25 Furthermore, the lack of an identity document lays the Dominican-Haitians open to the violation of their procedural guarantees because, if arrested, they are deported to Haiti without any type of judicial review or recourse. With regard to education, a child who has not been registered is unable to enroll in secondary school or university. For children of Haitian origin from the working classes, higher education is practically the only reliable way of rising on the social and financial scale. Poverty, lack of safe potable water, inadequate sanitation infrastructure, and the dilapidated conditions and overcrowding of the housing expose the Haitian population to greater risk of diseases and death from pathogens that contaminate water and insects. Lastly, the refusal to register the children almost inevitably denies DominicanHaitians a series of human rights, closes the door to financial prosperity and social inclusion, and prevents them from achieving their full potential as human beings. B) TESTIMONIAL AND EXPERT EVIDENCE 86. On March 14 and 15, 2005, during a public hearing, the Court received the statements of the witnesses proposed by the Commission, the representatives and the State, and of the expert witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission and the representatives (supra para. 47). The Court summarizes the principal parts of these statements and expert reports below. Testimonies a) Proposed by the Commission and the representatives 1) Genaro Rincón Miesse, lawyer He is Dominican, resides in Santo Domingo, and is a lawyer by profession. He is legal adviser to the organization Movimiento de Mujeres Domínico-Haitianas (MUDHA). The obstacles to registering children of Haitian origin are the number of requirements and the lack of access of the fathers, who are “braceros” [day laborers], to the identification required by the civil status registrar (either an identity card or a residence card), since they only have a letter issued by the State’s Sugar Board. The Central Electoral Board establishes the registration requirements. In 1997, the requirements for children up to 12 years of age were: birth certification issued by a hospital or clinic and, in the case of children born outside a hospital or clinic, if this was in an urban area, a statement made by the midwife before a notary indicating the birth of the child and, if it was in a rural area, a declaration of the “pedáneo” [auxiliary] mayor endorsed by the midwife; the parents’ documentation and marriage certificate, if they were married. In 1997, the following 11 documents were required to register children over 12 years of age: the birth certification as described above; the parents’ documentation; marriage certificate; certificates from all the civil status registrars in the province indicating that the person had not been registered previously; school certification; baptism certificate; sworn statement by three witnesses over the age of 50 years who know how to read and write; the identity

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