A/HRC/7/19/Add.5 A/HRC/7/23/Add.3 Page 17 civil registry, implementing policies on documentation and organizing elections. It is the supervisory agency for the 158 registry offices (Oficialías del Estado) located throughout the Dominican Republic. 55. Without exception, individuals of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic reported that, because of their colour or their Haitian looks or name, it is virtually impossible to obtain identity documents or even copies or renewals of previously issued documents. NGOs, community representatives and individuals described ill-treatment, insults and even ejection from registration offices of those that are or are presumed to be of Haitian descent. 56. Without identity documents verifying their lawful presence in the country, they are left vulnerable to deportation or expulsion to Haiti, even as Dominican citizens with no or limited connection with Haiti. Those who were born in the Dominican Republic assert that they are being denied or deprived of their right to Dominican citizenship under article 11 of the Dominican Constitution, which is based on the principle of jus soli “except in the case of the legitimate children of foreign diplomats resident in the country or those whose parents are considered to be in transit”. 57. In addressing the question of the legal status of long-term undocumented workers and the nationality of children born to Haitian parents in the Dominican Republic, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights noted that while many countries grant citizenship or permanent resident status after lengthy periods of residency, this is not the case for Haitians in the Dominican Republic. In consideration of this issue, the Commission recommended in 1999 that the Dominican Republic adopt measures aimed at improving and regularizing the situation of undocumented Haitian workers by distributing work permits and residency cards and legalizing the situation of their children in keeping with article 11 of the Dominican Constitution. The Commission further observed that: “it is not possible to consider persons who have resided for several years in a country in which they have developed innumerable contacts of all types to be in transit.” 58. The domestic jurisprudence in relation to the question of the nationality of children born to Haitian parents in the Dominican Republic is limited. Two cases with similar characteristics resulted in radically different court decisions. 59. The first case concerns the Maytime-Mondesir family, Haitian migrants living in Santiago de los Caballeros, whose three children, born in the Dominican Republic, were denied registration in the civil registration office on the grounds that they were Haitian. An appeal of this decision before the Court of First Instance in October 2002 was rejected on the grounds that the parents were illegally in the country and thus considered “in transit”. In May 2003, this case was brought to the Supreme Court, but no ruling has been issued yet. 60. Two children of the Saint Jean-Bazil family in Santo Domingo, born in the Dominican Republic, were denied registration on the same grounds as in the above case. In December 2003, the Court of First Instance ordered the registration of the children in the civil registry office noting that: “1) For the purposes of the case, the court is indifferent to the situation of supposed