SAHNI ARTICLE 3.3.21 (WORD) (DO NOT DELETE) Spring 2021 Loss of Nationality Rights 5/6/2021 7:21 PM 121 allows the individual to acquire and exercise rights and obligations inherent in membership in a political community. As such, nationality is a requirement for the exercise of specific rights.”86 The Dominican Republic’s unwillingness to grant documentation like birth certificates constitutes indirect discrimination based on ethnic origin. 87 This discrimination results in the direct loss of nationality that, in turn, violates the rights to juridical personality,88 a name, and equal protection of the laws under Articles 3 and 18 of the American Convention.89 The plaintiffs in Girls Yean and Bosico were two young girls who required access to their birth certificates as a pre-requisite to enrol in school.90 Their inability to receive a basic education clearly would deprive them of future opportunities to participate and financially survive in society. Although the judgment of the Inter-American Court is binding on the Dominican Republic,91 the Member State declined to implement the Order.92 Senate Resolution of the Dominican Republic of October 18, 2005 officially declared the judgment invalid. One month later the Supreme Court upheld the General Law on Migration No. 285-04.93 The Constitution was amended in 2009 to prioritize the jus sanguinis principle. Article 18 expressly excludes children of foreigners who are “in transit” or are “residing illegally on Dominican territory”94 from becoming nationals. The Constitutional Court interpreted the above provisions to apply retrospectively; in this way, it could approve or consent to the State’s mass revocation of nationality. 95 It held that 86. 87. 88. Id. ¶ 137. Id. ¶ 192. It is interesting that the Inter-American Court uses the phrase “juridical personality” to refer to natural persons or human beings; ”juridical personality” applies to artificial persons and bestows legal status. See M Siddiq (D) Thr Lrs v. Mahant Suresh Das & Ors (2019), 4 SCC 127 (India), ¶ 88-101. See also Elvia Arcelia Quintana Adriano, The Natural Person, Legal or Juridical Person and Juridical Personality, 4 PENN ST. J.L. & INT’L AFF. 363, 373-83 (2015). 89. Girls Yean and Bosico (ser. C) No. 130, ¶¶ 186-187. 90. Id. ¶ 109(6)-(21). 91. ACHR, supra note 11, at art. 68(1) (“The States Parties to the Convention undertake to comply with the judgment of the Court in any case to which they are parties.”). 92. Chapter V: Follow-Up on Recommendations Issued by the IACHR Based on the Working Group on Implementation of Human Rights Policies in the Dominican Republic, 2018, Report No. 072/19, OEA/Ser.L/V/II., ¶ 4. 93. Dominican Republic, Supreme Court of Justice, serving as Constitutional Court, Judgement of December 14, 2005. 94. Constitución Política de la República Dominicana, (Jan. 26, 2010), at art. 18 (“[D]ominicans [feminine] and Dominicans [masculine] are: 1. The sons and daughters of a Dominican mother or father; 2. Those who enjoy the Dominican nationality before the entry into effect of this Constitution 3. The persons born in the national territory, with the exception of the sons and daughters of foreign members of diplomatic and consular delegations, and of foreigners in transit or residing illegally in the Dominican territory. Any foreigner [masculine] or foreigner [feminine] defined as such in the Dominican laws is considered a person in transit.”). 95. República Dominicana Tribunal Constitucional [Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic], Sept. 26, 2013, Sentencia TC/0168/13; see also Expelled Dominicans