Executive Summary | 13 8. 9. 10. 11. 1 preventing them from being registered and having their Dominican nationality certified. The Commission notes that the denial of registration or refusing to deliver papers to a large number of persons born in the Dominican Republic has been a widespread practice of the Central Electoral Board over the past decades, when arbitrary deportations and collective expulsions were also recorded. Those deportations included persons born in the Dominican Republic, to whom the Dominican State had recognized their Dominican nationality by issuing birth certificates to them and national identity cards. In this context, the judgment of the Constitutional Court represented a crucial stage in the process of denationalization conducted for decades in the Dominican Republic, aimed at “protecting its national identity” by arbitrarily and retroactively restricting the right to a nationality to Dominicans of foreign descent, especially those of Haitian descent. 1 The judgement TC / 0168/13 and its effects have been the subject of much concern and condemnation at national, regional and international level. After the commotion generated by judgment TC/0168/13 and in response to an invitation from the Dominican State, the Inter-American Commission conducted its sixth on-site visit to the Dominican Republic from December 2 to 6, 2013. The purpose of the visit was to observe the situation with respect to the rights to nationality, identity, equality and non-discrimination, as well other rights and related issues and problems. The Commission conducted this mission to monitor the compliance with the international commitments the Dominican Republic has freely undertaken. During the visit, the Inter-American Commission received troubling information concerning grave violations of the rights to nationality, juridical personality, equality and nondiscrimination. The violations of the right to nationality, which the Commission had been observing since its on-site visit in 1991, continue unabated. Indeed, Constitutional Court judgment TC 0168/2013 has only made the situation worse. During the visit, the Inter-American Commission also received deeply disturbing reports of threats made against journalists, academics, lawyers, politicians, lawmakers, human rights defenders, public figures and even high-level public servants for having criticized judgment TC/0168/13 of the Constitutional Court. These people have been called “traitors” and have been the targets of threats, and calls to “kill the traitors” have even been made publicly. The Commission is also concerned that intolerance and racist discourse might create an environment that makes persons of Haitian descent even more vulnerable to various forms of violence. The discrimination, marginalization, and segregation of persons of Haitian descent who have been deprived of their Dominican nationality because of the Haitian nationality of their ancestors and/or because of the color of their skin (especially women and children), have increased their vulnerability to other forms of discrimination, exploitation, and violation of human rights, such as the right to personal integrity, the right to the protection of their honor, dignity, and private life, IACHR, Preliminary observations on the IACHR’s visit to the Dominican Republic: December 2 to 6, 2013. Santo Domingo, December 6, 2013, pp. 6-11. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR