Commercial sexual exploitation

White sand beaches attract around five million tourists to the Dominican Republic each year,^[2] making it the most visited Caribbean destination and accounting for 16 percent of GDP.^[3] Unfortunately, this has been accompanied by clear patterns of child sex in tourist and nightspot destinations, such as beaches, parks, bars and nightclubs. An NGO reports foreigners account for between 23 and 25 percent of customers engaging in commercial sexual exploitation of children, which simultaneously indicates a large proportion of CSE buyers are Dominican.^[4] It is estimated one in four sex workers in outdoor locations is a teenager, most aged between 15 and 17.^[5] There is a cultural tolerance of older teenage girls aged 15 and above engaging in sex with tourists.^[6] Minors can be sourced from motoconchos (motorbike taxi drivers) and taken to caba—as (auto-motels) in Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros and coastal towns, where customers pay by the hour.^[7] There are serious concerns that police are complicit in or turn a blind eye to the abuse of people working in the sex industry, including in areas known for child sex trafficking.^[8]

Dominican women and children are also subject to trafficking for CSE abroad. Victims have been identified in neighbouring Haiti and throughout the Caribbean, as well as in Argentina, and some other Latin and Central American countries.^[9] In the past five years, the International Organisation for Migration has provided assistance to Dominican girls rescued from the Haitian sex industry, as well as returning victims from several islands in the Caribbean.^[10] Dominican victims of CSE have also been identified in Europe, notably the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, as well as in the USA, Japan and throughout the Middle East.^[11]

Despite existing literature giving evidence of CSE cases in the Dominican Republic, the Walk Free survey did not identify any victims in this sector. The survey result may not indicate an absence of cases but possibly a lack of willingness to self-identify or report this issue. We will continue to work with experts to identify the most robust ways to ensure the issue of sexual exploitation is fully accounted for in our survey results in future.

Forced labour

Haitians, Dominicans of Haitian descent and Dominicans themselves experience exploitative labour conditions that sometimes amount to forced labour in various occupations including construction, agriculture, private security services, domestic services and the informal sector. Some 65 percent of the total 104,800 cases of forced labour identified in the Walk Free survey reported the exploitation having occurred in the construction sector. Evidence of slavery-like practices on sugar cane plantations and farms growing tomatoes and rice persists with some workers labouring under the threat of deportation, having their wage withheld or reduced, and having no formal contract (though oral employment contracts are legally valid in the Dominican Republic).^[12] Most live in bateyes (communities attached to plantations) characterised by no fresh water, sanitation or electricity.^[13] There is some evidence of children working alongside their families on plantations.

Children in the Dominican Republic are also at risk of exploitation in domestic service, street vending (shining shoes and washing car windows), begging, construction and the movement of illicit narcotics.^[14] There is evidence of children being trafficked from rural to urban locations within the country, as well as Haitian children being trafficked across the border.^[15]

Forced marriage

Walk Free survey data revealed a small number of forced marriage cases in the Dominican Republic, with one percent of the total of all cases of modern slavery identified as forced marriage. Little recent empirical evidence exists on forced and child marriage. Data from 2007 suggests a national average of 40 percent of girls married before 18.^[16]

Country	Civil & Political Protections	Social, Health, & Economic Rights	Personal Security	Refugees & Conflict	Mean
Dominican Republic	47.97	33.84	46.38	24.33	38.13

Uneven access to obtaining birth certificates and identification documents denies many children admission to primary and secondary schools.^[22] This contradicts the General Education Act which provides for education as "a permanent and inalienable human right...without any discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, belief, economic and social status or any other basis". ^[23] NGOs report that the misapplication of this right means some children are pushed into work while others attend school but are restricted from sitting national exams to obtain a diploma.^[24] This limits opportunities for children to pursue higher education and access formal sector employment and may increase their risk of accepting exploitative work as adults. As a result, women accept offers of low or semi-skilled work as waitresses, dancers or models, which in practice can manifest as commercial sexual exploitation at the hand of a trafficker.^[25]

Discrimination against certain ethnic groups in Dominican society results in a significant disparity in employment, and access to basic public services.^[26] Haitians provide a cheap source of labour for construction, agriculture and domestic work. Undocumented or stateless Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent are most vulnerable to modern slavery. The most recent government figures from 2012 suggest that more than 458,000 Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, while NGOs estimated in 2015 that as many as one million Haitians live in the country, many of whom are stateless and vulnerable to deportation.^[27] In 2013, the Dominican Constitutional Tribunal stripped citizenship from children born to people 'in transit', the vast majority of whom were undocumented Haitian immigrants.^[28] The porous border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic continues to provide an escape to those in search of economic opportunities and ensures traffickers can transport people without detection.

