New York/Santo Domingo – Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and its National Group in the Dominican Republic celebrate the introduction of an important project of General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination in the Human Rights Committee of the Dominican Republic’s Chamber of Deputies.

The General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination would represent crucial progress  in the fight against discrimination in the Dominican Republic and seeks to protect all people, especially those in vulnerable categories, including children; seniors; women; adolescents and young people at social risk; people with disabilities; people with HIV; people deprived of liberty or who have been imprisoned; and people discriminated against because of their skin color, national or ethnic origin, socioeconomic position, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, mental or physical health condition, among others. The project of law has the full endorsement of the United Nations System in the Dominican Republic.

The project of General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination was referred to the Human Rights Committee for study by its president and PGA member, Dip. Juan Dionisio Rodríguez Restituyo, who has declared:

It is essential to have a legal basis, in accordance with the regional and international commitments of our country in the field of human rights, which prevents and punishes discrimination against people in vulnerable conditions. This is an initiative that protects us all, that does not take away anyone’s rights; on the contrary, it guarantees our equality before the law and our right to a life free of discrimination and stigmatization.

The Dominican Republic is a State Party to the American Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the International Conventions on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, among others.

The project also has the signature of Dip. Magda Rodríguez Azcona, who chairs the Gender Equality Affairs Committee. Dip. Rodríguez, Chair of PGA’s National Group in the Dominican Republic, and co-sponsor of the project, stated:

I encourage my fellow deputies of the Human Rights Committee, and members of PGA’s National Group in Congress, to support this key project of law to guarantee that no person is discriminated against for any condition and to give life to article 39, on the right to equality, in our Constitution.

Dip. José Horacio Rodríguez Grullón, also a member of PGA, has expressed his support to the initiative as well:

Who agrees it is okay to discriminate against someone in this country? Who agrees it is okay to abuse the right to equality of someone? No one agrees. I believe that just as we have the rights to education, health and employment, among others, enshrined in our Constitution and their respective general laws to establish how the State guarantees and regulates each of these rights, it is high time that we have a law that establishes how the State ensures the right to equality for all so it no longer remains dead letter.

PGA has been actively involved with the project of General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination since the beginning of its elaboration process seven years ago. As a result of a National Dialogue on HIV/AIDS convened by the National Council for HIV and AIDS (CONAVIHSIDA) in 2013 and the impetus of a Parliamentary Seminar on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity organized by PGA in October of that same year, CONAVIHSIDA coordinated the formation of a multisectoral working group, the National Group for the Elimination of all Forms of Stigma and Discrimination (GRUNEED).

The GRUNEED prepared the project of General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination with the consensus of numerous civil society organizations, the participation of public agencies and the assistance of PGA and various international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UNAIDS and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

PGA carried out a parliamentary mission to the Dominican Republic in November 2016 and met with deputies from the Committees on Gender Equality Affairs, Human Rights and Foreign Relations and International Cooperation in October 2017 to follow up on the status of the project and promote its advancement.

PGA welcomes the introduction of the project of General Law on Equality and Non-Discrimination in the Chamber of Deputies and urges deputies to support the initiative so that it is seriously and comprehensively discussed, both in Committee and in plenary, to the benefit of the entire Dominican society.