Carmelite Bazil's two children have been repeatedly denied their birth certificates. Carmelite and the father of her children, Oberne Saint Jean, are both Haitian nationals who have lived in the Dominican Republic for more than eighteen years and both of whom possess Haitian passports. In 2002, a special appeal process was undertaken on their behalf by concerned organizations in Dominican civil society to try to clarify once and for all the boundaries of their constitutional rights.

Carmelite says that she is pleased to know that there are enhanced chances that her son, Rubén, and daughter, Estefani, will be issued birth certificates. As of September 2005, an important legal ruling from the Inter-American Human Rights Court (IACHR) made it binding for the Dominican Republic to comply with its Constitution. Article 11 of the Constitution guarantees the right to Dominican nationality to all those born on Dominican soil (ius soli) unless they are the legitimate offspring of diplomats or those born to persons in transit.

Carmelite Bazil's case is, unfortunately, not unique. Carmelite lives in a crowded shanty town on the edge of Santo Domingo. One fifth of the population living in the area is of Haitian descent- they are migrants themselves from neighboring Haiti or their parentage is Haitian, although largely undocumented. Tens of thousands of Haitian migrants and their descendants living in the Dominican Republic face the same challenge. However, the lack of birth certificates affects many more Dominicans than immigrants. In early 2003 newspapers reported government officials as stating that there were no fewer than two million Dominicans (a quarter of the population) who lack birth certificates.

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