In 2013, the Attorney General's Office shared letter No. 00788, instructing all members of the Public Prosecution Service to take immediate and forceful action against "pimping and human trafficking". Since this time, to enhance investigation and prosecution, the National Police, Migration Directorate, Attorney General's Office and the three largest Prosecutors' Offices (Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional and Santiago) have created specialised units to combat human trafficking. In particular, the role of the Specialized Prosecutor against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons has created a comprehensive policy to combat trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling. The Prosecutors Office has created standard operating procedures with the support of the Specialized Prosecutor Office against TiP (Pol—ticas para la Persecuci—n Penal de los Fen—menos Criminales: Tr—fico Il—cito de Migrantes y Trata de Personas). With the support of international organisations, these government departments tasked with combating trafficking have been provided specialised training and equipment to aid in the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases.^[32] This has included capacity building activities such as training in Creole, the language spoken in neighbouring Haiti and by many victims of modern slavery, and the administration of a certificate course in Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation undertaken by 40 prosecutors.^[33] The combination of improved public policy and intensive training of law enforcement bodies has increased investigations, prosecutions and convictions. Between January 2014 and March 2015, 18 cases were prosecuted against traffickers and 20 cases have been prosecuted for CSE.^[34]

Despite these initial improvements, NGOs report a vital need for increased inspection in all sectors where children are known to be exploited.

Language training must be rolled out more broadly, as labour inspections continue to be hampered by translation issues between Spanish-speaking inspectors responsible for interviewing Creolespeaking workers with limited or no Spanish-language abilities.^[35] There are also serious concerns about official complicity in trafficking cases, with police reportedly failing to identify minor victims of CSE, physically or sexually-abusing minors, and in one case, a police officer is to be tried for his participation in a sex trafficking ring that involved child victims.^[36]

There are ongoing efforts to combat sex tourism where many victims are sexually exploited at the hand of traffickers. Tourists with sex convictions have been denied entry to the country by immigration officials.^[37] The Specialized Corps for Tourist Safety (CESTUR) work in partnership with UNICEF to build capacity and train members of the tourism industry.^[38] Hotels have signed codes of conduct and frequently display signs saying: "It is prohibited to take minors into hotel rooms" and "Trafficking and sexual exploitation are crimes punishable by law."^[39] While UNICEF reports that CESTUR is working to prevent child sex abuse in tourist areas, rescuing minors and arresting and bringing to justice child sex offenders, local NGOs have not seen evidence of this.^[40]

In 2015, the Inter-Agency Commission Against Trafficking in Persons (CITIM), in collaboration with the IOM, developed a protocol to detect, refer and assist child and adolescent victims of trafficking. However, some reports indicate that CITIM did not convene all relevant agencies during the reporting period and that its efforts were otherwise limited.^[41] In 2015, the IOM also assisted the government in the creation of a second protocol— to identify, assist and reintegrate survivors of trafficking in persons.^[42] Local organisations largely welcomed the protocols but reported concerns about the limited efforts being made to implement the protocols.^[43]

Victim assistance continues to be largely provided by international and local organisations. In late 2015, the government remodelled a house that it intends to open as a shelter for human trafficking survivors immediately after their rescue. The funding for the remodelling was secured from a private donor. NGOs report that the shelter is scheduled to open in 2016.^[44] This is a positive development considering no government agency currently provides case management, therapy, job training or other economic empowerment opportunities.^[45] One NGO reported that many survivors of slavery, particularly minors, are often quickly returned to their family without sufficient screening and often left to seek support on their own.

To address the unregistered status of many people in the country, the 2014 Naturalization Law was passed to recognise the nationality of those already registered as Dominicans, and to establish a registration process for those entitled to citizenship but who lacked official documentation.^[46] The Plan Nacional de Regularizaci—n de Extranjeros, (National Plan for the Regularization of Foreigners) was established by Presidential Decree No. 327-13 and began accepting applications from June 2014 to May 2015.^[47] Following the expiration of the registration period in June 2015, thousands of people have crossed the border into Haiti, either spontaneously out of fear of arrest or have been forcibly returned by Dominican authorities.^[48] In June 2015, there were reports people were deported on the basis of appearance with little or no verification of their identity and nationality.^[49] In January 2016, international organisations reported that Dominican migration authorities have established stronger procedures including case-by-case handling, verification of migration status and dignified shelter, all of which were being monitored by the UN country team.^[50]

Deportations are creating a complex migrant situation, whereby stateless people are returning to Anse-Pitre in South-East Haiti where prolonged drought is resulting in food insecurity and malnutrition. As of September 2015, four informal settlements have sprung up in Haiti to house up to 3,000 people.^[51] Lack of basic services and health care means many men cross the border back into the Dominican Republic each day seeking low-paid work. Without identification documents proving they are either Haitian or Dominican, this stateless group will remain extremely vulnerable to exploitation.