A/HRC/28/82 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the statement of the President of the Human Rights Council, of 28 March 2014, in which the Council invited the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti to undertake a mission to Haiti and to report on that mission to the Council at its twenty-eighth session (A/HRC/PRST/25/1, para. 13). 2. In the President’s statement, the Council agreed to extend the Independent Expert’s mandate for one year (para. 9). Mr. Gustavo Gallón had been appointed in June 2013 and took up his duties on 1 August 2013. The present report relates to the period from 15 April to 31 December 2014 and contains recommendations for the Government of Haiti and the international community. 3. The Independent Expert undertook a mission to Haiti from 15 to 22 July 2014, followed by a series of meetings in New York from 22 to 25 July. In Haiti, he stayed in Port-au-Prince and visited Aquin and Les Cayes in the Sud Department; he also participated in a workshop on economic and social rights organized in Côte des Arcadins by the Minister for Human Rights and the Fight against Extreme Poverty. 4. The Independent Expert wishes to thank all those he met during his visit, especially the Haitian authorities — who made the mission possible — and in particular the Minister for Human Rights, who invited him to take part in the aforementioned workshop with members of the Interministerial Committee for Human Rights. The workshop enabled the Independent Expert to appreciate first-hand the Committee’s efforts to bring together the work done by different ministries with a view to developing a comprehensive human rights policy, which is the starting point for coordinated governmental action in this sphere. 5. The Independent Expert also wishes to thank the President of the Senate, the Ombudsman, the Director General of the National Police, the Deputy Director of the Prisons Administration, the Inspector General of the National Police, the Secretary of State for Literacy, the Dean of the Court of First Instance in Aquin, the Government Commissioner at the Court of First Instance in Aquin, the Police Commissioner and the Clerk at the Aquin police station, the Dean of the Court of First Instance in Les Cayes, the former Government Commissioner in Les Cayes, the Dean of the Court of First Instance in Les Côteaux, the Government Commissioner at the Court of First Instance in Les Côteaux, the alternate Government Commissioner at Île-à-Vache and the alternate Government Commissioner at the Court of First Instance in Les Cayes. 6. The support received from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was instrumental in the success of this mission. The Independent Expert wishes to express his appreciation to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, as well as to her staff and all those working with her, in particular in the Human Rights Section, and all members of their teams for the able support they provided in Port-au-Prince and on field visits and for the views they shared on the country situation. The Independent Expert also wishes to thank the representatives of the United Nations funds and programmes in Haiti and their teams for their support and for the information they provided. 7. The Independent Expert wishes to thank as well the representatives of the Organization of American States, through whose good offices he was able to meet with members of the diplomatic corps to exchange views on the human rights situation in Haiti. He also expresses his thanks to the ambassadors of the Group of Friends of Haiti with whom he met in New York, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the United Nations. GE.15-02042 3