A/HRC/14/44 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Introduction A. The impact of the earthquake on the mandate 1. The earthquake of 12 January 2010, which destroyed Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other Haitian towns, will ever remain one of the most appalling humanitarian disasters; its aftermath will affect the whole country for many years to come. On the day after the disaster the independent expert sent a letter of sympathy and condolences to President René Préval and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in which he associated himself fully with the pain and suffering of all the families, both Haitian and families of international personnel, which had lost dear ones or friends. 2. The independent expert wishes to express his sincerest condolences, sympathy and gratitude to the Haitians and the United Nations staff members with whom he has worked. He salutes the professionalism, determination and courage which they showed during and after the earthquake. 3. The fact that this powerful earthquake occurred in a still fragile State afflicted by extreme poverty certainly magnified the impact of the disaster. The litany of the dead and missing, the numbers constantly revised upwards, the always difficult estimates of the number of displaced persons, the ever revolving images on television screens throughout the world, the sometimes ill-placed questions about the responsibility of various parties, the aftershocks which continued for several weeks, the rumours which perturbed the capital for several days – all of this demonstrated the magnitude of the country’s humanitarian crisis. It is precisely in an unprecedented crisis of this kind that human rights come under threat from the violence engendered and the struggle for survival, in which the weakest are at once the most deprived and the most vulnerable. Much has been written about the situation of extreme destitution experienced by the inhabitants of Haiti for many weeks and about the difficulty of responding to a humanitarian emergency when it is of such a magnitude. This kind of humanitarian crisis and natural disaster demonstrates just how far the question of human rights is involved in the response of the international community in endeavouring to satisfy the people’s assistance needs. 4. It is also in this kind of humanitarian crisis which throws into bold relief the interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights, civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. 5. As already stated at the end of the report which the independent expert submitted in June 2009 (A/HRC/11/5) and in accordance with the Statement of the President of the Human Rights Council of 24 September 2008,1 the independent expert concentrated during his three visits in 2009 on clarifying the possibility of realizing economic and social rights in Haiti, with a view to stating the conditions for their realization in terms of two examples – the right to education and the right to health. It was the plan for sections to be devoted to other topics, such as the “restavek” question, migration, and the deportee issue. 6. However, in view of the crisis which followed the earthquake and which is certainly going to persist for a long time, the independent expert thought that he had a responsibility to devote part of his technical assistance mandate to more urgent human rights issues in the humanitarian crisis and to the place which ought to be accorded to human rights and governance in the reconstruction of Haiti. 1 “11. The Council invites the new expert to continue the work undertaken and to carry out his mission by bringing his experience and expertise to bear and contributing to the cause of human rights in Haiti, with a particular emphasis on economic, social and cultural rights.” Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/63/53/Add.1), chap. III, PRST/9/1. 4 GE.10-13204 (EXT)