A/HRC/17/42 IV. The reconstruction of Haiti 67. In the past several months and on each of his missions, the Independent Expert has drawn the attention of the Government, the international community and members of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission to the widely expressed concern in civil society, in Haiti and among Haitians of the diaspora about the reconstruction of Haiti and the workings of the institution responsible for carrying it out. The Independent Expert recommends that donors and the members of the Commission keep in mind the vision, presented by the Prime Minister at the donors’ conference in February 2010, of “a society of fairness, justice and solidarity ... in which the rule of law, [and] the freedoms of association and expression are firmly in place, [a country] in which all of the people’s basic needs are satisfied and managed by a strong unitary State, the guardian of the general interest, a State which has undergone extensive devolution and decentralization”. Many Haitians feel that the Commission is not up to the task. Many feel alienated by it and have trouble making sense of its long list of vague projects of questionable coherence. 68. The Independent Expert welcomes the support lent by the Prime Minister and several members of the Commission to the idea of rethinking the Commission’s task and adopting a new, rights-based approach to reconstruction, which would reorient the strategy and action plan in such a way as to send the message that reconstruction is aimed at guaranteeing people the rights of which they have for so long been deprived. It is not a matter of concepts, but rather of a change of philosophy, whereby account is taken first and foremost of the needs and aspirations of Haitians in efforts to re-establish a sustainable environment, within a more decentralized development framework that is designed to protect people from natural hazards, ensure that reconstruction is equitable and establish equality between the richest and less prosperous regions with a view to creating a fairer society. 69. A rights-based approach would also allow for: a greater focus on the most vulnerable groups, such as women, children and persons with disabilities; the systematic involvement of civil society organizations, in particular those representing women, peasants and vulnerable groups, in the reconstruction effort; the inclusion of gender-specific analyses of and concrete gender-equality targets in reconstruction plans and budgets; and the introduction of measures to ensure that labour-intensive reconstruction programmes are not concentrated solely in the economic sectors traditionally occupied by men. 70. The Independent Expert recommends that personnel trained in rights-based techniques be employed to help the Commission’s permanent staff with processing applications and presenting them to the Commission, and with the various phases of project implementation. He draws attention in particular to the proposal that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights made to the Human Rights Council at its June 2010 session on applying the conceptual framework developed by the Special Representative15 of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises to the Commission’s calls for tender. 71. Civil society must also become more involved in monitoring reconstruction. The Independent Expert recognizes that efforts have been made to involve various civil society stakeholders, especially NGOs, women and trade unions, in the work of the Commission. Equally important, however, is the need to ensure that the implementation of reconstruction projects and, in particular, the rights-based approach, is subject of public oversight. The techniques involved are not necessarily known by all. Therefore, just as training workshops on policy monitoring have been run by the MINUSTAH Human Rights Section, training 15 GE.11-12426 A/HRC/14/27. 15