118 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic scrutiny as the Dominican State when assessing fulfillment of this obligation.” 278 The Dominican State also indicated that, with the adoption of “Law 169-14 the problems that certain groups of persons face with respect to the issue of nationality were addressed, and therefore it does not accept, under any circumstances, that the regulatory framework and policies of the Dominican State ha[ve] a discriminatory purpose and foster statelessness. The argument that thousands of persons were able to benefit from Category B of Law 169-14 but did not do so and, as a result, have remained in the status of statelessness, is pure speculation because the Dominican Government has not heard of any case whatsoever, let alone thousands of cases, that might have this status. The problem affecting persons who were registered in the Civil Registry Office was resolved by the above-mentioned Law, and therefore the charge being brought by the IACHR that there currently is, in the Dominican Republic, a deliberate policy to arbitrarily deprive hundreds of thousands of persons of a nationality is unacceptable”(underlining added). 279 275. The Commission notes that even though judgment TC/0168/13 only discussed the possibility that Mrs. Juliana Deguis Pierre could obtain Haitian nationality by way of jus sanguinis, however, extended its effects to all persons whose cases they were similar to hers, without doing an individual analysis about whether other people in a similar situation to that of Mrs. Deguis Pierre could acquire Haitian nationality or any other nationality. This line of argument leads the Commission to conclude that judgment TC/0168/13 is clearly aimed at people of Haitian descent. 280 Regarding this, the Commission deems it is necessary to point out that any decision that might lead to the deprivation of nationality of a person must be taken on an individual basis for each person involved in the framework of a fair trial benefiting from the enjoyment of guarantees of due process of law. 281 276. To avoid situations in which persons are left stateless, Article 20(2) of the American Convention provides that every person has the right to the nationality of the state in whose territory he was born if he does not have the right to any other nationality, i.e. that person would be rendered stateless if he or she did not acquire said nationality. In international law, Article 1.1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 1954 defines as "stateless" to "any person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law". The definition of statelessness, contained in Article 1.1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons is part of customary international law. 278 279 280 281 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, pp. 11-12. 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, pp. 16-17. International Law Commission, Articles on Diplomatic Protection with comments. 2006, p. 49. See also, UNHCR, Handbook on the Protection of Stateless Persons. Geneva, 2014, p. 9. See: UNHCR, Summary Conclusions of the Expert Meeting: Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Avoiding Statelessness resulting from Loss and Deprivation of Nationality. Tunis, October 31 to November 1, 2013, para. 61. Organization of American States | OAS