b. Campaign on the rights of migrants
271. The Commission requested the adoption of the necessary measures to prevent these
events from occurring in the future. Similarly, the representatives asked, within the
guarantees of non-repetition, that the Court order training on the principle of nondiscrimination. For its part, the State indicated during the public hearing that it has not been
demonstrated and there is no evidence to confirm any discriminatory treatment to the
detriment of the presumed victims or against the Dominican nationals.
272. Since it has been proved that the State was responsible for a pattern of
discrimination against migrants in Dominican Republic, the Court finds it relevant that the
State organize a media campaign on the rights of regular and irregular migrants on
Dominican territory in the terms of this Judgment. To this end, the State must submit an
annual report for three consecutive years, indicating the measures it has taken to this end.
c. Adoption of domestic legal measures
i. Use of Force
273. As proved in paragraph 85 of this Judgment, the Court declared that the Dominican
State failed to comply with its obligation to protect the rights to life and to personal integrity
by adequate legislation on the use of force, in violation of the right to guarantee the rights
to life and to personal integrity and of Article 2 of the Convention.
274. The Court recalls that the State must prevent the recurrence of human rights
violations such as those that occurred in this case and, to this end, adopt all necessary legal,
administrative and any other measures to avoid a repetition of similar events in the future,
in compliance with its obligation to protect and ensure the fundamental rights established in
the American Convention. In particular, in keeping with Article 2 of the Convention, the
State must adopt the measures necessary to make the exercise of the rights and freedoms
recognized in the Convention effective.327
275. In particular, the State must, within a reasonable time, adapt its domestic law to the
American Convention, incorporating the international standards on the use of force by law
enforcement agents,328 in accordance with the principles of legality, proportionality,
necessity and exceptionality, as well as the criteria for the progressive and differentiated use
of force. This legislation must include the specifications indicated in Chapter VII-1 of this
Judgment.
ii.
The military jurisdiction
276. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to adopt the necessary legislative
or other type of measures to bring article 3 of the Military Criminal Code into compliance
with the American Convention and the Court’s case law.
277. In this regard, the representatives requested the following measures: (a) the repeal
of domestic laws concerning the attribution of jurisdiction to military courts for cases
involving allegations of human rights violations committed by members of the armed forces;
(b) the adoption of new laws that clearly grant jurisdiction to civil courts in such situations,
327
Cf. Case of Velázquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra, para. 166, and Case of the Rio Negro
Massacres v. Guatemala, supra, para. 240.
328
Cf. Case of Montero Aranguren et al. (Retén de Catia) v. Venezuela, supra, para. 144.
71
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