108 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic 251. Given the close relationship between judgment TC/0168/13 and Law No. 169-14 and its Regulatory Decree No. 250-14, the Commission deems it necessary to comment on these two laws and their compatibility with the rights recognized in the American Convention. • Typologies of cases of affected persons 252. During its visit to the Dominican Republic, the Inter-American Commission received written information and oral testimony from 3,342 persons. Of these, 2,910 handed over documents and 432 gave oral testimony. 255 On occasion, the information supplied by these 3,342 persons was not just about themselves, but also about other persons, generally family members. This added another 1,750 persons. Of these 342 were under the age of 18. In one of the testimonies the Commission received, a child 11 years old said the following: I’m from here (the Dominican Republic) … I don’t have a (birth) certificate… I’m in school, in the fourth grade. I don’t feel right. I need the certificate. I need the birth certificate, I need to have it. I have an older brother who was born here (in the Dominican Republic) and he has his papers (birth certificate)…. My father is in Haiti and my mother is here. She has a birth certificate…. In school, when you don’t have a birth certificate, you need it; if you have a birth certificate and you have a little problem, it gets fixed; so I feel like I’m missing something…. I feel like they (my classmates in school) are better than I am, because they have certificates and I don’t… At times (my schoolmates) make me feel bad, they criticize me by saying, why don’t I have the certificate? I tell them that I don’t have it… I feel bad… They make fun of me. They make me feel like I’m not as good as they are… I would ask you to please do me the favor (of giving me the birth certificate) and I’d be most grateful. 256 253. Of the five issues that figured most prominently in the testimony received, the Commission is troubled by the fact that the first four have to do with the structural problem associated with the deprivation of the rights to nationality and to recognition as a person before the law in the case of Dominicans of Haitian descent. The issue most frequently reported had to do with the Civil Registry officials’ refusal to issue birth certificates. This was the complaint in 1360 cases. Next in order was the authorities’ refusal to issue identity cards, reported in 1,086 cases; 722 cases involved persons who could not be registered with the Registry officials, while 504 cases involved the parents’ inability to register their children’s birth. 257 254. As for the cases where the information supplied made it possible to determine the underlying causes of the complaint, in 620 cases the individuals attributed their problem to the fact that they were of Haitian descent; in 240 cases they blamed their parents’ irregular migratory situation; in 50 cases, they attributed the problem to 255 256 257 Occasionally the persons who visited the Commission presented both written documents and oral testimony, as well as any identity documents they had or copies thereof. Testimony received from an eleven-year-old boy born in the Dominican Republic. The fifth most common complaint filed with the Inter-American Commission was made in 280 cases and concerned the fact that seniors were unable to get social security. Organization of American States | OAS