Law 168-13 and Naturalization Law 169-14
m.ortega2 on Nov 25th 2015
In Justice Derailed: The Uncertain Fate of Haitian Migrants and Dominicans of Haitian Descent in the Dominican Republic, explains what the 168-13 law is and why 169-14 was created. The Naturalization law 169-14 was created to lessen the problems and tension between Haitians and Dominicans. In the text it states that, “From 1929 until January 26, 2010, the Dominican Constitution granted citizenship to all those born within its territory except for diplomats and those born “intransit.” During this time, long-standing legal authority interpreted “in-transit” to be individuals who were in the Dominican Republic for less than ten days. As long as parents were in the country more than ten days at the time of birth, any child born on Dominican soil was conferred Dominican citizenship, regardless of the parent’s residential status in the Dominican Republic. However with the 2010 Constitution, only children of “legal residents” born on Dominican soil are granted citizenship.
Any child born in the Dominican Republic after January 26th 2010, whose parents did not hold either Dominican citizenship or legal residency, was not considered a citizen by birth. In 2013, the Constitutional Tribunal declared in 168-13 that the “intransit” definition could be applied retroactively to any Dominicans of Haitian descent born since 1929. The new “in transit” definition meant that Dominicans of Haitian descent…the plaintiff in 168-13, who had Dominican citizenship and a Dominican birth certificate, had both revoked….Vocal international outcry against the Dominican Republic led to Law 169-14 (Naturalization Law), which created a pathway towards citizenship for those rendered stateless by Sentence 168-13, most notably Dominicans of Haitian descent. Law 169-14 recognizes the citizenship rights of those individuals born between 1929 and 2007 who were properly registered at birth. In addition this law establishes a route to citizenship for those Dominicans of Haitian descent that were born between these years but lack proper documentation.18 Unfortunately, these laws were not effectively implemented…”
Below is the link to the original copy of the Naturalization Law 169-14:
This page has the following sub pages.