98 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic is evident that the only nationality system that is acceptable for the IACHR would be a system without any restrictions whatsoever, which is not accepted by the majority of the countries around the world. In this specific situation which we are facing, an island with two nations, what is truly arbitrary and disproportionate is that the IACHR is requiring the Dominican State to adopt certain standards and policies and does not require the Haitian State to do the same regarding this same issue of nationality.”231 225. Contrary to what the Dominican State indicates, the Commission deems it relevant to reiterate that even when states have the authority to regulate the scope and application of rights, including the right to nationality, the restrictions or requirements established with respect to the right to nationality must conform to strict principles, among them necessity and proportionality; in other words, the restrictions must serve to satisfy a compelling public interest and must be proportionate to the interest that justify them. Furthermore, these restrictions must be prescribed by law; they must not be discriminatory and must have a legitimate purpose. And they must not imply an arbitrary deprivation of the right to nationality. 232 226. The Commission has been monitoring this situation in the Dominican Republic and has found a number of impediments preventing Haitian migrants from regularizing their immigration status in the country, which has entailed other obstacles, making it difficult for them to register their children born on Dominican soil with the Civil Registry office and thus benefit from identity papers certifying their Dominican nationality. The Commission reiterates that civil registration is a necessary corollary, especially to ensure their recognition as persons before the law and the fuller enjoyment of their rights under the Convention. 233 Thus, it has been observed that “registration of birth is one of the fundamental rights. With registration, the child’s existence and identity are legally recognized and it establishes that a child belongs to a family, a community and a nation. It proves that the child has a place (and a right to participate) in each and every one of those institutions. It opens up other rights, such as access to health services and education; it offers protection against discrimination and abandonment, determines how the child will be treated by the courts and lasts for the duration of the child’s lifetime, thereby guaranteeing the individual’s right to a place in his or her country’s social and political life.” 234 227. Inasmuch as judgment TC/0168/13 arbitrarily and retroactively deprives persons of their nationality and disproportionately affects persons of Haitian descent born in 231 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. 12. IACHR, Application filed with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of Dilcia Yean and Violeta Bosico Cofi v. Dominican Republic, July 11, 2003, par. 51. UN, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Nicaragua. CRC/C/15/Add.36 (Ninth Session, 1995), par. 16. IACHR, Application filed with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of Dilcia Yean and Violeta Bosico Cofi v. Dominican Republic, July 11, 2003, par. 179. See also, IACHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the Dominican Republic, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.104, Doc 49, rev. 1, October 7, 1999, paragraphs 363 and 364. 232 233 234 Organization of American States | OAS