Chapter 1 Introduction | 31 30. 31. 32. The group that headed east was led by Commissioner Dinah Shelton, Commissioner Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-descendants and against Racial Discrimination, and the Commission’s Assistant Executive Secretary, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed. Along the way they visited and met with thousands of persons in Consuelo, Batey Don Juan, Batey Monte Coca, and Batey Construcción, in San Pedro de Macorís province; and Batey 62, Batey Como Quieras, Batey Hoyo Puerco and Guaymate, in La Romana province. For its part, the group that went south was headed by Commissioner Felipe González and Commissioner Tracy Robinson and visited with officials from CESFRONT and the Office of the Director General of Immigration in Jimaní. It also toured the border at Mal Paso, Haiti. The group then went to Boca de Cachón, where it met with a community of Haitian immigrants. The sites listed above are in the Independencia province. At the end of the day, the delegation had met with hundreds of persons of Haitian descent and with Haitians and civil society organizations in Batey 6, Bahoruco province. At the sites visited, information was provided directly to the Commission regarding living conditions in the bateyes and in the border zones. Also during the visit, a Commission delegation headed by Commissioner Felipe González, Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants, and Commissioner Rosa María Ortiz, Rapporteur on the Rights of the Child and Rapporteur for the Dominican Republic, visited the Haina Immigration Detention Center in San Cristóbal province. At the time of the visit, no one was being held in the Haina facility because, according to immigration officials, remodeling work was about to get underway. 1. Actions after the on-site visit to the Dominican Republic 33. 34. 14 15 16 17 Subsequent to the visit, at the request of the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on behalf of CARICOM, 14 Commissioner Rosa María Ortiz, the Rapporteur for the Dominican Republic, addressed the OAS Permanent Council on February 19, 2014, where she gave a summary of the preliminary observations that the Inter-American Commission had presented in Santo Domingo on December 6, 2013, at the close of its on-site visit to the Dominican Republic. 15 Via communications dated April 7, 2014, 16 May 27, 2014, 17 July 21, 2014, 18 July 23, 2014, 19 July 28, 2014, 20 August 22, 2014, 21 September 17, 2014, 22 September 29, CARICOM, Preliminary Observations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) Visit to the Dominican Republic: Note from the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on behalf of the CARICOM requesting inclusion of the item on the agenda for the regular meeting of the Permanent Council to be held on February 19, 2014. Note OEA No. 05/14. February 12, 2014. OAS, Permanent Council, Acta de la sesión ordinaria celebrada el 19 de febrero de 2014. OEA/Ser.G CP/ACTA 1955/14. Approved at the meeting held on February 11, 2015. Dominican Republic, Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the Organization of American States. Nota MP-RD-OEA 0315-14: Documento explicativo de la sentencia TC/0168/13 del Tribunal Constitucional de la República Dominicana de fecha 23 de septiembre de 2013 [Note MP-RD-OEA 0315-14: Document explaining Constitutional Court judgment TC/0168/13], April 10, 2014. Dominican Republic. Nota MP-RD-OEA 0557-14: Ley 169-14 que establece régimen especial para personas nacidas en el territorio nacional inscritas irregularmente en el Registro Civil dominicano y sobre naturalización Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR