On July 25, 2012, Santa Clara Laws International Human Rights Clinic filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of six Dominicans of Haitian descent who have been denied renewals of their birth certificates, passports, and other identity documents by the government of the Dominican Republic because of their Haitian descent. The petition argues that such discriminatory practices effectively limit the full enjoyment of the petitioners right to Dominican nationality and other related rights recognized in the American Convention on Human Rights. The purpose of the petition is to establish the international responsibility of the Dominican Republic for these discriminatory practices that have not only affected the six petitioners in this case, but also thousands of people born in the Dominican Republic of Haitian parents.
The petition was filed in coordination with the following partners: Centro Bonó in Dominican Republic, Onè Respe in Dominican Republic, and International Senior Lawyers Project in New York.
The petition can be found here.
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