A/HRC/7/19/Add.5 A/HRC/7/23/Add.3 Page 9 III. RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION A. Political and legal strategy of the public authorities 15. Government representatives met by the experts vehemently denied the existence of racism and racial discrimination in the Dominican Republic, in consonance with the Government’s position communicated to United Nations human rights competent bodies, in particular, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 1. Adequacy of the legal framework to combat racism and racial discrimination 16. In the view of Government officials, the domestic legal framework contains a wide range of instruments which create a very solid and comprehensive basis to combat any sporadic, isolated or individual manifestation of racism. According to them, the promotion of the principle of equality and the express prohibition of racial discrimination in the domestic legal system, coupled with the ratification of regional and international instruments on the prohibition of discrimination, constitute strong evidence that racism and racial discrimination do not exist in the country. 17. Following this line of argumentation, several references were made to the principle of equality before the law established in article 8, paragraph 5, and article 100 of the Constitution. Article 100 provides that “The Republic proscribes any privileges and any situation intended to undermine the equality of all Dominicans, among whom no differences shall be recognized, other than those resulting from talents or virtues”. 18. Government officials also emphasized that the definition of different forms of discrimination, including racial discrimination, is provided for in the draft criminal code, which establishes, in article 250, that “Any unequal or offensive treatment on the part of natural persons owing to their origin, age, sex, family circumstances, state of health, disabilities, customs, political views, trade union activities or membership or non-membership, or actual or supposed membership of a specific ethnic group, nation, race or religion, constitutes discrimination”. 19. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence (CONANI) highlighted that the right to education for all children is provided for in article 4 of the General Education Act, No. 66-97. This article states that “(a) Education is a permanent and inalienable human right. To ensure its effective enjoyment, everyone has the right to comprehensive education allowing the development of his or her personality and the performance of a socially useful activity in accordance with his or her aptitudes and with the local and national interest, without any discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, belief, economic and social status or any other basis”. It was emphasized that the universal right to education is also provided for in Act No. 136-03, establishing the Code for the System of Protection of the Fundamental Rights of Children and Adolescents, which provides that “The provisions of this Code apply equally to all children and adolescents without any discrimination whatsoever on the grounds of race, colour, sex, age, language, opinion, conscience, religion, belief, culture, political or other views, economic status, social, ethnic or national origin, disability, illness, birth in a high-risk situation, or any other circumstance of the child or adolescent, his or her parents, representatives or guardians or of his or her family members”.