Justice entity supports screening agreement between the DR and the US
The Institutionality and Justice Foundation (Finjus) qualifies as adequate and beneficial for national tourism the agreement between the Dominican Republic and the United States on airport pre-screening.
The agreement aims to establish, at Dominican airports that request it, the immigration and customs facilities of the US authorities so that these procedures can be carried out at the point of departure. This action would simplify the transit of passengers from the Dominican Republic to the United States.
“We welcome the legal discussion on this issue because it strengthens democracy. In the same way, and we value the effort made by the governments of the Dominican Republic and the United States to elaborate an agreement that respects the precedent of the Constitutional Court and expresses its hope that this High Court will soon offer its approval to it”, Finjus wrote in a statement.
Finjus refers to the issue because the initiative has been the subject of several controversies, based on to the Constitutional Court ruling TC / 0315/15, which declared the “Agreement on the status of United States personnel in the Dominican Republic” unconstitutional, referring to US military personnel, considering that the powers it gave to the US authorities were excessive.
As a consequence of the foregoing, the authorities of both countries, when negotiating the pre-authorization agreement, took into account judgment TC / 0315/15. For this reason, the text submitted to the TC via the preventive control of international treaties seeks to respect the limits set by the constitutional precedent, ensuring that Dominican law is complied with at all times and in all space.
The annex to the agreement, which provides for compliance with the requirements of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, has been contested. However, Finjus assures that this is nothing new in the legal system.
The Dominican Republic has been a signatory to both instruments since 1978. In other words, the country has accepted them as part of its domestic law for more than four decades.
According to Finjus, the agreement has a security collaboration component that is important to both parties equally.
“It is well known that the tourism sector is one of the most important industries in the Dominican economy. It is also known that the international tourism market is increasingly competitive. For this reason, the Dominican Republic does well to better connect to one of our main tourist markets, ”said the institution.