ARTICLE - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - ICESCR

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY VOTED THE ICESCR
(Haiti Libre) -

United in the National Assembly on Tuesday, both houses of the Haitian Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority (66 votes for, 1 against and 6 abstentions), the bill on the "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights "(ICESCR).

The Pact, adopted by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 2200 A of December 16, 1966 and entered into force on January 3 1976, guarantees to all people without discrimination, the right to dispose of themselves. In virtue of that right they freely determine their political status, and their economic, social and cultural development.

In addition, each State that has adopted this Pact "undertakes to act, both by its own efforts and through international assistance and international cooperation, including economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, in order to progressively ensure the full exercise of rights recognized in the Pact by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures."

The ICESCR is part of a series of international instruments whose adoption and ratification had been recommended to the Haitian government by the principal international human rights group.

The ratification of the pact is an important step in the expansion of the scope on the protection of human rights in Haiti. It also paves interesting perspectives for cooperation to development for Haiti. The ICESCR commits indeed the international community to invest more to support government efforts to ensure equal access to education, health and a decent standard of living, including to water, food, and adequate housing that contribute to poverty reduction.

In this, its vote by Haiti was widely praised, particularly by advocates of human rights, such as Mr. Gédéon Jean, the Executive Director of the Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights (CARDH), for which this favorable vote promotes respect in Haiti of human rights, while it shows a willingness of the state to achieve this."

Abdoul Aziz Thioye, of the Section of Human Rights (FTR) of the Minustah explained that this ratification "[...] constitutes, at the same time, a baseline for the commitments of countries of the United Nations as part of the implementation, with the Haitian Government, of the framework agreement for development."

The next step, should be materialized by the promulgation by President Martelly, of the law relating to this Pact, followed by the deposit of instruments of ratification, with the United Nations Secretariat.