Landmark ruling buoys Dominicans of Haitian descent

SAN PEDRO, Dominican Republic.- A San Pedro court’s ruling Tuesday that the Central Electoral Board (JCE) violated the rights of 28 Dominicans of Haitian descent when it denied them an ID could pave the way for hundreds of similar cases, and comes just days after the deadline for employers to register undocumented workers expired.

District Civil Court judge Luis Alberto Mejia ruled that the JCE violated the right to human dignity, equality, citizenship and identity, among others stipulated in the Dominican Constitution, and ordered the JCE officers in San Pedro, Quisqueya, Consuelo, San Jose de los Llanos and Ramon Santana to issue an ID to each applicant.

The court also orders the JCE to pay RD$1,000 to each plaintiff for each day it fails to abide by the ruling starting 10 days after notification.

On May 11 the 28 plaintiffs filed papers challenging the JCE and the electoral boards of those townships for denying them the ID cards they had applied for in November.