High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms difficult situation in Haiti | News

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, assesses the situation in Haiti during a visit to the Caribbean country that also led him to meet with the Prime Minister of that nation, Ariel Henry, local media reported on Wednesday.

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The talks took place shortly after the arrival of the senior official and dealt with "government initiatives in the area of ​​human rights, such as the national dialogue, the creation of an environment conducive to the organization of elections, the strengthening of the judicial system and the reduction of pretrial detention".

For his part, Prime Minister Henry assured that "Haiti has taken good note of the recommendations in the framework of the Universal Policy Evaluation and is going to begin, as quickly as possible, to implement them" to render a report in about two years.

The Haitian president added that "it was also the opportunity to emphasize the many implications of the multidimensional crisis in the country, especially with regard to the right to life, health, respect for private life, free movement of persons and goods and to property".

Before concluding his visit next Friday, Türk will also meet with the Ombudsman's Office, representatives of the security forces and the Judiciary, victims of human rights violations and civil organizations, according to sources close to his office.

The Austrian diplomat will also tour the border area of ​​Ouanaminthe and will offer a press conference to evaluate his trip before leaving the Caribbean nation.

Given the serious situation in Haiti, last November Türk asked to stop the deportations, especially to the neighboring Dominican Republic.

After the assassination in 2021 of the then president Jovenel Moise, Haiti is plunged into an acute systemic crisis, intensified after the assassination and by the actions of criminal gangs that have plunged the country into a spiral of violence.

The gangs have become strong, to the point of controlling a large part of Port-au-Prince, the capital, in an environment tinged by the reappearance of the cholera virus, which has already claimed hundreds of lives.

The Haitian government officially requested last October the dispatch of a foreign force, after which the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, proposed establishing a "rapid action force" with soldiers from one or several countries and not under the flag of Nations United, an initiative that has not yet materialized.