IACHR

Press Release

IACHR and Dominican State Hold First Working Group on the Implementation of Human Rights Policies

July 25, 2018

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Washington, D.C. - On July 24 and 25, 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Dominican state held the First Working Group on the Implementation of Human Rights Policies. The event included a working meeting between state and civil society representatives on migration, women, gender, equality and discrimination, and nationality.

The creation of this working group is an opportunity for progress on the implementation of human rights policies in the Dominican Republic and is a complementary tool that is part of the IACHR’s Strategic Plan for 2017–2021. This plan also commits countries to monitoring recommendations so as to strengthen the effectiveness of the Inter-American Human Rights System.

Commissioner Luis Ernesto Vargas Silva, the rapporteur for the Dominican Republic, emphasized that “this initial Working Group has proven to be an important space in which to continue working together to monitor IACHR recommendations and update the information available on the implementation of human rights policies.”

Paulo Abrão, executive secretary of the IACHR, underlined the organization’s “interest in working with the Dominican state and civil society to implement solutions that will guarantee that all people in the Dominican Republic can enjoy and exercise their human rights.”

Following this first meeting in Washington, DC, the Working Group will meet again at the end of the year in Santo Domingo, independently of the fact that both the state and civil society expressed a desire to hold internal meetings within the Dominican Republic.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 163/18