First, it should be noted that the control of conventionality, the control of constitutionality, and the principle of interpretation in conformity form part of our legal system and may indeed be applied by Dominican courts.
If we examine the provisions of Article 74, paragraph 3, of the Dominican Constitution, we find that treaties, pacts, and conventions relating to human rights, signed and ratified by the Dominican State, have constitutional hierarchy and are of direct and immediate application by the courts and other State bodies. In this regard, the Law on the Constitutional Court and Constitutional Procedures provides that any act or omission that violates a provision of an international human rights treaty signed and ratified by the Dominican Republic, or that diminishes the effectiveness of its principles and mandates, shall be considered a constitutional infringement.
This implies that, in our country, judges are under the obligation to contrast the acts submitted for their consideration with the terms of the international human rights treaties ratified by the Dominican State. Given that the Dominican legal system adopts a mixed model combining diffuse and concentrated constitutional review, all judges of the Dominican Republic are empowered to exercise mechanisms of both constitutional control and conventionality control.
Likewise, the Constitution establishes the nullity of all legislative acts or acts of any nature that are contrary to the Constitution, and, as previously indicated, treaties, pacts, and conventions relating to human rights, signed and ratified by the State, possess constitutional hierarchy and are of direct and immediate application by the courts and other State authorities.
and other State bodies,4 therefore, in the specific case of the Dominican Republic, strictly in terms of exclusive jurisdiction, we would not face the difficulties raised by the author Ariel Dulitzky.
However, although from a legal framework perspective there are no obstacles to the application of the Convention, the same cannot be said from another point of view.
In our country, there exists a refusal to accept the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which was accepted by the President of the Republic on April 19, 1999. The Dominican Constitutional Court, through Judgment TC/256/14, which resolved an action of unconstitutionality against the instrument accepting the Court’s jurisdiction, declared said instrument unconstitutional, arguing that it lacked congressional approval, which, according to the interpretation of the Dominican Constitutional Court, was indispensable.
Thus, we find that in the Dominican Republic, the American Convention on Human Rights forms part of the constitutional bloc. This is so because both the Dominican Constitution, in Article 74, paragraph 3, and Law No. 137-11 on the Constitutional Court and Constitutional Procedures, in Article 6, grant the same hierarchical status to the Constitution and international treaties. In 2003, prior to the establishment of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice held that the Convention:
“is therefore binding upon the Dominican State, and consequently upon the Judicial Branch, not only with regard to the provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights, but also with respect to the interpretations issued by the jurisdictional bodies created as mechanisms of protection, pursuant to Article 33 thereof, which grants them jurisdiction to hear matters related to the fulfillment of the commitments undertaken by the States Parties.”
Bibliografía
República Dominicana. Constitución de la República Dominicana. Gaceta Oficial núm. 10561, 26 de enero de 2010, con sus modificaciones. Artículos 6 y 74, numeral 3.
República Dominicana. Ley núm. 137-11, Orgánica del Tribunal Constitucional y de los Procedimientos Constitucionales. Gaceta Oficial núm. 10622, 15 de junio de 2011.
República Dominicana. Ley núm. 137-11, Orgánica del Tribunal Constitucional y de los Procedimientos Constitucionales, Artículo 6: Infracciones Constitucionales. Gaceta Oficial núm. 10622, 15 de junio de 2011.
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