A/HRC/4/3
page 25
94.
It is in the light of this conclusion that the recommendations that follow must be
considered, despite their technical nature. While most of them are not new, it seems that, this
time, they may benefit from genuine political will.
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS
95.
For reasons of pragmatism, the independent expert has limited the number of
recommendations to the nine following proposals:
(a)
Inspection bodies: the reduction of the malfunctions cited above, which often
stem more from individual actions than from any shortcoming in the law, will not be effective
unless the capacity of the inspection bodies of both the police and of the judiciary is reinforced,
particularly their capacity to conduct in situ inspections;
(b)
Reform of the judiciary: high priority (and this priority should be taken into
account in the preparation of the parliamentary calendar) must be assigned to the adoption of the
almost finalized three bills, without which there can be no real reform of the judiciary, namely
the bills on the reform of the judiciary regulations, the reform of the Supreme Council of Justice,
and the reform of the Judicial Training College;
(c)
Combating extended detention: it is important to provide for the possibility of
imposing suspended sentences and restore, but with tangible effectiveness, recourse to
“immediate appearance” by organizing for the police - given their hesitation - short but regular
decentralized training sessions that involve prosecutors, whose role of providing impetus and
follow-up is decisive for the success of this essential change in police practices;
(d)
Legal assistance: the working group charged with preparing a bill also envisaged
in the Plan of Action of the Ministry of Justice. In this regard, the independent expert hopes that
experiments in the provision of legal assistance, particularly those conducted by the Legal
Assistance Office in Cap Haïtien, will be taken into account;
(e)
Forensic medicine: adoption of texts, prepared several years ago, concerning the
independent status of the Institute of Forensic Medicine and its operation;
(f)
Status of women: adoption by Parliament - if possible in a single law, entitled
“Status of Women Act” - of the following texts:
− The decrees issued by the Transitional Government (with a view to their passage
into law) concerning: (a) categorization of rape as a major crime and no longer
only as indecent assault; (b) termination of adultery as an extenuating
circumstance in the murder of a wife (or her partner) by a jealous husband; and
(c) decriminalization of adultery;
− Texts on the status of women concerning the decriminalization of abortion,
admissibility of paternity proceedings, the status of concubines (plaçage), and
regulation of domestic work;
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