Findings of the Appointed Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti (A/HRC/54/79) (Advance Unedited Version)

This report transmits to the Human Rights Council the findings of William O'Neill, designated on 12 April 2023 as the expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti under Council resolution 52/39, following his first official visit on 19 and 20 June 2023. The expert finds the situation dire but not hopeless: gangs have morphed from politician-hired militias into largely self-funded groups controlling most of the capital, attacking police stations and the Palace of Justice, and relying on kidnapping ransoms, with weapons trafficked mainly from the United States. He documents the humanitarian toll, including a record 4.9 million people facing acute hunger, inflation of 49.3 percent in January 2023, attacks on hospitals, and the Bwa Kale vigilante phenomenon, and traces the crisis to poverty, inequality, corruption and chronic underfunding of health, education and water services. Recommendations cover strengthening integrity and vetting in State institutions, protecting women and children, deploying a specialized international police force under human rights safeguards, an arms embargo, and support to anti-corruption bodies.