The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights opened a special session on Haiti Wednesday with a plea for better vigilance against abuses in the Caribbean nation in the wake of this month's devastating earthquake, DPA reported.
Navi Pillay, speaking in Geneva, said poverty and discrimination increased the vulnerability of people to natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Pillay was opening a special session of the UN Human Rights Council.
She stressed that the poor, the disabled, the elderly, women and children suffered disproportionately, and needed special protection.
Everything must be done to reunite children with their families in the wake of the disaster, which cost at least 150,000 lives, she said, otherwise they could be exposed to child-trafficking and exploitation.
A return to constitutional government was a key priority in Haiti, she added.
A minute's silence was held for the victims of the disaster by the delegates from 47 countries.