Country Information

The population of Dominican Republic is approximately 9,183,984 (July 2006). About 11% of Dominicans are of predominantly African descent with Caucasian (around 16%) and mixed Caucasian-Spanish-African ancestry (around 73%). Roman Catholicism is the state religion, which 95% of the population identifies with. The national language is Spanish.

Political and Economic Environment

Since the Dominican Republic’s independence from Spain in 1865, it has weathered political instability and upheaval, which has ended only recently. The political turmoil was the result of the inability to have a stable head of state beginning when Juan Bosch was elected president in 1962, but was deposed in a military coup in 1963. In 1965, the United States led an intervention in the midst of a civil war sparked by an uprising to restore Bosch. In 1966, Joaquin Balaguer defeated Bosch in an election to become president. Balaguer maintained a tight grip on power for most of the next 30 years until international reaction to flawed elections ushered in an intense period of political activity, with the competing political parties signing a Pact for Democracy reducing President Balaguer’s term from four to two years, setting early elections and reforming the constitution. A new Central Electoral Board was named to work on electoral reform.

Since then, regular competitive elections have been held in which opposition candidates have won the presidency. During the 2000 elections, Hipolito Mejia, the Revolutionary Democratic Party candidate, was elected president. He entered into office with four priorities: education reform, economic development, increased agricultural production, and poverty alleviation. Mejia also championed the cause of Central American and Caribbean economic integration and migration, particularly as it relates to Haiti. Former President (1996-2000) Leonel Fernandez Reyna won election to a second term in 2004 following a constitutional amendment allowing presidents to serve more than one term. Fernandez’ political agenda is one of economic and judicial reform.

Following economic turmoil in the late 1980s and 1990, during which the GDP fell by up to 5% and consumer price inflation reached an unprecedented 100%, the Dominican Republic entered a period of moderate GDP growth and declining inflation until 2003 after which the economy entered a recession. This was primarily due to the collapse of the second commercial bank of the country (Baninter) from a major fraud of U$3.5 billion during the administration of President Hipolito Mejia (2000-2004). The Baninter fraud had a devastating effect on the Dominican economy, with GDP dropped by 1% in 2003 while inflation ballooned to over 27%. With the election of former president Leonel Fernandez in 2004 and the implementation of strict fiscal targets agreed in the 2004 renegotiation of an IMF standby loan, the economy has stabilized.

The country still suffers from marked income inequality; the poorest half of the population receives less than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoys nearly 40% of national income. Twenty five percent of the population remains below the poverty line, with seventeen percent unemployed. The growth of the Dominican economy remains significantly hampered by an ongoing energy shortage, yet with the ratification of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) in September 2005, development prospects have improved.

Humanitarian Situation

The main humanitarian issues in the Dominican Republic relate to the status of Haitians in the country and the related issue of child trafficking. There are strong prejudices against Haitians, which disadvantages many Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian ancestry, as well as other foreigners of dark complexion. Some individuals estimate that as many as one million Haitians live in the country, many illegally. The civil registry authorities regularly refuse to recognize and document as citizens many individuals of Haitian ancestry born in the country. Since many Haitian parents never possessed documentation of their own births, they are unable to demonstrate their own citizenship or that of their children leading to an increased statelessness crisis within the country.

Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, but the prostitution of minors, primarily in the tourist areas, has been a problem. An official 2003 study estimated that 50 to 60 Haitian children were trafficked into the country each week and that many Haitian girls age 12 and older were brought into the country to work as prostitutes.

Gender-based violence is a problem: a local NGO estimates that 24 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have been victims of physical abuse.

November 2006