US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO434

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SANTO DOMINGO 000434 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR (MCISAAC), DRL (WALTERS) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KDEM, ELAB, KPAO, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND 
DEMOCRACY REPORT 
 
REF: 04 STATE 267453 
 
1. The following is the Embassy response to reftel. 
 
Overview of Human Rights and Democracy in the Dominican 
Republic and U.S. Strategy 
 
2. The Dominican Republic enjoys a democratically elected 
government and a robust, multi-party system.  Freedom of the 
press and religion are largely respected.  The generally free 
and fair election of President Leonel Fernandez in May 2004 
and subsequent peaceful transition was an achievement for the 
democratic process.  However, despite some improvement, the 
government,s overall human rights record in 2004 remained 
poor.  Weak public institutions often failed to protect 
fundamental human rights and enforce the rule of law.  Trials 
were not expeditious, and there were cases where corrupt 
judges released suspects, police used excessive force, and 
unlawful killings took place.  Domestic violence, child 
labor, and trafficking in persons (TIP) were also problems. 
Nonetheless, positive changes in the final quarter of 2004, 
brought about by new government appointments, implementation 
of a new Criminal Procedures Code, and strong U.S. 
engagement, have improved prospects for progress in several 
areas of long-standing concern. 
 
3. Many human rights violations in the Dominican Republic 
occur because of a lack of understanding of basic human 
rights or lack of training.  Consequently, the U.S. human 
rights strategy is to support governmental and 
non-governmental efforts to increase respect for and 
understanding of human rights, to strengthen institutions, 
and to encourage enforcement of the rule of law.  In 
addition, the human rights strategy aims to increase the 
Dominican Republic,s capacity to enforce its own 
proscriptions against child labor and TIP, to fight 
corruption, and to comply with international labor standards. 
 
4. U.S. officials frequently highlighted human rights and 
democracy concerns throughout 2004, both privately and in 
public events.  Ambassador Hertell and other U.S. Mission 
officials particularly stressed the need to respect 
individual dignity and the importance of strengthening 
democracy and democratic institutions.  These efforts 
contributed directly to the successful organization of a 
peaceful election and change of government and to visible 
steps toward enhanced respect for human rights by the 
authorities, including through the implementation of a new 
Criminal Procedures Code.  Additionally, U.S. Permanent 
Representative to the Organization of American States, 
Ambassador John Maisto, used public presentations to 
encourage the Dominican Government and Civil Society to 
augment their efforts in anti-corruption, education, and 
basic human rights. 
 
U.S. Efforts To Strengthen Democracy and The Rule Of Law 
 
5. The United States promoted democracy and the rule of law 
in several ways during 2004, including funding direct 
observation of the May 2004 presidential elections, which was 
considered to be one of the freest and fairest elections in 
Dominican history.  U.S. Government efforts were widely 
praised in the press.  For more than a year in advance, U.S. 
officials -- including Ambassador Hertell, Assistant 
Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Noriega, 
 
SIPDIS 
and many others -- met with participants in the May 2004 
presidential elections and with media sources to encourage 
free, fair, and transparent elections.   A USAID grant to 
Dominican non-governmental organization (NGO) Participacin 
Ciudadana (PC) led to documented improvements in the 
Dominican electoral process.  PC monitored the 2004 electoral 
process, from logistic preparations to training of polling 
station officials. 
 
6. On Election Day approximately 6,500 trained volunteers 
observed and reported on the process at the ballot boxes, 
resulting in improved voter confidence in the electoral 
process and in the tabulation of results.  Though less 
visible, this grant gave PC the wherewithal to recruit, 
train, and encourage smaller civil society groups throughout 
the country to participate in election activities.  These 
 spin-off, effects of the USAID grant are important to 
broadening and deepening civil society activism on governance 
issues.  Through PC, USAID also promoted government 
responsiveness to the electorate by training civil society 
groups to monitor the performance of elected officials in 15 
selected municipalities of the country. 
 
