International Human Rights Day and the fiftieth anniversary of the American Convention

Thank you very much. Honorable Chair of the Permanent Council; honorable Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General; His Excellency Manuel Ventura Robles, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica; distinguished ambassadors and permanent observers; honorable Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); José Thompson, Executive Director of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights; Judge Thomas Buergenthal; ladies and gentlemen.

The Dominican Delegation wishes to take this opportunity to thank the Delegations of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Uruguay and Mexico for proposing the inclusion on the agenda of the Permanent Council of the commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the adoption of the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Fortieth Anniversary of the installation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an occasion we use to recognize its hard work and to offer our congratulations on the forty years since its installation. In this regard, we highlight the important advances that the Organization of American States has achieved in recent years in establishing instruments and mechanisms for the defense, protection and promotion of human rights on behalf of the citizens of the countries of the Hemisphere.

The inter-American human rights system has played a leading role both in safeguarding the human rights of individuals and as a means of holding thematic hearings on the situations of specific countries, whose aim has been to engage governments, international organizations, civil society and other stakeholders in the search for feasible solutions and proposals for mediating existing conflicts.

We also note that our status as a founding member of the OAS binds us in sentiment to the purposes for which this international body was created with the signing of the Charter of the Organization on April 30, 1948, chief among them the pursuit of peace among the Member States and the guarantee and promotion of human rights through its various organs and agencies.

It is for these reasons that we value the efforts being made by the Organization of American States in this regard and, in particular, by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which for several years has been engaging with the Dominican State on matters of common interest and in fostering a close relationship and good communication between them. The Dominican Republic has expressed its wish that this joint work endure over time and continue to grow stronger.

The frankness, readiness and promptness with which the Dominican authorities have responded in the recent past to the requests of the IACHR, as well as the initiative of our authorities for the IACHR itself to verify on the ground the progress achieved on the most urgent issues on the human rights agenda, bear witness to our commitment. All of this, ladies and gentlemen, has to this day governed the spirit of hard work and sincere collaboration that has led us to undeniable progress in the field of the defense of human rights.

Madam Chair, allow us to refer to a current and concrete example of what I have just mentioned: the holding of working groups on the implementation of human rights policies in the Dominican Republic. The first was created in 2018 and the second in November of that same year. Representatives of various sectors of Dominican civil society and representatives of the Dominican State took part in them, and they were moderated by the Commission. The aim was to discuss the feasibility of implementing actions to improve the protection of human rights in the country with regard to the rights of women, education, discrimination and migrants, among others. All of this resulted in a series of proposals and recommendations that were evaluated by the government institutions that direct policy in each area. The Dominican State has followed up closely on all of those recommendations, satisfactorily presenting the State's final report on November 25 of this year.

Ladies and gentlemen, these working groups took place in the context of follow-up to the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concerning the human rights situation in the country, both in its 2015 Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic and in Chapter IV of its 2016 Annual Report, both issued pursuant to Article 59 of its Rules of Procedure. We are living testimony to the positive impact that spaces for dialogue have for States as regards the exchange of experience and good practices with other international actors on the protection and promotion of human rights.

Madam Chair, to conclude, the Dominican Republic reiterates its high commitment to continue taking the appropriate steps to improve the defense of democracy and the rule of law, which our Constitution itself establishes as essential elements for protecting the human rights of the inhabitants of our territory. We also commend the constant work of the organs and entities of the OAS, in particular the demanding educational task of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, which is a channel for the promotion of human rights and has benefited Dominican officials, professionals and students alike. Likewise, we urge the countries of the Hemisphere constantly to defend the purposes of the Organization, always within a framework of freedom, humanity, justice, equality and equity.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.