Registry,” Law No. 169-14 establishes in its sixth article (article 6, in conformity with
article 1(b)) that they “may register in the register for aliens established by General
Migration Law No. 285-04.” According to article 6 of Law No. 169-14 and article 3 of its
implementing regulations (Decree No. 250-14), those interesting in submitting an
application in order to “benefit from the registration of aliens” have 90 days from the
entry into force of these regulations. Once they have complied with certain conditions, and
following this registration, these persons may “take advantage of the provisions of Decree
No. 327-13,” which regulates the “National Plan for the regularization of aliens in an
irregular migratory situation.” Article 8 of the law also establishes the “[n]aturalization” of
“children of aliens born in the Dominican Republic and regularized pursuant to the
provisions of Decree No. 327-13. Lastly, article 11 establishes that the provisions relating
to the said persons who are not registered in the Dominican Civil Registry and to
“naturalization” will be valid “during the execution of the National Plan for the
regularization of aliens in an irregular migratory situation. Furthermore, article 3 of Decree
No. 327-13 indicates that “[t]he alien who wishes to avail himself of the Plan must file his
application within 18 months of the date that it comes into force.” 366
323. The Court notes that Law No. 169-14, in the same way as judgment TC/0168/13 on
which it is based, is founded on considering that those born in Dominican territory, who
are the children of aliens in an irregular situation, are aliens. In practice, this
understanding, applied to persons who were born before the 2010 constitutional reform,
entails a retroactive deprivation of nationality; and, in relation to some presumed victims
in this case, it has already been determined that this is contrary to the Convention (supra
paras. 298 to 301). Accordingly, the Court must examine the provisions of Law No. 16914 in relation to the possible violation of the rights of Victor Jean, Miguel Jean, Victoria
Jean (deceased) and Natalie Jean, who never benefited from the registration established
in the law.
324. The Court notes that Law No. 169-14 created an impediment to the full exercise of
the victims’ right to nationality. Thus, the law considered them aliens not only
conceptually, but also established the possibility that, if they presented the corresponding
request within 90 days, (supra para. 322), they could benefit from a plan to “regularize
aliens” established by the said Decree No. 327-13. This could lead to a “naturalization”
process that, by definition, is contrary to the automatic acquisition of nationality based on
having been born on the State’s territory. Even though the foregoing could result in the
individuals in question “acquiring” Dominican nationality, this would be the result of
treating them as aliens, which is contrary to full respect for the right to nationality to
which they should have had access since birth. Consequently, submitting the said
individuals, for a limited time only, to the possibility of acceding to a process that could
eventually result in the “acquisition” of a nationality that, in fact, they should already
have, entailed establishing an impediment to the enjoyment of their right to nationality.
Therefore, in this aspect, articles 6, 8 and 11 of Law No. 169-14 violated treaty-based
obligations, including the duty to adopt domestic legal provisions, in relation to the rights
to recognition of juridical personality, to a name, and to nationality, as well as, in relation
to these rights, the right to identity, to the detriment of Victor Jean, Miguel Jean, Victoria
366
Other provisions of Law No. 169-14, such as articles 9 and 10, establish, respectively, “sanctions” for
“false information” when filing an application to the aliens registry, or “false information in an official document
or any other criminal offense committed by Civil Registry officials.” Article 12 indicates that “[t]he Executive shall
issue the regulations to implement the provisions of chapters II and III of this law [regarding “registration of
children of aliens born in the Dominican Republic,” (articles 6 and 7), and “naturalization” (article 8)], within 60
days at most of the date of its promulgation; regulations that, among other provisions, shall include the
mechanism for authenticating the birth, as well as the necessary amendments to the National Plan for the
regularization of aliens in an irregular migratory situation for these persons.” Lastly, article 13 of Law No. 169-14
establishes that “[t]he provisions of this law shall not result in any cost or charge for the beneficiaries.”
105
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