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Human Rights Reports
Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Section 7. Worker Rights
d. Discrimination with Respect to Employment and Occupation
The Dominican Republic is a representative constitutional democracy. In 2016 Danilo Medina of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was re-elected president for a second four-year term. Impartial outside observers assessed the election as generally free and orderly.
The National Police and the Tourist Police maintain internal security. They report to the Minister of Interior and Police and through him to the president. The Airport Security Authority, Port Security Authority, and Border Security Corps have some domestic security responsibilities and report to the Ministry of Armed Forces and through that ministry to the president. The National Drug Control Directorate, which has personnel from both the police and the armed forces, reports directly to the president. The National Department of Intelligence reports directly to the president. Both the National Drug Control Directorate and the National Department of Intelligence have significant domestic security responsibilities. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces.
Significant human rights issues included reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by government security forces; torture by police and other government agents; arbitrary detention; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary interference with privacy; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; criminal libel for individual journalists; serious government corruption; police violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; and forced and child labor.
The government took some steps to punish officials who committed human rights abuses, but there were widespread reports of official impunity and corruption, especially among senior officials.
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape of men or women, including spousal rape, domestic violence, and other forms of violence, such as incest and sexual aggression. The sentences for rape range from 10 to 15 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 to 200,000 pesos ($2,000 to $4,000). The Attorney General's Office oversees the specialized Violence Prevention and Attention Unit, which had 19 offices in the country's 32 provinces. The Attorney General's Office instructed its officers not to settle cases of violence against women and to continue judicial processes even when victims withdrew charges. District attorneys provided assistance and protection to victims of violence by referring them to appropriate institutions for legal, medical, and psychological counseling.
The Ministry of Women actively promoted equality and the prevention of violence against women through implementing education and awareness programs, as well as training other ministries and offices. The ministry operated shelters and provided counseling services, although NGOs argued these efforts were inadequate.
Despite government efforts, violence against women, including rape, was pervasive. In September attorney Anibel Gonzalez was shot and killed by her former husband Yasmil Fernandez, who then committed suicide. Fernandez previously attacked Gonzalez in 2017 and was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted murder. Press, civil society, and politicians called for an investigation and heavily criticized the Attorney General's Office for its handling of the case. The press and civil society questioned why Fernandez was permitted a cell phone while incarcerated, from which he placed harassing calls to Gonzalez, and questioned why, in contravention of the law, Fernandez was released on parole before completing one-half of his sentence. Media reported the Attorney General's Office transferred a prosecutor who opposed Fernandez's petition for early release. Her successor granted Fernandez parole in violation of the law. Following a similar incident in November that also resulted in the murder of a victim by her recently paroled former husband, the Attorney General's Office pressed civil charges against the prosecutor involved in both cases.
Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment in the workplace is a misdemeanor, and conviction carries a sentence of one year in prison and a fine equal to the sum of three to six months of salary. Union leaders reported the law was not enforced and that sexual harassment remained a problem.
Coercion in Population Control: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization.
Discrimination: Although the law provides women and men the same legal rights, women did not enjoy social and economic status or opportunity equal to that of men. In November the Latin American Public Opinion Project published findings that 66 percent of Dominicans believed a woman's children suffer when she works outside of the home.
Although the law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities, these individuals encountered discrimination in employment, education, the judicial system, and in obtaining health care and transportation services. The law provides for access to basic services and physical access for persons with disabilities to all new public and private buildings. It also specifies that each ministry should collaborate with the National Disability Council to implement these provisions. Authorities worked to enforce these provisions, but a gap in implementation persisted. Very few public buildings were fully accessible. The Attorney General's Office signed an agreement with the Council on People with Disabilities to provide services and accessibility to persons with disabilities who access the justice system.
The Dominican Association for Rehabilitation received support from the Secretariat of Public Health and from the Office of the Presidency to provide rehabilitation assistance to persons with physical and learning disabilities and to operate schools for children with physical and mental disabilities. Lack of accessible public transportation was a major impediment.
The law states the government should provide access to the labor market and to cultural, recreational, and religious activities for persons with disabilities, but the law was not consistently enforced. There were three government centers for care of children with disabilities–in Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros, and San Juan de la Maguana. The most recent information, from a 2016 Ministry of Education report, found that 80 percent of registered students with disabilities attended some form of school.
The constitution creates a right of equality and nondiscrimination, regardless of sex, skin color, age, disability, nationality, family ties, language, religion, political opinion or philosophy, and social or personal condition. The law prohibits discrimination, exclusion, or preference in employment, but there is no law against discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The government did not effectively enforce the law against discrimination in employment. Discrimination in employment and occupation occurred with respect to HIV/AIDS-positive persons; and against persons with disabilities, persons of darker skin color, those of Haitian nationality, and women (see section 6). In March the IACHR annual report noted with concern the absence of concrete policies targeting the reduction of discrimination in the workplace.
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of Person, Including Freedom from:
a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings
b. Disappearance
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees
e. Denial of a Fair Public Trial
Trial Procedures
Political Prisoners and Detainees
Politically Motivated Reprisal Against Individuals Located Outside the Country
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies
f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
g. Abuses in Internal Conflict (if applicable)
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Expression, Including for the Press
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events
b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
c. Freedom of Religion
d. Freedom of Movement
e. Internally Displaced Persons (if applicable)
f. Protection of Refugees
g. Stateless Persons (if applicable)
Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
Elections and Political Participation
Section 4. Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
Trafficking in Persons
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Acts of Violence, Discrimination, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
HIV and AIDS Social Stigma
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination
Promotion of Acts of Discrimination
a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining
b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
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