A/HRC/7/19/Add.5 A/HRC/7/23/Add.3 Page 8 Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. The Dominican Republic is not a party to the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 11. The Dominican Republic is also obligated to recognize and implement the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (Declaration on the Rights of Minorities). 12. The Dominican Republic is a member of the Organization of American States and a signatory to all major Inter-American conventions and the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José). Since 2006, a judge of Dominican nationality has served on the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights. II. METHODOLOGY OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE AND THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON MINORITY ISSUES 13. The Special Rapporteur evaluates the state of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in regard to the commitments undertaken by State parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other relevant international instruments. His assessment of the situation revolves around the following three key questions: (a) Is there racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the Dominican society? (b) If so, which groups are victims and how is this manifested and expressed? (c) What are the existing or needed policies and programmes to fight these phenomena at the political, legal and cultural levels? 14. The independent expert’s evaluation of minority issues in the Dominican Republic is based on the 1992 Declaration on the Rights of Minorities and other relevant international standards, from which she has identified four broad areas of concern relating to minorities globally. These are: (a) the protection of a minority’s survival, through combating violence against them and preventing genocide; (b) the protection and promotion of the cultural identity of minority groups, and the right of national, ethnic, religious or linguistic groups to enjoy their collective identity and to reject forced assimilation; (c) the guarantee of the rights to nondiscrimination and equality, including ending structural or systemic discrimination and the promotion of affirmative action when required; and (d) the guarantee of the right of members of minorities to effective participation in public life, especially with regard to decisions that affect them. The current report is based upon analysis of these four areas of concern as they relate to the Dominican Republic.