A/HRC/11/5 Child, which has been ratified by Haiti, form the subject of a debate and policy shift given that incarceration is still the only solution contemplated to address the problems of children in conflict with the law, whereas it should only be used as a last resort. In this regard, he advocates the adoption, in the Juvenile Code, of provisions promoting youth crime prevention strategies, alternative non-custodial measures and the implementation of effective rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, while encouraging foster care in the case of some non-serious crimes. 52. The independent expert welcomes the official commencement of work on building the juvenile court in Cap-Haïtien and recalls that, under the Law of 9 September 1961, specialized youth courts had been set up in five towns in Haiti but they have never been operational; only the juvenile court in Port-au-Prince provides specialized responses in juvenile justice matters. The establishment of the juvenile court in Cap-Haïtien will make it possible to try youth offenders in shorter periods within the Cap-Haïtien appeal court’s jurisdiction, avoid prolonged pretrial detention of minors within the jurisdiction and handle cases involving children in conflict with the law in conformity with the United Nations minimum rules. 4. Institute of Forensic Medicine 53. The successive reports of the previous independent expert on Haiti referred to the importance of granting the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) permanent status (A/HRC/4/3, para. 52). The forensic aspect of the procedural formalities is not taken into consideration by district judges who, contrary to the Code of Criminal Procedure, order at-the-scene examinations of corpses and act as criminal investigation officers in drawing up reports on findings. The statutory requirement that there be an accompanying medical officer to determine the apparent cause of death is thus never observed. 54. The number of autopsies carried out by the Institute of Forensic Medicine is not sufficiently high if one refers to the records of the State University of Haiti’s hospital for 2006. 6 By way of example, out of 5,330 admissions to its mortuaries, including 880 victims of violent deaths, the Institute carried out only 160 autopsies, i.e. 18 per cent of the total. It should be stated that these figures include neither victims of violence who are treated or die in operating theatres of public or private hospitals, which almost never inform the police or judicial authorities, nor victims of violent or suspicious deaths which are treated as ordinary deaths and are thus buried by the mortuaries without notification of the authorities. Most corpses, on arrival at the hospitals’ mortuary on district judges’ orders, do not undergo any medical examination leading to the issue of a death certificate stating the apparent cause of death. Bodies arriving at the Institute following an application by the government commissioner for an autopsy to be carried out are thus not accompanied by a death certificate or an at-the-scene examination report signed by a medical officer. Case files concerning violent or suspicious deaths which reach the prosecution department are in all instances accompanied by brief and poorly drafted reports on the findings. 55. Under the current circumstances, the independent expert recommends that the following recommendations be considered: institution of a legal framework to govern the functioning of the Institute of Forensic Medicine; creation of a __________________ 6 14 The independent expert did not have knowledge of more recent statistics.