367. The domestic legal framework of the Dominican Republic includes a series of provisions to protect women in the various areas of social life.

368. The Constitution of the Dominican Republic establishes, at Article 100, the equality of its inhabitants, which implies that there should be no discrimination whatsoever, which includes on the basis of gender. Article 100 states:

The Republic condemns all privilege and any situation that tends to break down the equality of all Dominicans, among whom no differences should matter other than those that result from talent or virtue....

369. Article 8(15) of the Constitution is designed to safeguard the family as the fundamental basis of society, and within the family establishes protection for the maternity of Dominican women, in the following terms:

In order to bolster its moral, religious, and cultural stability, the family will receive the broadest possible protection from the State:

(a) Maternity, whatever the condition or status of the woman, shall enjoy the protection of the government authorities and has the right to official assistance where there is such need....

(d) Married women shall have full civil capacity. The law shall establish the necessary means for protecting the property rights of women no matter under whatever regime they are married.

371. The most recent law to protect women is Law No. 24-97, which was submitted at the initiative of the Office for Women's Promotion, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund and the Asociación Dominicana Pro Bienestar de la Familia. This law was promulgated on January 27, 1997, with broad support from the current Administration.

374. The current Law on Agrarian Reform amends Articles 13, 14, 18, and 20 of the previous law, establishing in Article 13 that state lands should be used so as to benefit the rural working masses and small farmers of both sexes.

377. Article 1 of the Convention states: "For the purposes of this Convention, violence against women shall be understood as any act or conduct, based on gender, which causes death or physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, whether in the public or the private sphere."

In addition, Article 11 provides:

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular: ... (b) The right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment; (c) The right to free choice of profession and employment....

379. The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women provides, at Article 2: "Violence against women shall be understood to include physical, sexual and psychological violence:

(a) that occurs within the family or domestic unit or within any other interpersonal relationship, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the woman, including, among others, rape, battery and sexual abuse;

(b) that occurs in the community and is perpetrated by any person, including, among others, rape, sexual abuse, torture, trafficking in persons, forced prostitution, kidnapping and sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as in educational institutions, health facilities or any other place; and

(c) that is perpetrated or condoned by the state or its agents regardless of where it occurs.

380. Domestic violence and rape have as a common denominator that in most cases the perpetrators have some tie or contractual relationship, and due to the proximity between victim and perpetrator, can easily elude judicial treatment.

383. In response to the violence against women in their homes, in January 1997 the Congress adopted Law 24-97, "Against Family Violence." This law amends several articles of the Criminal Code with a view to reducing and eliminating violence within Dominican families.

384. Nonetheless, the mere existence of this law does not entail compliance with the purposes underlying it; its adoption is merely the first step in a much lengthier process. The non-governmental organizations that work on women's issues have said that this law is not being respected, for in most cases of family violence the procedure provided for in the law is not followed.

Some women victims of domestic violence turn to police stations, where in most cases the police refuse to take the declaration. When the police station does receive the complaints and initiates the procedure pursuant to Law 24-97, they bring the cases to the office of the public prosecutor for them to be classified as cases of family violence and referred to the investigative court. Once in those courts, the procedure strays from the purpose of the law for the judges dismiss the complaint or re-label the cases. For example, in the case of physical aggression, they characterize it as a case of blows and injuries which, if healed within 10 days, allows the assailant to be released on bond, jeopardizing the victim, as the assailant is violent to the victim once again.

385. The effective application of this law by the competent authorities required both adequate training and endowing judges, police, and state agents with appropriate resources to achieve its purposes. The Dominican Government must also achieve effective coordination among all the institutions working on family violence cases, among themselves and with civil society organizations, so as to strengthen the effort to eradicate domestic violence by providing greater material and human resources.

b.     Violence associated with prostitution and the trafficking of women

387. The extreme poverty in which most families live in the Dominican Republic has led women to seek employment opportunities; nonetheless, the problems of unemployment and discrimination that victimize women has forced many to turn to prostitution as a means of subsistence for themselves and their families.

389. Another dimension of the problem of prostitution in the Dominican Republic is the trafficking of women, who in most cases are victims of deceit. The women are taken to other countries with a promise that they will obtain other types of employment, with better living conditions and good wages. Nonetheless, once outside the country they are easy prey to exploitation; their situation is further aggravated as they find themselves alone in strange surroundings.

392. Article 23 of the American Convention guarantees the right to participate in the public affairs of one's own country and "to have access, under general conditions of equality, to the public service of his country." Articles 12 and 13 of the Constitution of the Dominican Republic provide that Dominican citizens, without distinction as to sex, have the equal right to participate in elections and to be elected.

