The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti continues to consider the situation to be very serious but not insuperable, provided that national and international efforts are stepped up. The five priority areas indicated in the previous report are taken up again here: inequality, deprivation of liberty, institutional weakness, impunity and humanitarian crises.
In the present report, the Independent Expert examines in special detail the situation of the elections, which has not yet been resolved, and the deeply worrying situation of Haitians and persons of Haitian origin who, by choice or under duress, are leaving the Dominican Republic for Haiti and are at risk of being left stateless. The Independent Expert visited a camp of such persons to assess the situation on the ground. He also visited a detention centre in Petit-Goâve, where he again observed the extremely inhumane conditions of the country’s detention centres and confirmed that the practice of prolonged preventive detention needs to be discontinued.
The Independent Expert repeats his recommendations on boosting literacy efforts and establishing a commission on truth, justice and redress for human rights violations committed in the past and a similar commission for victims of the cholera epidemic.
To ensure proper coordination of these urgent actions, the Independent Expert underscores the need to re-establish the function of Minister for Human Rights (or a similar mechanism) and to reactivate the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights, as well as the need for a concerted human rights action plan for Haiti. This action plan should take into account the recommendations made by the various independent experts and treaty bodies.