Haiti Libre:

Tuesday in a press conference, Gustavo Gallon, the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, who finished his fifth official mission to Haiti to assess the situation of human rights in the current political context.The monitoring mission of Gustavo Gallón presented a summary of its findings.

The Expert takes into its recommendations five aspects of violation of human rights it considers most urgent. They are illiteracy, prolonged pretrial detention, impunity on human rights abuses of the past, the painful situation of people affected by factors beyond the responsibility of the State (such as displaced by the earthquake, the Haitian people being in or coming from the Dominican Republic, or cholera victims) and absence of elections.

“In a particular political context, I propose that additional efforts be concentrated on five areas, given their urgency, as a practical method that can help to make progress in the very difficult task, but not impossible, to overcome the serious situation of human rights in Haiti,” stressed Mr. Gallón.

The expert met with the highest government authorities who have committed to take action, within their short term and provisional, to advance in these areas.

Thus, the President a.i. Privert pledged to make several decisions, particularly with regard to prolonged detention said the independent expert, who visited the prison of Croix des Bouquets “The president is committed to conduct a survey of imprisoned persons to check which of them were imprisoned for a time equal to or greater than the punishment that would theoretically apply to them; have sufficient investigating judges to handle cases; revise the regulation of the judicial system and in particular the draft codes http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14556-haiti-justice-one-more-step-towards-the-overhaul-of-the-penal-code.html http://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16494-icihaiti-justice-abortion-legalized-in-the-new-penal-code.html , which have been prepared and should be submitted to Parliament, etc … The decision is clearly as soon as possible to reduce the rate of overcrowding and people deprived of freedom,” said M Gallón.

Regarding impunity, the independent expert reiterated the recommendation to create a commission of truth, justice and reparation for the grave violations committed by the Duvalier regimes, military regimes and M Aristide and recalled in particular that criminal cases against consorts of Jean-Claude Duvalier must continue. Mr. Gallón announced that the provisional President has expressed his desire to lay the foundation, within the narrow limits of its provisional mandate for the conformation of a Commission for Truth, justice and reparation whose integration can be achieved by the Government elected after the culmination of the electoral process.

During his visit to Ouanaminthe, the independent expert has called on the Haitian authorities to take the necessary measures to prevent the expulsions from the Dominican Republic as well as to improve the state’s ability to guarantee the rights of these individuals on their arrival in Haiti.

Regarding literacy, Expert recalled that “almost half of Haiti’s population can neither read nor write, which is a violation in itself that is repeated every day, but especially leading to other violations of basic rights, because in these conditions people have very limited access to other rights such as work, personality development, justice and life in society.” He announced that the President and the Prime Minister named, promised to request a review of the literacy campaign which is running, very important but insufficient to strengthen it so that illiteracy is eradicated in the country in a reasonably short time.”

Finally he asked to conclude the electoral process “It’s a very difficult situation to manage for which I appreciate the willingness shown by the Provisional President to find a just and effective solution in accordance with agreements made and the very short deadlines for completing the political transition,” declared Mr. Gallón.

The independent expert will presented his report to the Council of Human Rights 22 March 2016.

HL/ HaitiLibre