A/HRC/34/73 accept, “has been taken into account and the recommendation to systematically address exploitation and violence against children, including through legislation criminalizing domestic child labour, has been noted. Also, the recommendation to take measures to guarantee displaced persons access to [basic] services so that they can leave the camps, which had been noted by Haiti, was subsequently accepted”.6 26. The Independent Expert stresses the importance of the country’s acceptance of the recommendations made to it and of the consultation procedure introduced in that connection. He also encourages both civil society and the new administration to continue to work to ensure their effective implementation. 27. The Independent Expert also calls on Parliament to approve, as soon as possible, the instruments of ratification for the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which the Government has submitted to it, according to information transmitted to the Independent Expert after his visit in October 2016.7 28. Haiti did not submit its fourteenth periodic report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The country’s initial report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Right is also overdue. However, the Government informed the Independent Expert that the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights was in the process of drafting the report, which would soon be submitted to the body in question. It is also important to mention the adoption of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/HTI/CO/2-3) in January 2016 and of those of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW/C/HTI/CO/8-9) in March 2016. 29. In its resolution 2313 (2016) of 13 October 2016, the Security Council announced its intention to consider the possible withdrawal of MINUSTAH and the transition to a future United Nations presence beginning no sooner than 15 April 2017 and, at the same time, recognized that respect for human rights was an essential element for the stability of Haiti, in particular, attention to individual accountability for grave violations under past governments. The role played by the MINUSTAH Human Rights Section has been crucial in assisting the authorities in this area and in helping to improve the human rights situation in the country. In the event of the withdrawal of MINUSTAH, this role must be preserved, as there is still much work to be done in the area of human rights. The Government informed the Independent Expert that it “welcomes” 8 that proposal. Given the technical nature of the Section, it is advisable to maintain the political complementarity provided by the mandate of the Independent Expert and his function of making recommendations to both the authorities and the Human Rights Council, and to submit to the latter an annual report on the situation. One possible option might be to give a political mandate to the Human Rights Section in Haiti, thus enabling it to take on the role played to date by the Independent Expert. However, it is evident that the Section must maintain its presence in Haiti after the possible withdrawal of MINUSTAH and that the mandate of the Independent Expert must also be retained if the functions that he performs are not encompassed by the mandate of the Section. A. Literacy, social inequality and economic, social and cultural rights 30. The period of transitional governance in Haiti in 2016 was not conducive to the fight to reduce the deep social inequality underlying Haitian society, a fight that must continue if the main cause of the critical human rights situation in the country is to be overcome, starting with the precariousness of the economic, social and cultural rights of the majority of the population. 6 7 8 GE.17-03747 “Response of the Government of Haiti to the report of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti”, para. 9. Ibid., para. 10. Ibid., para. 12. 7