A/HRC/11/5
the General Inspectorate, whose operational methods and practices should serve to
restore public trust since it would be in a position to receive complaints, examine
cases and ensure that investigations are initiated and that exemplary and effective
sanctions are imposed where justified.
37. The Haitian National Police vetting process is a major challenge in restoring
the population’s confidence in its police force. While maintaining that it is for the
Government to make the final decision and to take steps, in compliance with Haitian
domestic law, to rid the police ranks of any officers who fail to meet the required
standards, the independent expert is concerned about the non-transparency of the
methods used and the delay in carrying out the vetting exercise. He wishes to point
out that, under the terms of the Secretary-General’s decision on the distribution of
tasks among United Nations institutions and bodies, OHCHR is the lead agency in
the transitional justice and vetting process. The role of OHCHR in that capacity
should be to coordinate and support the process, producing the necessary material
and publishing tools to allow the adoption of a human rights approach to the vetting
procedure and monitoring the execution of the process. OHCHR is not conducting
the vetting process itself but is performing a support role for those conducting it.
The purpose of such support by OHCHR is to set out the guarantees in order to
ensure that police officers are treated fairly in the process and that those guilty of
human rights violations are removed from the police force.
38. The independent expert is of the view that the vetting procedure currently
followed in Haiti is not in line with human rights standards or the SecretaryGeneral’s decision and he therefore has the feeling that OHCHR wishes to maintain
a certain distance until those standards are applied by all partners participating in
the process. This does not mean requesting that the Human Rights Section be
involved in every individual decision, for which it has neither the time nor the
resources, but the independent expert recommends that the Human Rights Section
be regularly and closely involved in all monitoring stages of the procedure to ensure
that the process conforms to relevant international standards.
39. As regards the process itself, the independent expert is concerned about the
delay in the vetting programme and recommends that priority now be given to
vetting senior police officers in order to send out a clear signal as to the objective
being pursued.
40. Finally, it is important for the population to understand that the Haitian
National Police reform process is the wish of the Government and is not being
imposed from outside. In this connection, the Government should reaffirm that the
vetting process is a priority for the country and regularly inform the public of the
outcomes of the process and the qualitative and quantitative targets achieved.
D. Functioning of the justice system
1.
Situation of the courts and proceedings
41. The operation of the judicial system has been the subject of several reports and
publications and the independent expert has observed that, while the statistics
provided show effective progress in regard to the lower and appeal or habeas corpus
11
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