Haiti: UN rights expert in follow-up mission to assess implementation of his recommendations

GENEVA (3 September 2015) – United Nations Independent Expert Gustavo Gallón will visit Haiti from 6 to 15 September 2015 to assess the situation of human rights in the country, and to monitor progress on the implementation of the recommendations included in his report* to the Human Rights Council in March 2015.

“During this fourth visit, I would like to follow up the 2015 electoral process, as well as to listen to the concerns of Haitians, particularly those who have returned to Haiti from the Dominican Republic,” Mr. Gallón said.

“I will pay particular attention to progress made on the five priorities set in my last report, i.e., illiteracy, pre-trial detention, transparency and credibility in the holding of the elections, violations of human rights perpetrated in the past, and the resettling, in suitable and long-term housing, of all those displaced by the 2010 earthquake and subsequent disasters who are still living in camps,” he explained.

As in his previous mission, the Independent Expert will travel outside Port-au-Prince in order to assess the human rights situation outside the capital. The information collected will be the basis for the preparation of the report that the Independent Expert must present to the Human Rights Council in 2016.*

During his mission, Mr. Gallón will meet with Haitian authorities, including the Office of Citizen Protection, the diplomatic corps, representatives of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and UN agencies, human rights defenders and civil society organizations.

The Independent Expert will hold a press conference on 15 September 2015 (time to be confirmed) in the conference room of MINUSTAH headquarters to present the preliminary findings of his visit. Access to the press conference is strictly limited to journalists.

(*) Check the last reports of the Independent Expert: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_f.aspx?m=47

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The Human Rights Council appointed Mr. Gustavo Gallón as Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti in June 2013. Mr. Gallón has over 30 years of experience as a human rights defender and as university professor in public law and human rights. He was the Special Representative of the United Nations Human Rights Commission to Equatorial Guinea from 1999 to 2002. He is currently the director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists since its inception in 1988. Mr. Gallón is independent from any government and conducts his mandate in his sole individual capacity. To know more: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/CountriesMandates/HT/Pages/IEHaiti.aspx

United Nations Human Rights, country profile – Haiti:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/LACRegion/Pages/HTIndex.aspx

For more information and press inquiries, please contact:
In Geneva (before the country visit): Laia Valls Senties (+41 22 917 93 70 / lvalls@ohchr.org)

In Port-au-Prince (during the country visit): Sophie Boutaud de la Combe (+ (509) 2229-6700 (ext 2691) /  boutauddelacombes@un.org)

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