A/HRC/34/73 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the statement of the President of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/PRST/31/1) of 24 March 2016, in which the Council invited the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti to undertake a mission to Haiti and to report on that mission to the Council at its thirty-fourth session. In the President’s statement, the Council agreed to extend the mandate of the Independent Expert, Gustavo Gallón, by one year. 2. The present report relates to the period from 24 March 2016 to 25 January 2017 and contains recommendations for the Government of Haiti and the international community. It takes up the five priority areas indicated in the previous reports, examining some aspects in greater detail, including the elections and the situation of the victims of natural disasters, particularly the victims of Hurricane Matthew, which struck Haiti on 3 and 4 October 2016. 3. The Government of Haiti sent its response to the Independent Expert’s report on 23 January 2017. 4. The Independent Expert undertook a mission to Haiti from 18 to 26 October 2016, followed by meetings in New York on 27 and 28 October. He stayed in Port-au-Prince and visited Jérémie in Grand’Anse Department, in the south-west, to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. 5. Previously, the Independent Expert had visited Haiti from 21 February to 1 March 2016, three weeks before presenting his oral report to the Human Rights Council on 22 March, but after the publication of his written report. This report also contains references to that visit. 6. The Independent Expert wishes to thank all those whom he met during his visit, particularly the interim President of the Republic, the head of the Office of the President, the Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Religion, the Interior and Regional and Local Governments, Justice and Public Security, and Public Health and the Population. 7. The Independent Expert thanks also the head of the Provisional Electoral Council, the Ombudsman, the Chair and a member of the Presidential Commission on Prolonged Pretrial Detention, the immigration services of Ouanaminthe, at the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and the authorities of Jérémie, the Croix-des-Bouquets detention centre and the Cabaret women’s prison, whom he also had the opportunity to meet. 8. The support received from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was instrumental in the success of this mission. The Independent Expert wishes to express his appreciation to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and to all those working with her, in particular the Human Rights Section. He also wishes to thank the representatives of the United Nations programmes in Haiti and New York and their teams for their support and for the information that they provided. 9. The Independent Expert wishes to thank as well the representatives of the Organization of American States, through whose good offices he was able to meet with members of the diplomatic corps in Haiti. He also expresses his thanks to the ambassadors of the Group of Friends of Haiti with whom he met in New York, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the United Nations. 10. The Independent Expert extends his sincere thanks to the many representatives of civil society organizations, political parties and members of several human rights nongovernmental organizations in Port-au-Prince and Grand’Anse Department with whom he met in Haiti and in New York. II. Five key aspects of the human rights situation in Haiti 11. In the initial report on Haiti that he submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2014 (A/HRC/25/71), the Independent Expert recommended that the Haitian authorities and the 4 GE.17-03747