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High Com­mis­sioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay

27 Jan­u­ary 2010 – Not only must Haiti’s infra­struc­ture be built back bet­ter in the wake of the dev­as­tat­ing earth­quake, but its human rights mech­a­nisms must also be enhanced, the top United Nations rights offi­cial said today.

“Our para­mount goal must be ensur­ing that all Hait­ian peo­ple attain their dig­nity and rights in full,” she told a spe­cial ses­sion of the Human Rights Coun­cil on the after­math of the 12 Jan­u­ary earthquake.

“The pur­suit of this objec­tive can­not be post­poned until more favourable con­di­tions pre­vail. It must be made part and par­cel of our action right now.”

The Hait­ian Gov­ern­ment has con­firmed that 150,000 peo­ple have per­ished, with thou­sands more still buried under the rub­ble. An even larger num­ber have been made home­less by the 7.0-magnitude quake, which dev­as­tated the cap­i­tal, Port-au-Prince.

The effects of the quake “were fur­ther exac­er­bated by pre-existing inhu­man con­di­tions of poverty, insta­bil­ity and fee­ble insti­tu­tions,” the High Com­mis­sioner said, point­ing to prac­tices includ­ing the forced move­ment from rural to urban areas to pro­vide cheap labour for Haiti’s elite under the Duva­lier regime between 1957 and 1986.

“The con­ges­tion of urban cen­tres has ever since been a cause of abuse and height­ened vul­ner­a­bil­ity to nat­ural dis­as­ter and to con­flict over scarce jobs and resources,” she noted. “At the same time, liv­ing con­di­tions in rural areas remained and con­tinue to be cul­pa­bly neglected.”

The aid effort is well under way in Haiti, already the West­ern Hemisphere’s poor­est coun­try before the disaster.

“To sus­tain effec­tive devel­op­ment poli­cies, bol­ster good gov­er­nance and ame­lio­rate the deliv­ery of, and access to, ser­vices includ­ing health and edu­ca­tion, we must anchor our ini­tia­tives in human rights,” Ms. Pil­lay stressed.

A human rights approach to the recov­ery process will help tackle the root causes of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties, such as poverty and dis­crim­i­na­tion, she added.

Pro­tect­ing the vul­ner­a­ble – espe­cially the dis­abled, the elderly, women and chil­dren – who are more likely to face dis­pos­ses­sion, arbi­trary arrest, vio­lence and traf­fick­ing is essen­tial, the High Com­mis­sioner stressed.

She also voiced con­cerns over reports of sum­mary exe­cu­tions of pris­on­ers who escaped from Haiti’s jails fol­low­ing the earth­quake by angry mobs. “The rule of law must be quickly re-established in the cap­i­tal and elsewhere.”

The Office of the High Com­mis­sioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), along with the UN High Com­mis­sioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has dis­patched a five-person team to Haiti to lead and help coor­di­nate pro­tec­tion efforts in part­ner­ship with the Gov­ern­ment. The mis­sion will assess the imme­di­ate rights needs of the population.

Ms. Pil­lay called for rebuild­ing Haiti’s national human rights pro­tec­tion sys­tems through an effec­tive and inde­pen­dent judi­ciary as well as a law enforce­ment sys­tem that respects human rights.

Yes­ter­day, top UN human­i­tar­ian offi­cials under­scored that Haitians must have lead­er­ship of the post-earthquake recov­ery process, as aid agen­cies are mak­ing impor­tant progress in reach­ing peo­ple affected by the disaster.

Sig­nif­i­cant steps for­ward are being made in the areas of water and food dis­tri­b­u­tion, among oth­ers, Under-Secretary-General for Human­i­tar­ian Affairs John Holmes told reporters in New York.

But he added that “we are con­scious it’s a very long way to go to get to all the peo­ple in need with basic items.”

The World Food Pro­gramme (WFP) said that it has reached almost 450,000 peo­ple with nearly 10 mil­lion meals since the 12 Jan­u­ary earth­quake, with more food set to arrive.

The $575 mil­lion UN flash appeal for Haiti launched on 15 Jan­u­ary, three days after the quake, is only 49 per cent funded, Mr. Holmes said, express­ing con­cern that cer­tain cru­cial sec­tors – includ­ing early recov­ery – remain under-funded.