122 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic 286. On June 19, 2012, a constitutional amendment took effect in Haiti that eliminated the ban on dual nationality. The 2012 constitutional amendment repealed articles 12(1), 12(2), 13, 14 and 15 of Haiti’s 1987 Constitution.289 The Commission notes that this amendment does not automatically give the Haitian nationality to people who had lost or not acquired based on the prohibition of double nationality. According to the information the Commission has to the date this report was approved, the Haitian authorities were in the process of drafting a nationality law so that persons of Haitian descent affected by the ban on dual nationality, including persons born and living abroad, could apply for Haitian nationality without having to renounce any other nationality previously acquired. This would mean that persons interested in applying for Haitian nationality could acquire it in the future; however, for now, they are not considered Haitians, a factor that is of basic importance for establishing statelessness. 287. The Commission also observes that under Article 26(3) of the Decree on Haitian Nationality, a conflict of nationality, either by expressly choosing or actively exercising a foreign nationality, was one of the grounds for losing Haitian nationality. Here, the Commission notes that for many of those affected by judgment TC/0168/13, having registered one’s birth as a Dominican national creates a conflict of nationalities and operates as the active exercise of a foreign nationality, which is one of the grounds for losing one’s Haitian nationality under Article 26 of the Decree on Haitian Nationality. 288. The Commission observes that in situations like that of the children of immigrants, the former may have ties with more than one State. In cases where States have adopted different rules for acquisition of nationality, a child could be left stateless because of the resulting conflict of laws. In such cases, the Commission believes that the best course of action is to rely on the provision established on Article 1 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness to resolve that type of conflict of laws, which provides that a Contracting State shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be rendered stateless. 289. Moreover, the Commission notes that, until a new law on nationality is adopted, the enforcement of the law on Haitian nationality will, in practice, remain complex and problematic. The acquisition of Haitian nationality can be especially difficult in situations where the parents of the person concerned lack identity documents are no longer alive, or if said person cannot obtain proof of Haitian nationality. 290. In addition to the foregoing, the interpretation of the criteria for nationality used by the Haitian authorities is crucial in determining whether a person is a Haitian national for purposes of defining statelessness. The Commission takes note of the statement made by the Haitian State, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on October 2, 2013, when, in reference to Judgment TC/0168/13, it declared the following: The Commission takes note of the statement made by various officials of 289 VONK, Olivier W., Nationality Law in the Western Hemisphere: A Study on Grounds for Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship in the Americas and the Caribbean. Brill I Nijhoff, 2014, pp. 248-249. Organization of American States | OAS