered extensively in the Dominican 
press.  In December a U.S. congressional delegation aroused 
controversy by visiting two bateyes and commenting on the 
lack of documentation facing many batey residents (Ref E). 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Embassy's position was soon mischaracterized as 
public advocacy in favor of Dominican citizenship for 
Haitians. Dominicans, including some cabinet-level officials, 
tend to confuse comments on the administrative problems of 
documentation with the extremely sensitive issue of 
nationality. As in the United States and other "jus soli" 
countries, in the Dominican Republic the birth certificate is 
the basis for the claim to citizenship.  Few Dominicans 
understand that it is possible to issue birth certificates 
that do not transmit citizenship (or that the law already 
envisions such a procedure). Likewise, most Dominicans do not 
realize that the lack of a birth registration procedure for 
foreigners affects nationalities other than Haitians or that 
U.S. citizens are disadvantaged. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Dominicans tend to react with hostility and 
suspicion to comments considered to constitute interventions 
in the country's sensitive "Haitian issue." Foreign Minister 
Carlos Morales Tronocoso denounced the Ambassador,s proposal 
to the press (Ref F), and newspapers dutifully published his 
remarks alongside protests of their own.  Despite the 
conflicts arising from these sensitivities, U.S. Embassy 
officials and other diplomats, notably the Papal Nuncio 
(acting from within his capacity as Dean of the Diplomatic 
Corps), continued to raise the issue in private and in public. 
 
 
-------------------------------------- 
CREATION OF THE "LIBRO DE EXTRANJERIA" 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) In December 2006, Dr. John Guilliani, one of the new 
justices of the Governing Board of the Junta Central 
Electoral (JCE, the Dominican Civil Registry Office), 
proposed the creation by the JCE of a mechanism known as the 
"foreigners, book" ("libro de extranjeria") through which 
the children of non-citizens could be registered without 
acknowledging any entitlement to Dominican citizenship. The 
JCE voted to implement the proposal and a study group 
immediately began meeting to devise implementation 
procedures. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Initially, the plan for a "libro de extranjeria" 
did not provide for the issuance of a birth certification to 
 
the parents of a newborn child registered under the 
procedure. The process instead set forth a procedure whereby 
the JCE would notify the Foreign Ministry of the birth of a 
foreign child, and the Secretariat would in turn notify the 
Embassy or consulate corresponding to the nationality of the 
child's mother. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Embassy officers, including the Ambassador, 
conveyed to the JCE that the procedure as then defined would 
not facilitate recognition of U.S. citizenship unless it 
involved the issuance of a document to the children's 
parents. After considering the matter with his colleagues, 
Justice Guilliani advised the Embassy that the procedure had 
been changed to allow for the issuance to the parents 
themselves of an official document certifying a child's birth 
-- thereby removing what could have been a further obstacle 
to the conduct of U.S. consular business. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Only children born in hospitals will be eligible 
for registration in the "libro de extranjeria." This 
limitation is not likely to affect U.S. citizens, but it will 
affect a significant (although declining) proportion of the 
community of persons of Haitian descent. 
 
------------------------- 
ADVANTAGES OF THE "LIBRO" 
------------------------- 
 
¶16. (U) Prominent NGOs that advocate in favor of persons of 
Haitian descent have come out in opposition to the "libro." 
They argue that it would enshrine segregation. They have a 
point.  Even so, the Embassy supports the "libro" for several 
reasons. 
 
¶17. (SBU) First, at a minimum children registered under the 
"Libro" will have an official document attesting to identity 
and name. This will meet the Dominican government's legal 
obligations under the United Nations Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the 
Child. Both instruments mandate a birth registration process 
for all children, and the Dominican Republic ratified both 
instruments without reservations. Parents and children will 
be able to use these registration documents to request birth 
documentation from the appropriate consular sections, should 
they wish to do so. 
 
¶18. (SBU) According to Guilliani, children registered under 
this procedure will have various rights under Dominican law 
that the functionally stateless do not now enjoy. The 
registered individuals will have the same right to attend 
school as does any Dominican. They will have access to public 
medical services. According to Guilliani,s interpretation, 
under current law they would have the constitutional right to 
opt for Dominican citizenship when they turn 18 years of age. 
It should be noted, however, that President Fernandez is in 
the midst of a project of consultation on possible reforms to 
the Dominican constitution (Ref G) and Guilliani acknowledges 
there is a strong possibility that the decisions eventually 
made might eliminate this right. 
 
¶19. (SBU) Looking ahead, should the Dominican government 
decide to change its registration policies in the future and 
recognize as citizens Dominican-born persons of Haitian 
descent, children registered under this procedure will have 
official documents to prove where they were born. 
 
¶20. (SBU) JCE officials told Embassy officers that the "libro 
de extranjeria" will be implemented over the coming weeks. 
Soon they expect to notify the public of the procedure and 
its implenting regulations, which will be posted on the 
internet, in order to comply with the legally mandated 
ten-day public comment period. Once the ten-day period has 
expired, Dr. Guilliani predicts that the procedure will be 
implemented immediately. (NOTE: Of course, it will likely 
take months, at least, to train and equip all of the regional 
civil registry offices before they will be ready for their 
responsibilities under the new system.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶21. (U) This registration mechanism will not be available to 
persons born prior to the implementation of the new 
procedure.  Senator Francisco Dominguez Brito has proposed 
legislation that would open the process to those individuals, 
as well. 
 
¶22. (U) This cable was drafted by Alexander T. Bryan. 
 
¶23. (U) This report and extensive other material can be 
 
consulted on our SIPRNET site, 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/  
 
HERTELL