A/HRC/34/14
justice. With regard to the reform of Haitian criminal law, a commission had been set up to
revise the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Investigation. The work of the
commission had been submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security for further
legal processing. In order to obtain a clearer picture of the problem of prolonged pretrial
detention, a study had been carried out at the civilian prison of Port-au-Prince in July and
August 2013. The recommendations made on the basis of that study had been implemented
by the presiding judge of the Port-au-Prince Court of First Instance and had led to
significant reductions in the number of detainees. A new commission on tackling prolonged
pretrial detention had been established by presidential decree with the aim of identifying
persons held in prolonged pretrial detention and making recommendations to the judicial
authorities. The commission was due to submit a report to the Ministry of Justice.
9.
New prisons and juvenile detention centres had been opened across the country.
New penal establishments were also being built.
10.
Haiti had ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of
Intercountry Adoption and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Parliament was
working towards the ratification of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
11.
The Government had made tackling corruption one of its priorities. The Act on the
Prevention and Punishment of Corruption and the Act on Penalizing Money-Laundering
and the Financing of Terrorism had been published in the Official Gazette.
12.
The Office of the Ombudsman, an independent institution established in 1987, had
recently been strengthened by the appointment of a director general, an increase in its
budget and the creation of the post of deputy ombudsman.
13.
The national human rights plan, which had been drawn up in 2014, aimed to educate
and inform the public about their rights and duties. It would be implemented once it had
been approved by civil society.
14.
The Strategic Development Plan for Haiti, which addressed the areas of education,
health and housing and provided for measures for responding to natural disasters, had been
drawn up in accordance with a rights-based approach. In particular, it aimed to provide the
population with safe drinking water and sanitation services and to improve the management
of solid waste.
15.
In 2012, a programme to tackle food insecurity had been established. Before
Hurricane Matthew struck, measures had been adopted to improve agricultural production.
A new plan was being drawn up that took into account the damage caused by that natural
disaster.
16.
Haiti had taken various measures to ensure the provision of free schooling,
benefiting one million children. Likewise, a literacy programme had been implemented by
the Secretariat of State for Literacy. A campaign had been carried out to raise awareness
among the parents of children with disabilities who were not yet enrolled in school. Head
teachers were encouraged to accept such children.
17.
With regard to the right to housing, the Government had implemented a national
housing policy which had led to the construction of 1,682 housing units between 2013 and
2015. The Government had also sought to reduce the number of people living in camps by
establishing grant schemes and return/resettlement programmes.
18.
Various measures had been taken to tackle trafficking in persons: the Trafficking in
Persons Act had been published in 2014; the 1974 Adoption Act had been revised in 2013;
4
GE.16-22488
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