The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Julio César Castaños Guzmán announced he asked his Civil Registry Department and the Unit of Late Birth Registrations for a report on the JCE’s participation in the Presidency Special Programs Agency (Digepep) for the issuing of birth certificates. The program is carried out together with the Ministry of Public Health, Unicef and the JCE and seeks to document Dominican nationals.
He recommended the JCE participation in the “I am a Person” (Soy Persona) government citizen identification program be suspended after listening to critics who expressed concern that 600,000 new nationals be documented in a pre-electoral and electoral year. The program regularly circumvents normal procedures for late birth registrations out of necessity. Nevertheless, he also called for care to be taken to not adversely affect the participants objects of the program that focuses on assisting Dominicans in extreme poverty.
The director of the project, Domingo Contreras said over the weekend, that the project seeks to issue birth certificates to undocumented girls, boys and teenagers.
On Monday, 25 February 2019, the director of Presidency Special Programs Agency (Digepep) accepted the recommendation for the suspension of the program made by Castaños Guzmán.
Read more in Spanish:
https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/politica/jce-recomienda-suspender-programa-para-otorgar-actas-de-nacimiento-NF12179620
https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/politica/suspenden-el-programa-emitiria-las-600-mil-actas-BK12182311
26 February 2019