A/HRC/7/19/Add.5 A/HRC/7/23/Add.3 Page 19 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Yean and Bosico vs. the Dominican Republic (see paragraphs 67-69). 2. Birth registration 65. The Government previously allowed Dominican birth certificates to be issued to children of Haitian workers who declared their children on the basis of fichas. Haitian migrant workers employed by sugar companies were previously issued with a ficha, a document which gave them limited temporary permission to remain in the Dominican Republic on the basis of their employment contract. Despite the fact that these children were registered as Dominican nationals, they are now unable to obtain cédulas, copies or renewals of identity documents, due to new laws and policies that are seeking to retroactively change their civil status. 66. Under article 28 of Law No. 258-04, children of non-legally resident mothers are now subject to a separate birth registration regime under which they are provided with a pink declaration of birth (constancia de nacimiento) - white declarations of birth are assigned to all other children born on Dominican territory. Such cases are entered in the “foreigners’ book”, operational since August 2007. 9 If the father is Dominican, the child can be registered as Dominican with the local registry office. But, if the father is not Dominican, the mother must then register the child with the relevant foreign embassy rather than the Dominican registry office. 67. Civil society organizations expressed concern that this procedure has been established for the purpose of denying such children a Dominican birth certificate. Since the creation of the foreigners’ book, only two hospitals have begun issuing such documents and only two foreigners (one American and one Chilean) have been registered in it. The Central Electoral Board states that the system should be functioning in 35 hospitals in six months. Concerns exist that many children of Haitian parents or Dominicans of Haitian descent, who may have no other possibility than to be officially registered under this regime, may be left unregistered and effectively stateless. 3. Yean and Bosico vs. the Dominican Republic 68. A legal case of pivotal significance was concluded before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2005. Yean and Bosico vs. the Dominican Republic concerns the children, Dilcia Yean and Violeta Bosico, born in the Dominican Republic in 1996 and 1985 respectively and having grown up and lived exclusively in the Dominican Republic. The children’s mothers were Dominican and their fathers Haitian. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights submitted the case to the Inter-American Court alleging refusal by the State to issue birth certificates in conformity with the constitutional principle of jus soli, thus producing a situation of continued illegality and social vulnerability. The Commission argued that the children were 9 With the adoption by the Central Electoral Authority of resolution No. 02-2007 authorizing the new Libro de Registro del Nacimiento de Niño(a) de Madre Extranjera No-Residente en la República Dominicana (Birth registry of children of non-resident, foreign mothers).