Dominican Republic

Population Statistics

10,478,756

Total Population

1,571,813

Population with a disability

according to World Health Organization’s 15% estimate

Election Dates

18 August 2009

Ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities


Constitution of the Dominican Republic (2010)

Updated: June 2015

Article 39 states:

"Persons are born free and equal before the law, they receive the same protection and treatment from the institutions, authorities and other persons and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities, without any discrimination for reasons of gender, color, age, disability, nationality, family ties, language, religion, political or philosophical opinion, and social or personal condition…"

 

Article 58 states:

The State shall promote, protect and assure the enjoyment of all the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the persons with disabilities, in conditions of equality, as well as the full and autonomous exercise of their capacities. The State shall adopt the positive measures necessary to facilitate their family, community, social, labor, economic, cultural and political integration.

 

Article 208 states:

The exercise of suffrage to elect the authorities of government and to participate in referendums, is a right and a duty of the citizens [feminine] and of the citizens [masculine]. The vote is personal, free, direct and secret. Nobody can be obligated or coerced, under any pretext, in the exercise of their right of suffrage or to reveal their vote.

 

Excerpt from the Constitution of the Dominican Republic (2010)