U.S. Mission to International
Organizations in Geneva

U.S. Statement at the Universal Periodic Review of Dominican Republic

32^nd Session
Geneva, January 30, 2019 

as delivered by Sean Mariano Garcia

The United States welcomes the delegation from the Dominican Republic to the UPR Working Group.

 We recommend that the Dominican Republic:

1. Takes steps to end extrajudicial killings, torture and life-threatening prison conditions.
2. Provide fair judicial processes regarding the issuance of identity and citizenship documents to eliminate deportations of legal residents, legal migrants, and persons with a credible claim to Dominican citizenship.
3. Take measures to improve judicial independence, with a priority on addressing bribery and interference in the adjudication of corruption cases, and by ensuring authorities enforce judicial orders to release detainees.

The United States is encouraged by the Dominican Republic’s agreement to create a working group with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and civil society participation to address racial discrimination.

We urge strict respect for judicial independence and impartiality, and lament that improper influence on judicial decisions is widespread.

We remain deeply concerned the government inconsistently enforces laws related to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and labor inspectors do not consistently investigate allegations of violations of these rights.