7. The United States provided $325,000 to the Organization of 
American States (OAS) and U.S.-based NGOs to monitor the 2004 
election.  On Election Day, international observers -- 
including some 50 U.S. Embassy community personnel accredited 
by the OAS -- monitored voting and the tabulation of returns 
at election sites across the nation.  During preparations for 
elections, U.S. officials spoke publicly about the importance 
of free and fair elections.  On Election Day, Ambassador 
Hertell, accompanied by other Santo Domingo-based 
ambassadors, personally visited several polling stations and 
monitoring headquarters, and publicly supported a clean 
election process. 
 
8. U.S. technical assistance and training was pivotal for the 
Dominican Republic to begin implementation of a new Criminal 
Procedures Code on September 27, 2004.  Technical assistance 
provided by the United States included: 
 
- Planning for staffing, training, supervision, and 
performance monitoring in the Office of Public Defense, the 
Public Prosecutor,s Office, and the Court System; 
- The creation of peer advisory groups around the country to 
support effective implementation of the new Code and improve 
inter-institutional coordination; 
- Training for judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys on 
new oral trial requirements and additional constitutional 
protections afforded by the Code; 
- A series of week-long "public education" seminars on the 
advantages of the new accusatorial justice system provided by 
the new Code; 
- Support for civil society efforts to monitor the 
implementation of the Code and to provide training to 
community leaders, grassroots organizations, lawyers; and 
- A local outreach program providing information about the 
Code through radio spots, brochures and newspaper 
advertisements. 
 
9. This U.S. technical assistance has a direct and more 
profound effect on the rights of persons caught up in the 
Dominican judicial system.  USAID-funded teams performed an 
inventory and purged about 300,000 pending criminal cases 
that should not have been in the system.  In many cases, 
affected prisoners had been in detention for several years 
waiting for initial hearing on their cases.  The case 
inventory was lauded by justice sector officials, as there 
was no existing record of the number of cases pending in the 
criminal justice system.  This purging process, in addition 
to increasing productivity of public defenders, resulted in a 
decrease in criminal case processing time from 33 months in 
2003 to 15 months in 2004. 
 
10. Moreover, the U.S government provided technical 
assistance to Judicial Defense, the Dominican judicial 
institution in charge of providing free legal assistance and 
representation to the poor and disenfranchised in the 
Dominican Republic.  This assistance included the merit-based 
selection of 21 new public defenders and two investigators, 
as well as their training in the National Judicial School. 
The increased number of public defenders combined with 
increased efficiency resulted in a dramatic increase in the 
number of indigents receiving free legal defense (1,992 as 
compared with 866 in 2003). 
 
U.S. Efforts To Strengthen Police And Military Respect For 
Human Rights 
 
11. The United States urged the Dominican government to 
improve its human rights record in several areas.  USAID 
funded specialists to lead the drafting of the new Criminal 
Procedures Code, which the Government implemented in 
September 2004.  The new code, based on the U.S.-style 
accusatory model, provides suspects with considerably more 
legal protections than the previous Napoleonic-style code. 
These include requiring public defense for the indigent, 
increased enforcement of time-limits for pre-trial detention, 
and increased reliance on objective evidence in trials, 
rather than on hearsay or personal testimony. 
 
12. The United States supported development of programs to 
reduce unlawful killings, torture, and unwarranted violence 
by members of the National Police and military.  During 2004, 
NGOs and the National Police began using a 2003 grant from 
the Human Rights and Democracy Fund to create a Police Abuse 
Reporting Center, which soon will receive and register 
complaints of human rights violations.  This information will 
enable police and other groups to concentrate human rights 
programming and investigations in problem areas.  The Center 
is scheduled to be established and operating in the first 
quarter of 2005. 
 
13. The United States sponsored a series of training seminars 
for the police on human rights, and about 450 officers 
attended these sessions.  The United States is also funding 
the production and nationwide distribution of small, portable 
cards to the National Police that contain a list of 
Miranda-style rights affirmed in the new Criminal Procedures 
Code. 
 
