112 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic 258. On the basis of information and testimonies gathered throughout its visit, the Commission deems that the decisions taken by the civil servants of the Civil Registry Offices to deny or withhold identity documents, as well as the decisions of the Central Electoral Board to start investigations to determine the validity of the identity documents, highlight the use of racial profiling against persons born in the Dominican Republic descendants of Haitians, because these actions taken by authorities were based on discriminatory criteria, such as physical appearance, the way of talking, skin color, language, surnames or origin of parents. Along these lines, the Commission deems it is necessary to reiterate that the basic right to equal protection before the law and nondiscrimination requires States to have policies, laws, and practices aimed enforcing the law which are not unjustifiably aimed at certain individuals only on the basis of their ethnic or racial features such as skin color, accent, ethnic group or area of residence well-known for having a specific ethnic population. • Figures on the affected population 259. The Commission notes that it has been impossible to determine precisely how many persons were or are affected by judgment TC/0168/13. One of the major challenges encountered when trying to determine the actual number of persons affected is the temporal scope of the judgment, which retroactively and arbitrarily deprived persons born in the almost 78-year period between June 21, 1929 and April 18, 2007 of their Dominican nationality. 260. Another factor that makes it difficult to determine precisely how many people were affected by judgment TC/0168/13 is what Dominican officials themselves have described as the institutional weakness of authorities when it comes to vital records and immigration, who leave entire population groups –both Dominican nationals and immigrants- with no identification and immigration papers. In its observations to the draft of the present report, with reference to the figures for the affected population, the Dominican State stressed what had been stated by President Danilo Medina, when he pointed out that: “this is a complex reality, with diverse legal bases, various human groups, and many figures and interpretations. It is a reality that requires pondering, investigation, analysis, and honesty.” 260 Likewise on June 26, 2015, President Danilo Medina commented that: [i]n the Dominican Republic’s case, we have inherited a system that for decades left us with a weak government bureaucracy that has left entire population groups –both nationals and immigrants- undocumented and therefore unprotected. To put an end to this situation, we decided to take the initiative of providing everyone living in the country with the documentation appropriate 260 Dominican Republic, Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the Organization of American States. Note MP-RD-OEA 1395-15: Note whereby the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Observations of the Dominican State on the “Draft Report of the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic” is forwarded. December 21, 2015, p. 8. Organization of American States | OAS