UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Haiti Reports To the UN Commission on Human Rights

April 14, 1997 -- Adama Dieng, a Senegalese lawyer and Executive Director of the International Commission of Jurists, submitted his annual report on the human rights situation in Haiti on April 7 to the UN Commission on Human Rights which is currently holding its 53rd session in Geneva. Mr. Dieng is the UN Special Representative on human rights in Haiti and he has visited Haiti and presented reports to the Commission and the UN General Assembly for the past three years.

Mr. Dieng's report for 1996 starts off with a thorough analysis of the state of economic, social and cultural rights in Haiti. This is a welcome inititiave because most UN human rights reports focus on or emphasize civil and political rights. Mr. Dieng cites dismal statistics on public health, housing and education. He also discusses the case of at least 40 Haitian children who died from taking contaminated medicine made by a Haitian pharmaceutical company with raw materials provided by several European companies. The report also notes positively the Haitian government's rural land reform project initiated on Nov. 2, 1996. Violence against women, particularly domestic violence, is also included in the Special Representative's ananlysis.

The report also analyzes the recent expulsions of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic. While noting that every state has the right to control its borders and expel people who are in a state illegally, the Special Representative notes that certain procedural guarantees based on binding international law apply, such as the right to a hearing and a right to appeal an adverse decision before being expelled. Mr. Dieng criticizes the Dominican authorities for the manner in which they have conducted these expulsions and urges the two states to deepen their discussions and efforts at economic cooperation.

The report also notes the slow pace of judicial reform in Haiti. Mr. Dieng analyzes the record of the new Haitian National Police and finds that although some officers committed serious human rights violations, there has been improvement in recent months, largely due to intensified training and more vigorous disciplinary action by the HNP Inspector General. Relying on two excellent reports on the police and the justice system by the UN/OAS International Civilian Mission in Haiti, Mr. Dieng concludes that no real progress in human rights is possible unless the Haitian justice system can reach a minimal level of competence and independence which it has not yet done.

Mr. Dieng's report on human rights in Haiti for 1996 is in many ways path-breaking and deserves to be read carefully by the Haitian authorities and by all who care about Haiti. A full copy of the report can be found on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Web-site, at www.unhchr.ch