A/HRC/7/19/Add.5 A/HRC/7/23/Add.3 Page 10 20. Several Government officials indicated that all workers, whether nationals or foreigners legally residing in the country, enjoy the same rights in terms of integration into the labour market. They mentioned that such guarantee is contained in the 1992 Labour Code, which has territorial application, and which states in its principle VII that “Any discrimination, exclusion or preference based on grounds of sex, age, race, colour, nationality, social origin, political opinion, trade union activism or religious belief, with the exceptions laid down in the Code itself for the purpose of protecting the worker, shall be prohibited”. In addition, reference was made to the fact that the Dominican Republic has ratified ILO Convention No. 111 (1958) on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation), which affirms that “All human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity”. 2. Perceptions and reactions of State officials 21. Government representatives strongly rejected the possibility that racism and racial discrimination exist in Dominican society. In their view, a history of ethnic mixing has resulted in a harmonious multi-ethnic and multicultural society in which racism or discrimination are either absent or confined to isolated, individual incidents. 22. State officials rejected the criticisms expressed in recent studies and documentaries indicating the existence of racism and racial discrimination in the Dominican Republic as an international conspiracy against the country. It is in this context that, on 23 October 2007, on the occasion of the experts’ visit, the Senate passed a resolution calling upon “the Government, the press, the Church, trade unions and employers’ organizations and political parties to remain vigilant in relation to the visit of the United Nations officials, in order to prevent the distortions, lies and perversities of groups that have used anti-Dominicanism as their basis for action, so that said officials leave the country with a clear and objective perception of our reality, that is, a reality without prejudices, and with a clear vision that in this country nobody is discriminated against nor targeted on the grounds of national origin or colour of the skin.” 23. To support their position regarding the non-existence of racism and racial discrimination in the country, State officials essentially put forward the following arguments: firstly, the fact that the Dominican Republic has a domestic legal framework that provides a solid and comprehensive basis to promote equality and prohibit racial discrimination; secondly, that there does not exist a single complaint filed before a Dominican tribunal on grounds of racism or racial discrimination; and thirdly, the voluntary presence of approximately one million Haitians in the country, engaged in various activities, including the construction sector and agriculture, in a climate of harmonious and peaceful coexistence. In expressing this position, State officials made constant reference to the popular saying “We all have a black person behind the ears”, an expression that refers to the presence of African roots in each Dominican - a presence perceived, per se, as an element that excludes any possibility of the existence of racism. 24. Government officials acknowledged the possibility that sporadic, individual acts of racism may take place, though emphasizing that such cases would be the result of the motivation of private individuals and, therefore, could not in any case be attributed to an official policy of the Government. Mention was made in this regard of two allegedly racially discriminatory