INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN HAITI TO VISIT HAITI FROM 21 TO 29 SEPTEMBER 2002

19 September 2002



The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, Louis Joinet, will visit Haiti from 21 to 29 September 2002 at the invitation of the Government.
During this visit, Mr. Joinet will meet with Haitian authorities, especially with senior Government officials and magistrates. He will meet with representatives of the Office for the Protection of Citizens, the School of Magistracy, civil society and the press. He will also meet with representatives of the United Nations system and the Organization of American States.
In 1995, the Commission on Human Rights asked the Secretary-General, in resolution 1995/70, to nominate an Independent Expert whose mandate will be to help the Haitian Government in the field of human rights, to study the evolution of the situation of human rights in the country, and to verify that Haiti was carrying out its obligations in this field.
Mr. Joinet was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 25 March 2002 (see press release HR/02/31 dated 26 March 2002). Mr. Joinet replaces Senegalese Jurist Adama Dieng as the Independent Expert.
On 26 April 2002, the Commission on Human Rights, at its fifty-eighth session, invited the Independent Expert to present, at its next session, a report on the evolution of the situation of human rights in Haiti, as well as on activities concerning cooperation techniques in this field.



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