INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN HAITI TO VISIT COUNTRY FROM 1 TO 7 APRIL 2005

31 March 2005


Louis Joinet, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, will visit Haiti from 1 to 7 April 2005.

The visit will allow Mr. Joinet to update his report (E/CN.4/2005/123) which he will present to the Commission on Human Rights on 15 April, after presenting it to the Security Council on 8 April.

During the visit, which will be his seventh to Haiti, Mr. Joinet will meet with Haitian authorities, including senior officials of the Transitional Government and senior magistrates in the judiciary. He will also meet with representatives of the United Nations system in Haiti, including the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the Organization of American States and members of civil society.

In 1995, the Commission on Human Rights requested the Secretary-General (resolution 1995/70) to appoint an Independent Expert who would assist the Haitian Government in the field of human rights, study the evolution of the situation of human rights in the country, and verify that Haiti was implementing its obligations in that field.

The Secretary-General appointed French magistrate Louis Joinet on 25 March 2002 (see press release HR/02/31 of 26 March 2002).

* *** *

For use of the information media; not an official record