HRC58: A call for global reparatory justice for Haitians

On 28 March 2025, an Interactive Dialogue on Haiti took place with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk,  and the UN expert on the human rights situation in Haiti, William O’Neill. The UN expert stated in his opening remarks that the pervasive presence of gangs in Haiti has turned Port-au-Prince into an ‘open-air prison’.

O’Neill underscored how sexual violence, the invasion of safe neighbourhoods by gangs, the killings, burning of houses and business and the disruption of school years due to violence hinder the lives and aspirations of the Haitian people, who, in his words, remain unbowed. He also urged the Council to mobilise all available resources to contribute to the Humanitarian Appeal for Haiti. 

In light of the recent publication of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report on the situation of human rights in Haiti, the High Commissioner described the challenges faced by the country, pointing that he is not sure that ‘the usual description of gang violence captures the amount of unbearable suffering that has been inflicted on the Haitian people’.

Following the discussion, Ann-Kathryne Lassegue, representative of Haiti, said the report ‘sheds light on a nation in the grip of multiple sufferings, a people deeply tested, but who continue to fight for their dignity and survival’, and launched an appeal for structured and sustainable humanitarian partnerships that meet the needs of displaced persons, protect children from exploitation, support victims of sexual violence and recreate minimum conditions for the resumption of economic and educational services.

In this debate, ISHR and the Haitian Bridge Alliance – together with more than 50 other organisations — delivered a statement demanding accountability from the Western European and Others Group (WEOG). They called for recognition of global reparatory justice for colonialism, slavery, and neo-colonial imperialism as root causes of the so-called ‘migration crisis’. At the same time, they urged an end to the violations inflicted on Haitians and people of African descent, including mass expulsions, deportations, militarised borders, and mandatory detentions.

The statement, delivered by Guerline Jozef, also called on the international community to support Haiti in reclaiming ownership of its territory and resources, ensuring the country’s full exercise of self-determination and the creation of a sustainable environment that its people deserve. 

Watch and read the full statement below:

Together with more than 50 other organisations, we condemn the widespread sexual violence, the worsening humanitarian crisis, the exacerbation of inequality and the weakening of the prospects for effective peacebuilding and the return to democracy that are currently occurring in Haiti.

Haiti needs a decentralised, sustainable ecosystem of infrastructure and services that allows its people to enjoy their human rights in every corner of Haiti, with strong departments with their own capacities and expertise able to function independently but also interdependently with the other departments. This will enable people to live their lives and enjoy their human rights across Haiti, and the gangs would not be able to focus and concentrate control and influence in Port-au-Prince.

In regard to migration, the U.S., the Dominican Republic and all States need to acknowledge that people are still being deported and forcibly returned to Haiti. These returns are ongoing human rights violations. The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, in its 29 April 2023 Statement under its Early Action and Urgent Warning Procedure, called on all States to, among other measures, immediately end all forced returns of Haitians to Haiti – all the deportations, collective expulsions, and returns by sea interdictions.

How many people have been forcibly returned to Haiti since that warning? Each one is a human rights violation. Further, the ongoing use of maritime interdictions by the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) States, as the US uses with Haitians and Europe uses with people from Africa, is an ongoing violation of international law, is based in racism, and must end.

Member States, especially in the WEOG group, including the United States, talk a lot about addressing the root causes of migration. But, as they use mass expulsions and deportations, militarised borders, mandatory detentions in for-profit prisons, sea interdictions, and other human-rights-violating practises against Africans and people of African descent, we have never heard them say that the lack of global reparatory justice is a root cause of migration.  

Let’s be clear. The lack of global reparatory justice for colonialism, slavery, and neo-colonial imperialism is a root cause of the ongoing forced displacement of African peoples and people of African descent. Global reparatory justice should be a central part to addressing the so-called migration crisis.

In addition, restitution and global reparatory justice are two things. Haiti deserves both. Only when Haiti has the resources it is owed, controls the resources of its territory, and its people are able to exercise their right to self-determination can it truly build and preserve the sustainable ecosystem necessary for people to enjoy their lives in their home, as Haitians want to.