A Haitian delegation, led by Marie Carmelle Rose Anne Auguste, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, in charge of Human Rights and the Fight Against Poverty Extreme, currently staying in Geneva to attend the 112th session of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) on 9 and 10 October 2014, in which the human rights situation in Haiti will be examined.

This Thursday at Palais Wilson in Geneva, the Minister Augustus, met with the new High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein around Haiti's ratification of certain international instruments, the development of the National Plan for Human rights, the fight against impunity, the situation in prisons, including the issue of prolonged pretrial detention.

The High Commissioner praised the efforts of the Haitian authorities in order to accelerate the process of ratification of some international instruments. He especially mentioned the ratification by the Haitian Parliament of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), of the submission of the initial report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). He also praised the steps taken by the Interministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDP) with the Parliament for ratification of other instruments such as the Convention against Torture, the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their families.

After having presented the CIDP, its mission and its various components, the Minister Augustus, about the fight against impunity, said there was a whole chapter in the first draft of the National Plan for Human Rights , which dealt with this issue, emphasizing the efforts of the government in favor of the independence of the judiciary.

Annule

About prolonged pretrial detention, she stressed that the Government was very concerned about this and that steps were being taken to improve conditions in prisons and solve this problem. The Minister took the opportunity to invite the new High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Haiti, which accepted the invitation.

The Minister has also met with two assistants of Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty.

HL/ HaitiLibre