Dominican Republic, CRC/C/DOM/CO/2

68. The Committee welcomes the establishment of a number of support programmes for families and children, the initiation of a social security system that is due to be extended, and the preparation of a national Poverty Reduction Plan. The Committee is concerned, however, that rates of poverty and extreme poverty of children continue to be particularly high and notably among young children, children living with single or teenage mothers, children in rural areas and in the bateyes and outskirts, and children with insecure residential status in the country. The Committee is concerned that favourable economic growth periods have not resulted in a pronounced decrease of poverty and that social inequality has remained significant, as reflected by the country’s Gini coefficient. The Committee is further concerned that the migration of parents, in particular mothers, in order to find employment impacts negatively on families and children.

76. The Committee notes the challenging situation because of the political, social and economic problems in a neighboring country, which has caused hundreds of thousands of people to migrate to the territory of the State party, including families and children which often live in poor, unprotected and vulnerable conditions.
77. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Ensure the implementation of the rights of children who migrated with or without their parents to the Dominican Republic and do not separate them from their parents or guardians in whose care they are;
(b) Make efforts to ensure that they enjoy a minimum standard of living, including housing, clean water and sanitation, and that they have access to play, cultural activities, educational and health-care institutions and services in their neighborhood needed for their development;
(c) Protect them against discrimination and mistreatment;
(d) Take account of the Committee’s general comment No. 6 on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin;
(e) Consider becoming a party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.