AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

BACKGROUND
In January presidential and legislative
elections scheduled for 17 January and later
for 24 January were postponed by the
Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) following
violent protests, where police were alleged to
have used force, in response to allegations of
electoral fraud during the first rounds of
elections in 2015.
On 5 February a national agreement
establishing a transitional government was
reached to find a solution to the political
crisis. President Martelly ended his mandate
on 7 February. Jocelerme Privert was elected
interim President and Enex Jean-Charles was
appointed as interim Prime Minister.
Elections scheduled for April were once again
postponed as the Independent Electoral
Verification Commission, which was
established in April, confirmed that there was
widespread fraud during the October 2015
balloting and recommended new elections
take place. The CEP issued a new electoral
calendar for elections in October and
January 2017.
In October, Hurricane Matthew caused the
country’s largest humanitarian emergency
since the 2010 earthquake, particularly in the
southern provinces. More than 500 people
were killed and almost as many injured.
Extensive flooding and mudslides damaged
infrastructure and buildings and caused
water shortages. Livelihoods in some areas
were almost entirely destroyed while 1.4
million people needed urgent humanitarian
assistance. It caused an increase in internal
migration from rural areas to overcrowded
cities where access to adequate housing was
already limited. In this context elections were
again postponed and took place on 20
November. Jovenel Moïse was elected as
President and was due to be sworn in on 7
February 2017. Although President Privert’s
term expired on 14 June, he remained as
interim President at the end of the year. The
political crisis severely affected the country’s
capacity to adopt essential legislation and
policies to improve the protection and
promotion of human rights.
The mandate of the UN Stabilization
Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was renewed
for six months in October.
In November, Haiti’s human rights record
was examined under the UN Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) process. Haiti
accepted various recommendations,
including to accede to the UN Conventions
on Statelessness, to strengthen its legal
framework against gender-based violence
and to enhance protection of human rights
defenders. It rejected recommendations to
protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and intersex (LGBTI) people or to join
the ICC. 1
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE
Hurricane Matthew affected 2.1 million
people across the country, including nearly
900,000 children. One hundred and seventy
five thousand people were left homeless. The
situation was compounded by the fact that
55,107 were still homeless from the 2010
earthquake and, by November, were living in
31 camps, a number which had hardly
decreased since June 2015.
REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS
People of Haitian origin continued to arrive
spontaneously in Haiti from the Dominican
Republic, while others had been deported by
the Dominican authorities. About 2,220 of
them settled in makeshift camps at the
southern border region of Anse-à-Pitre where
they lived in dismal conditions with restricted
access to water, sanitation, health care and
education. 2 Despite a relocation programme
in operation up until June, dozens of families
remained in the camps at the end of the year.
RIGHT TO HEALTH –
CHOLERA EPIDEMIC
Between January and July, 21,661 suspected
cholera cases and 200 related deaths were
registered, with nearly 9,000 cases reported
after Hurricane Matthew. In August, the UN
acknowledged, for the first time, its role in the
initial outbreak for which the UN Secretary-
General apologized publicly in December. He
also announced a new plan to deal with the
178 Amnesty International Report 2016/17