A/HRC/20/35 A. Justice system 14. Just after the earthquake of 12 January 2010 which destroyed the main public buildings and claimed thousands of civil servants among its victims,3 the international community assessed the scale of aid the country required to quickly return the judiciary to operation and to make buildings and human and financial resources available to the judicial authorities. 15. On 4 January 2012, a presidential commission was established to study and propose appropriate measures for the reform of the justice system and to continue the work of the commission established by former President René Préval. The Independent Expert had the opportunity to meet the president of the commission to discuss its calendar of work and the speed with which the commission would issue proposals. He was impressed by the quality and strategy of the approach adopted to implement the reform measures in the three laws on justice system reform that were passed in 2007. The work of the commission should be supported by the international community and the implementation of its proposals facilitated by the authorities of the country. 16. In that regard, the Independent Expert notes the importance of monitoring the effectiveness of the judiciary’s work through the judicial inspectorate. Indeed, the operation of the courts, registries and prosecution services, including the figures communicated on the number of inspections and performance analyses, must be checked in practice. The inspectorate must be headed by judges seconded for this purpose for a limited period, and not by officials of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. 17. The Independent Expert drew the attention of the Minister of Justice to problems stemming from the fact that under the High Council of the Judiciary Act, the Council is responsible for the inspection of judges, while registries and prosecution services remain under the authority of the Minister. He also suggested that government commissioners and senior law officers should be firmly reminded of the need for regular, ongoing and effective supervision of the activities of the courts and judiciary, which will ensure their proper functioning while safeguarding the rights of persons before the law. Such supervision should be carried out by the senior law officer for investigating magistrates and by the government commissioner for deputy prosecutors and district judges. 18. The Independent Expert’s attention had been drawn to the fact that the financing for the National Legal Aid System would not be extended. Thanks to funding provided by UNASUR,4 however, the programme was fortunately able to continue.5 The Independent Expert notes the value of being able to provide predictable funding for the legal assistance system, and thanks donors for the support already provided in that field, while emphasizing that, in time, the system must be assigned to the Ministry of Justice. President of the Court of Cassation 19. During his meetings with the former President, and later, in his first meeting with President Michel Martelly, the Independent Expert mentioned how important this appointment was, as it provided for a separation of the executive and the judicial branches. 3 4 5 6 At a press conference held on 12 January 2011, the Prime Minister recalled that the disaster had caused 7.8 billion dollars of damage and that close to 17 per cent of the country’s civil servants had lost their lives. Union of South American Nations. In November 2011, SYNAL employed some 250 Haitian lawyers working in 14 offices throughout the country. Since the creation of SYNAL, over 9,000 cases have been dealt with. GE.12-13208