U.S. Efforts To Encourage Respect for Women, Children, and 
Minorities 
 
14. U.S. projects continued to encourage government support 
for efforts to eliminate child labor.  The U.S. Department of 
Labor funded programs to address the worst forms of child 
sexual exploitation and dangerous agricultural work, 
dedicating $4.4 million over four years (2002-2005) to the 
multi-year Time-Bound Program for the elimination of the 
worst forms of child labor in the Dominican Republic. 
Through this program, more than 4000 children have been 
removed from exploitative work in the agricultural sector. 
The U.S. Department of Labor also provided $5.5 million to a 
regional project in Central America and the Dominican 
Republic to fund educational programs to identify exploited 
and at-risk children and provide educational opportunities. 
As a result, in 2004 nearly 2,300 Dominican children were 
able to attend school or transitional programs that would 
have been otherwise unavailable. 
 
15. In order to call attention to a marginalized sector of 
society, Ambassador Hertell visited workers at a sugarcane 
plantation near San Pedro de Macoris in February.  The visit 
received national press coverage and prompted the decision of 
the plantation operators to improve facilities for some 
sugarcane workers. 
 
U.S. Efforts To Combat Trafficking In Persons 
 
16. Ambassador Hertell and other U.S. officials spoke out 
about the dangers of illegal migration and trafficking in 
persons (TIP) and sponsored speakers and conferences to call 
attention to these issues.  The Ambassador gave the opening 
remarks at an international conference on best practices for 
combating TIP in October.  The Embassy offered several 
training sessions for incoming administration officials 
regarding TIP and encouraged the government to consolidate 
TIP-fighting resources into one organization under the 
auspices of the attorney general.  USAID sponsored a local 
NGO to give seminars and training for prosecutors and judges 
with respect to prosecutions under the 2003 anti-TIP and 
alien smuggling law. 
 
17. The U.S. Coast Guard worked closely with the Dominican 
Navy to interdict and repatriate Dominicans and other 
migrants who attempted to cross the dangerous Mona Passage 
between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in small, 
wooden vessels called yolas.  The Department of State and the 
U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group provided $15,000 
for a joint U.S. Coast Guard and Dominican Navy 
counter-migration/counter-drug operation in March.  Thanks to 
this cooperation, more than 13,000 illegal migrants were 
prevented from arriving in Puerto Rico, and efforts are 
underway to prosecute several illegal smuggling organizers 
using evidence collected during the interdictions.  In 
addition, the U.S. Embassy funded a public campaign that used 
posters, radio ads, and other media to discourage prospective 
migrants from risking their lives to travel illegally to the 
United States. 
 
18. The U.S. Department of Labor provided a $900,000 
amendment to the Time-Bound Program in 2004 to support 
programming on trafficking in persons and illegal alien 
smuggling. 
 
Addendum 
 
19. The following is a list of USG-funded democracy and human 
rights programs in 2004 that involve expenditure of 
US$100,000 or more: 
 
-     USDOL - Combating Child Labor Through Education in 
Central America and the Dominican Republic:  $5,500,000 
(regional project) 
-     USDOL - Trafficking in persons/alien smuggling 
amendment to the ILO Time Bound Program:  $900,000 
-     USAID - rule of law/transparency of government program: 
 $1,750,000 
-     Department of State/USAID -- funding for international 
election observers:  $325,000 
-     USAID - funding to a local NGO to strengthen the 
electoral system, including local observation of the whole 
2004 electoral process:  $959,000 
-     USAID - funding to a local NGO to strengthen rule of 
law and respect for human rights:  $740,000 
-     USAID - funding to a local NGO to support a more 
democratic political system with an effective civil society 
participation:  $340,000 
-     USAID  - for justice and anti-corruption activities: 
$200,000 
-     USAID - TIP technical assistance project:  $100,000 
-     Department of State (Public Affairs/Narcotics Affairs 
Section) - public service campaign to stop illegal voyages: 
$136,000 
-     Department of State (Narcotics Affairs Section) - human 
rights training:  $100,000 
HERTELL