A/HRC/25/71
while 229 camps are reportedly on private land. No legal analysis of the land status has
been conducted. Eighteen per cent of IDP sites were closed because of return programmes
and 11 per cent because of evictions. These evictions, when forced and carried out with the
assistance of law enforcement officials and without offering an alternative solution,
constitute a violation of human rights.32
73.
The people who have left the camps in the past two years (over 1.85 million) have
not necessarily resolved their housing problem. Most have received a grant to help them
find shelter for about a year, but this cannot be considered a sustainable solution.
74.
Those that remain in camps live in very precarious, sometimes inhumane
conditions. The independent expert visited the KID and Acra camps in Port-au-Prince and
the Mayard/Beaudoin and St. Helena camps in Jacmel and found many shortcomings,
especially in the KID camp where there is considerable overcrowding, and most dwellings,
far from being houses, are small plots covered with plastic sheeting, which is no use when
it rains, and where there are no toilets. In other camps, the situation is better but not
necessarily good. There is no drinking water available in any of the four camps. There are
no schools easily accessible for children. The St. Helena camp in Jacmel must be returned
to its owner in March 2014. The 86 families composed of 218 people who are housed there
have to leave without knowing where they are going next.
75.
While the efforts of the Government and the international community to ensure the
well-being of displaced persons must be recognized, they must be intensified to bring to an
end, without further delay, the precarious living conditions of these families whose most
basic rights, including to housing, hygiene, health, education cannot be realized. This is a
situation where human dignity is being eroded day after day; and it is likely to continue in
the absence of more radical measures to protect the population, to the extent possible, from
the effects of natural disasters, since the earthquake that took place there more than four
years ago.
76.
Another major disaster which is not natural, but man-made, and with dire
consequences is the cholera epidemic that has spread since October 2010. According to
estimates, more than 8,300 people have died of the disease, almost 7 per cent of the
population (680,800 people) have been affected and about 1,000 people continue to die
each year. United Nations troops are suspected of having caused the epidemic. A complaint
was filed with a court in New York in October 2013. The United Nations rejected the
accusations, based on section 29 of article VIII of the Convention on the Privileges and
Immunities of the United Nations, and has done extensive work to counteract the epidemic
and to help victims.
77.
In the opinion of the independent expert, the diplomatic difficulties surrounding this
issue must be overcome in order to assure the Haitian people that the epidemic will be
halted as soon as possible and that full reparation for damages will be provided. Some
clarifications as to what really happened need to be given and, if necessary, those
responsible for the tragedy should be punished, 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 mentioned earlier (para. 63). The
United Nations should be the first to honour these principles. In this connection, the
independent expert endorses the words of his predecessor, who, in his most recent report,
noted that “while the independent expert deplores the way that certain organizations have
exploited the issue for political ends, he is aware of the need that victims or their families
32
16
Since there is not enough room in this report, the independent expert would like to draw attention to
the important document published on this matter by Amnesty International, “Nulle part où aller”.
Expulsions forcées dans les camps pour personnes déplacées d’Haïti, London, 2013.
GE.14-10841
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