Haiti - Justice : 3 Organisations are demanding the end of the immunity of agents of the Minustah
On the occasion of the renewal of the mandate of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which ends on 15 October, during talks with members of the Security Council and of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, three organizations of defense of human rights : the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), the National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (RNDDH) and the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights (CEDH) ask to the Security Council to include provisions and mechanisms to fight against the impunity of violations of human rights committed by members of the military contingent of the Minustah.
In recent years, Minustah had to deal with several allegations of serious violations of human rights against the members of his staff. If under the zero-tolerance policy advocated by the United Nations, the soldiers implicated were returned to their countries of origin, only 3 cases are the subject of a judicial follow-up. The other cases are either unpunished, or they have been subject to prosecution before military courts, leading at best to disciplinary action.
Faced with this situation of impunity, FIDH, RNDDH and the CEDH ask the Security Council to require of the Minustah that it communicates publicly on the follow of procedures involving the soldiers repatriated, under the zero-tolerance policy, and to recommend the amendment of the "Status of Forces Agreement" between the UN and the Haitian government, in order to force the soldiers of the Mission, responsible for violations of human rights to be subject to prosecution in a common law court in their country of origin.
