President Abinader promulgates Law that creates the National Alert for Search for Missing Persons

President Luis Abinader promulgated Law 25-26, which creates the National Alert for the Search for Missing Persons in the Dominican Republic, called "RD Alerts", a mechanism that will immediately activate the search for people reported as missing, especially children, adolescents, older adults, people with disabilities and women at risk.

The new legislation establishes a national system of massive dissemination of information involving authorities, media, digital platforms, social networks and security agencies, with the aim of speeding up the location and protection of people whose integrity may be in danger.

The law recognizes that the disappearance of people constitutes a serious violation of human rights and provides that the State must act with diligence, speed and coordination to prevent irreparable damage to victims and reduce the uncertainty faced by their families.

One of the most relevant aspects of the regulation is that it eliminates any waiting to start the search work. The National Police or the Public Ministry must activate the alert immediately, once the complaint has been received and the circumstances of the case have been evaluated, without it being necessary to wait 24 hours from the disappearance.

The legislation creates different categories of alert according to the profile of the missing person. These include the Amber Alert, for children and adolescents; the Silver Alert, for older adults; the Blue Alert, for people with disabilities; and the Pink Alert, aimed at missing women in contexts of violence or possible human trafficking situations.

Once the alert is activated, the authorities must register the case in a national database, issue notices through the media and social networks, coordinate search operations in hospitals, transport terminals, airports and border crossings, and even request international cooperation when there are indications of transfer outside the country or transnational crimes.

The law also creates the National Registry of Missing Persons, a platform administered by the National Police that will contain information about the reported persons, including photographs, physical characteristics, circumstances of the disappearance, relevant medical conditions and search status.

It also establishes the creation of the National Council for the Search for Missing Persons, attached to the Ministry of the Interior and Police and composed of representatives of the Attorney General's Office, Ministry of Defense, National Police, Ministry of Women, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, System 9-1-1, Indotel, Conani, Conape, Conadis, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) and the National Health Service (SNS).

The regulations provide that any citizen may report a disappearance in person or by phone and that no additional formalities will be required to activate the search mechanisms when there is sufficient information to justify the alert.

The alerts will have an initial validity of five calendar days, although they may be extended as many times as necessary as long as the circumstances that motivated their issuance persist.

The law also contemplates sanctions for public servants who, having become aware of a disappearance, fail to comply with the duties of information and action established in the regulations, without prejudice to civil or criminal responsibilities that may arise.

Another novel aspect is the obligation to issue an official notification when an alert is deactivated, detailing the reasons for the decision and leaving a public record of both its activation and its closure.

The new legislation will enter into force after its promulgation and official publication. In addition, it gives a period of 90 days to the Executive Branch to issue the regulation that will establish the operational procedures for the implementation of "RD Alerts", a system that seeks to turn the immediate reaction into the main tool of the State in the face of the disappearance of people.