The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk announced the appointment of William O’Neill as an expert on human rights in Haiti, following a request from the UN Human Rights Council. Turk has called the Dominican government “irresponsible” for deporting undocumented Haitians given the gang violence situation in Haiti.
O’Neill is an American lawyer specializing in humanitarian, human rights and refugee law, with a special focus on establishing and maintaining the rule of law in post-conflict situations. He has been the senior adviser on human rights to the UN Mission in Kosovo, chief of the UN Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda, and led the Legal Department of the UN/OAS Mission in Haiti.
The UN press release on the appointment says that O’Neill helped establish the Haitian National Police in 1995, advising on recruitment, testing and training the then new police force, participated in creating the School for Judges, and worked closely with Haitian human rights organizations to help train their human rights monitors. He has also worked on judicial, police, and prison reform in Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, East Timor, Nepal and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Under resolution A/HRC/52/L.17/Rev.1, the expert will be tasked with monitoring, with the assistance of the Office of the High Commissioner and in collaboration with the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), the development of the human rights situation in Haiti.
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OHCHR
DR1 News
El Dia
17 April 2023