A/HRC/25/71 Haitians to flee and find refuge abroad, particularly at the American base at Guantanamo, Cuba, and in the Dominican Republic. About 300,000 persons fled Port-au-Prince in order to save their lives and went to the interior of the country.”24 62. Towards the end of President Aristide’s second term of office, and in particular after he left the country in 2004, the findings of one of the independent expert’s predecessors, Mr. Louis Joinet in 2005, in his report to the Commission on Human Rights were that “serious violations have persisted”. He observed that “these violations generally no longer emanate from the Government as such, but are most often the work of two groups of armed adversaries: on the one hand, certain supporters of the previous Government […] who seek above all to destabilize the Government […]; on the other hand, armed groups of former soldiers demobilized during the disbandment of the army in 1995 […]; and former supporters of President Aristide who have taken up arms against him, setting up the Front de résistance nationale (National Resistance Front (FRN)), and who have thus become the objective allies of their old adversaries, the former soldiers”.25 63. Many of the violations committed during these periods constitute crimes against humanity, and Haitian society as a whole and the international community is waiting for justice to be done. It is not only the direct victims of these abuses, who are, of course, the first to have the right to seek reparation, in accordance with the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, approved by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 60/147 of 16 December 2005, and in accordance with the Set of Principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity.26 All Haitians, like the whole of mankind, are the victims of crimes against humanity committed under such circumstances. 64. As far as the violations committed during the Duvalier regime are concerned, 22 complaints of crimes against humanity were filed against Jean-Claude Duvalier, upon his return to the country in 2011, by the victims of his regime, who had joined forces in an action group against impunity. On 27 January 2012, the investigating judge Carvès Jean dismissed the charges for human rights violations upholding only the charges on economic grounds. After hearings held in early 2013, the Court of Appeal in Port-au-Prince must rule on both the appeals filed by Duvalier’s lawyers and the complainants against the decision. The acts attributed to Jean-Claude Duvalier are extremely serious.27 To merely consider his responsibility for crimes such as corruption and embezzlement of public funds in a criminal court for less serious offences, would be a denial of justice for the victims and for humanity as a whole. 65. Reparation for violations committed during the Duvalier regime must include those committed under the Government of François Duvalier, which cannot be dealt with as part of a criminal trial since he is dead. These violations will therefore not be considered during the hearings against his son, but the State has a duty to provide reparation because they were committed under its responsibility, which must be determined through a non-criminal and not necessarily judicial procedure. The best proof of the will of the Haitian Government 24 25 26 27 14 E/CN.4/1996/94, 24 January 1996, para. 8. E/CN.4/2005/123, 24 January 2005, Summary. See the Independent study on best practices, including recommendations, to assist States in strengthening their domestic capacity to combat all aspects of impunity (E/CN.4/2004/88) and the Report of the independent expert to update the Set of Principles to combat impunity (E/CN.4/2005/102 and Add.1). See Amnesty International, You cannot kill the truth: The case against Jean-Claude Duvalier, London, 2011. GE.14-10841