United States Department of State

Dominican Republic: Human Rights United States Department of State

Publisher Marketing: The Dominican Republic is a representative constitutional democracy with a population of approximately 9.7 million, plus an estimated 900,000 to 1.2 million undocumented immigrants, mostly Haitians or their descendants. In May 2012 voters elected Danilo Medina of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) as president for a four-year term. Impartial outside observers assessed these elections as generally free and orderly despite irregularities, including voter fraud, unequal access to the media, and inadequacies in the legal framework that regulates the use of public resources and campaign financing. Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over the security forces. In some instances elements of the security forces committed human rights abuses. The most serious human rights problems were discrimination against Haitian migrants and their descendants, including the Constitutional Tribunal's September ruling that stated that descendants of individuals considered to be illegally in the country, most of whom are of Haitian descent, are not entitled to Dominican nationality, as well as violence against women, including domestic abuse, rape, and femicide. Other human rights problems included extrajudicial killings by security forces, overcrowded and dangerously substandard prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention, lengthy pretrial detention, weak rule of law, impunity for corruption, trafficking in persons, discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and inadequate enforcement of labor laws. Although the government took steps to punish officials who committed abuses, there was a widespread perception of official impunity, especially concerning officials of senior rank.