88 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic I was becoming frustrated at their unwillingness to issue me my identity card. I gave up for a time, and then I realized that it was affecting every aspect of my life: my married life, my economic life, and my life as a mother. And I mention my life as a mother because I have a three-yearold little girl. She has been unable to go to school; I have been unable to register her; I can’t get health insurance because she isn’t registered and I don’t have the identity card. As for marriage, I had to enter into a free union with my partner; without an identity card I’m unable to marry. He’s abroad, as he is a U.S. citizen. He’s asked me to marry him. He wants to be able to request that I go with him to the U.S. because he wants to be with his family: my little girl and I are his family. But I can’t get married. The relationship with him has been so frustrating because he says that we should go our separate ways since he can’t marry me. I can’t leave the country. I’m alone with my daughter. The situation makes me feel that my life is miserable. I’m living a nightmare because I can’t work, I can’t study, I can’t do anything. I can’t take out medical insurance. I can’t do anything because without the identity card, you’re nobody. 203 198. During its on-site visit, the Commission had an opportunity to analyze Constitutional Court judgment TC/0168/13, the laws enacted before and after it was handed down, and the concrete effects that its enforcement has had on persons of Haitian descent. Persons affected by judgment TC/0168/13, civil society organizations, and jurists told the Inter-American Commission that this ruling was one more phase in the process of arbitrary denationalization, which aims to strip the right to Dominican citizenship from the children of irregular migrants. They also pointed out that the judgment was clearly discriminatory on the basis of race, as it mainly affected persons born in the Dominican Republic of Haitian descent, for whom it has become virtually impossible to exercise their right to nationality. 204 199. During a meeting with Dominican jurists, the Commission was told that prior to judgment TC/0168/13, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court had never delivered a ruling with such sweeping negative effects on a given group. This judgment was the first time this had happened. They also noted that with this judgment the Constitutional Council had taken a strange turn by perverting a concept applied in our hemisphere, i.e., the notion of an unconstitutional state of affairs. In other words, this was a widespread unconstitutional state of affairs, and in such cases the jurisprudence of the constitutional court can serve to benefit the persons adversely affected by declaring that a decision favorable to them applies across the board. However, what the Constitutional Court did in this case was to give general effects to a ruling that went against those adversely affected, all Dominicans 203 204 One woman’s testimony to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Santo Domingo, December 2, 2013. See, Meeting the IACHR had with affected persons and civil society organizations concerning the impact of Constitutional Court judgment TC/0168/13, and during its on-site visit to the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo, December 2, 2013 Organization of American States | OAS