A/HRC/41/16 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, held its thirty-second session from 21 January to 1 February 2019. The review of the Dominican Republic was held at the 15th meeting, on 30 January 2019. The delegation of the Dominican Republic was headed by Flavio Dario Espinal, Legal Adviser at the Office of the President of the Republic. At its 18th meeting, held on 1 February 2019, the Working Group adopted the report on the Dominican Republic. 2. On 15 January 2019, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of the Dominican Republic: Peru, Qatar and Togo. 3. In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to Council resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of the Dominican Republic: (a) A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/32/DOM/1); (b) A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/32/DOM/2); (c) A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/32/DOM/3). 4. A list of questions prepared in advance by Belgium, Liechtenstein, Portugal, on behalf of the Group of Friends on national implementation, reporting and follow-up, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Uruguay was transmitted to the Dominican Republic through the troika. These questions are available on the website of the universal periodic review. I. Summary of the proceedings of the review process A. Presentation by the State under review 5. The head of the delegation pointed out that the universal periodic review was a useful mechanism that allowed the identification of challenges, dialogue among States in search of solutions, and progress in consolidating human rights protection. 6. From 1930 to 1961, the Dominican Republic was subjected to a brutal dictatorship with cruel human rights violations. After the end of the dictatorship, the country began a democratic transition process that lead to a coup d’état, an attempted civil war and a foreign military intervention. Since 1978, the country had enjoyed a democratic political regime. As part of the process of democratic consolidation, a new constitution had been adopted in 2010, which had assembled a body of fundamental rights as one of its major contributions. 7. The National Plan for the Regularization of Foreign Nationals had benefited 288,486 people over an 18-month period during which deportations had been suspended in order to generate confidence among the undocumented population. The process was free of charge and included a campaign providing communication, assistance and support in the communities. The Government had the support of institutions and organizations with experience in the field, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the European Union, among others. In the end, 259,976 foreign nationals had been granted legal status to continue living and working in the country. 8. Huge investments had been made in the rural sector and a policy regarding access to credit in support of entrepreneurship and small businesses had been introduced, all with a 2