PRST/34/1 Situation of human rights in Haiti

GE.17-05260 (E) 210717 210717



Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session

27 February-24 March 2017

Agenda item 10

Statement by the President

PRST 34/1 Situation of human rights in Haiti

At the 59th meeting, held on 24 March 2017, the President of the Human Rights

Council made the following statement:

“The Human Rights Council,

1. Thanks the Independent Expert for his report on the situation of

human rights in Haiti1 and takes note of the latest legal and political developments in

Haiti, in particular the following:

(a) The inauguration of the new Parliament in January 2016, the holding

of legislative, presidential and senatorial elections in November 2016, and the

holding of local elections in January 2017;

(b) The new composition of the Provisional Electoral Council, of which

three of the nine members are women;

(c) The election by universal suffrage of the 58th President of Haiti, and

his inauguration on 7 February 2017;

(d) The ratification by the Haitian Parliament of the Paris Agreement on

climate change, on 12 February 2017;

(e) The inauguration of the new Government on 22 March 2017;

2. Welcomes the holding of the universal periodic review of Haiti on 7

November 2016;

3. Also welcomes the establishment on 5 September 2016 of a

presidential commission on prolonged pretrial detention with a view to putting an

end to human rights violations in that context, and the establishment on 25 February

2017 of a presidential commission of inquiry on the situation of detainees in prison

settings;

4. Further welcomes the submission of three conventions to Parliament

for ratification, namely, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman

* Reissued for technical reasons on 21 July 2017. 1 A/HRC/34/73.

United Nations A/HRC/PRST/34/1*

General Assembly Distr.: General 3 April 2017

English

Original: French

2 GE.17-05260

or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention relating to the Status of

Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness;

5. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the reconfiguration

of the United Nations presence in Haiti, including the United Nations Stabilization

Mission in Haiti,2 and recalls the importance of the protection and promotion of

human rights in Haiti;

6. Also welcomes the new United Nations approach to cholera in Haiti

presented by the Secretary-General in his report on the subject3 and welcomed by

the General Assembly in its resolution 71/161 of 16 December 2016;

7. Acknowledges that the full enjoyment of all civil, political, economic,

social and cultural human rights constitutes a factor conducive to peace, stability and

development in Haiti;

8. Welcomes the renewed commitment of Haiti to the effective

implementation of the international human rights treaties to which Haiti is a party,

with the consideration of its second and third periodic reports by the Committee on

the Rights of the Child in January 20164 and of its eighth and ninth periodic reports

by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in March

2016;5

9. Encourages the Government of Haiti to continue to cooperate fully

and effectively with the treaty bodies and to submit its pending reports to said bodies

as appropriate;

10. Also encourages the Government of Haiti to follow up on the draft

Criminal Code and draft Code of Criminal Procedure, which underpin the reform

and modernization of the judicial system, and to develop and implement a strategy

to reduce the duration of pretrial detention and improve conditions of detention;

11. Expresses the wish that the Haitian authorities reaffirm their

commitment to improve the living conditions of Haitian women and men, including

by devoting greater attention to respect for human rights, and in this regard

expresses concern about existing human rights challenges and encourages the

Haitian authorities to make further progress in this area;

12. Notes with regret that women are underrepresented in Parliament,

strongly encourages the Government of Haiti to enhance the participation of women

in political life, and urges it to implement article 17.1 of the 1987 Constitution,

which establishes a minimum quota of 30 per cent for women at all levels of

national life;

13. Urges the Government of Haiti to continue strengthening the rule of

law, including by combating impunity and corruption and tackling crime and its

causes, and strongly encourages it to continue building the capacity of the national

police and the prison system, as well as strengthening measures to ensure the

independence, professionalism and impartiality of the judiciary, with a view to

ensuring the proper functioning of public institutions and services and the enjoyment

of all human rights;

14. Encourages the Government of Haiti to strengthen national human

rights institutions, in particular the Office of the Ombudsman, to ensure that the

latter complies with the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for

the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) and to provide it

with the necessary resources to perform its work completely independently;

2 S/2017/223.

3 A/71/620.

4 CRC/C/HTI/2-3.

5 CEDAW/C/HTI/8-9.

GE.17-05260 3

15. Strongly encourages the Government of Haiti to continue to adopt the

necessary political and legal measures to safeguard the rights of vulnerable persons,

including child domestic workers and victims of human trafficking, and to accord

special attention to the situation of persons who lack identity documents;

16. Also strongly encourages the Government of Haiti to continue to

combat gender-based violence and discrimination;

17. Encourages the Government of Haiti to continue the search for

sustainable solutions for the economic development of Haiti, based on agriculture,

which is the main source of income for the majority of the population;

18. Warmly commends the important work done by the Independent

Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti within the framework of technical

assistance and capacity-building;

19. Urges the Government of Haiti to implement the recommendations

made by the Independent Expert in his report:

(a) Eradicate illiteracy within a reasonably short time frame;

(b) Put an end to the practice of prolonged pretrial detention, by

facilitating the work of the presidential commission set up for this purpose and

implementing its recommendations as soon as possible;

(c) Establish a truth, justice and reparation commission in respect of the

large-scale, systematic human rights violations committed in the past;

(d) Provide access to decent housing for internally displaced persons still

living in camps following the earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew;

(e) Provide Haitians and persons of Haitian origin who are living or have

lived abroad and who are at risk of statelessness with the civil status documents

necessary for the exercise of their rights;

20. Invites the Haitian authorities to strengthen the Interministerial

Human Rights Committee established by decree of 13 May 2013, which is

responsible for coordinating and harmonizing public policies in the field of human

rights for the purpose of ensuring, without discrimination of any kind, the enjoyment

of, respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, in

accordance with the Constitution and the commitments entered into by Haiti, in

order to continue to work, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, with

national and international human rights mechanisms, civil society and non-

governmental organizations, with a view to implementing these recommendations;

21. Requests the Government of Haiti, with the assistance of the Office of

the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the special procedures

and the Interministerial Human Rights Committee, and in close consultation with

civil society, the Office of the Ombudsman and other stakeholders, to prepare a plan

of action to implement the recommendations made by human rights mechanisms,

including those made in the context of the universal periodic review and by the

Independent Expert, to establish a national reporting and follow-up mechanism on

the fulfilment of targets and indicators related to technical assistance programmes, to

establish a timetable for achieving the objectives set and to identify the resources

required in order to implement this plan;

22. Also requests the Government of Haiti to support a national reporting

and follow-up mechanism to coordinate the implementation of the national action

plan, with technical assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner;

23. Requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present an oral

update on the implementation of the plan at the thirty-seventh session of the Human

Rights Council, and to submit a written report at its thirty-eighth session, in the

context of an interactive dialogue under agenda item 10;

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24. Encourages the international community as a whole and, in particular,

international donors, the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, the

Caribbean Community, the group of countries known as the Friends of Haiti and the

specialized bodies of the United Nations, in particular the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to step up their cooperation and

coordination efforts with the Haitian authorities with a view to the full realization of

all human rights in Haiti;

25. Calls upon the international community to continue to support, upon

request, the Office of the Ombudsman through technical assistance and capacity-

building programmes, with a view to enabling it to contribute effectively to the

promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the

Haitian people, in accordance with the Paris Principles;

26. Welcomes the decision of the Haitian authorities to continue working

with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to

ensure respect for and the promotion of human rights in Haiti.”