397. Even though the increase in the participation of women in the economically active population has been sustained, in general, women in the Dominican Republic have scant opportunities to get adequate jobs with good salaries. This has led most of them to work in the free-trade zones, or zonas francas.

398. Law 8-90 establishes the normative framework under which the free-trade zones operate, defining them, in Article 2, in the following terms: "a geographic area of the country under the special customs and tax regulations established in the law, in which companies are allowed to set up operations whose output or services are for the external market, by granting the incentives needed to foster their development."

399. In effect, a large part of the growth oriented to the country's exports has been achieved with the inclusion in the labor force of unskilled women, who account for more than 70% of the workers in the free-trade zones.

404. The Commission was informed of the current policy of the Government aimed at fostering the development of women; the Office for Women's Promotion has been working to strengthen its ties with the other institutions dedicated to working on the women's question, receiving advisory services and support from international organizations. In this context, programs have been developed on education, health, and violence against women, for the purpose of informing women of their rights in society and how to uphold them. Nonetheless, it is necessary for that Office to receive strong support from the Government so that its programs are widely known and implemented, so as to truly contribute to the strengthening and protection of women's rights in the Dominican Republic.

405. The Commission also takes note of the measures adopted to improve the situation of women, especially Law 24/97, against domestic violence, and those that allow women to own property and to benefit from the land distribution under the agrarian reform. Nonetheless, despite these legislative measures, the Commission expresses its concern because in practice women workers who are victims of discrimination in employment, arbitrary dismissals, and unequal pay as between men and women, continue to lack protection.

406. The Commission points to the need for the state to strictly monitor the working conditions and work relations of women employed in the free-trade zones.

407. The Commission urges the Government of the Dominican Republic to adopt measures aimed at protecting women to ensure they are not victims of the violence associated with the prostitution and illegal trafficking of women.

408. The Commission encourages the Government to continue applying its policy aimed at attaining full equality of men and women in the different sectors of social life.

206  Article 233: "Dominican woman may not be dismissed from their employment because of pregnancy. Any dismissal for pregnancy is null and void." Article 234 says that pregnant women cannot be required to perform physical work that might endanger the woman or the baby. Article 235 provides that if the work performed by a pregnant woman is harmful or dangerous to the health of the woman or child, the employer is required to seek another type of work for her to perform. Labor Code of the Dominican Republic, 1992.

²⁰⁷  Comisión Ecuménica de Trabajadores Dominicanas, Movimiento de Mujeres Domínico-Haitianas, Centro de Planificación y Acción Ecuménica, Participación Ciudadana, Coordinadora de ONGs del Area de la Mujer, Identidad, Centro de Servicios Legales para las Mujeres, Centro de Investigación Femenina, Centro de Apoyo Aquelarre, Coordinadora de Mujeres del Cibao, and Núcleo de Apoyo a la Mujer.

²⁰⁸  El Siglo, January 7, 1997.

²⁰⁹  Law on Agrarian Reform. Article 14. 1997. See also, "Conoce tus derechos como parcelera," Office for Women's Promotion.

²¹⁰  Observations of the Government of the Dominican Republic, September 10, 1999.

²¹¹  Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, OAS. (Convention of Belém do Pará). Ratified by the Dominican Republic on March 7, 1996.

²¹²  Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, United Nations. Ratified by the Dominican Republic in 1979.

²¹³  Statistics provided by the Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina (CIPAF), 1994.

²¹⁴  Information provided by CIPAF, June 1997.

²¹⁵  Dinnys Luciano Ferdinand, "La violencia contra las mujeres en República Dominicana." 1996, p. 22.

²¹⁶  Information provided by the Centro de Servicios Legales para la Mujer, during the IACHR's on-site visit in June 1997.

²¹⁷  Independent report provided to the U.N. Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, prepared by International Women's Rights Action Watch. September 1996, p. 2.

²¹⁸  "La Violencia contra las Mujeres en República Dominicana." Report by the Centro de Apoyo Aquelarre, 1996, p. 32.

²¹⁹  "Actividades de la OIM en la República Dominicana, del 16 de agosto al 30 de abril de 1997." Report prepared by the International Organization for Migration, IOM. Dominican Republic, 1997.

²²⁰  "La Violencia contra las Mujeres en la República Dominicana," op. cit., p. 32.

²²¹  Observations of the Government of the Dominican Republic, September 10, 1999.

²²²  Report submitted to the IACHR by the Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina (CIPAF). June 1997.

²²³  Id., CIPAF, p. 22.

224  The Dominican Republic is a state party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which it ratified in 1979.