Jean-Bart faced accusations of sexual harassment and abuse against players and abusing his position as FHF President from 2014 to 2020, and was banned for life and fined CHF 1 million (£890,000/$1.1 million/€1.0 million) by the FIFA Ethics Committee in November 2020.

His lifetime ban was annulled by a CAS panel of France's Alain Zahlan de Cayetti, Pierre Müller of Switzerland and Italy's Luigi Fumagalli, who deemed there was insufficient evidence he had violated FIFA rules.

HRW and the Army of Survivors, which aims to eliminate sexual violence against athletes, said that the panel lacked the required diversity and disputed the CAS' verdict, criticising the Lausanne-based Court and FIFA.

They described the CAS as "an inadequate justice mechanism, for women athletes in particular" because its terms of reference require it to make decisions based on the rules of sports federations.

The two groups additionally argued that the ruling in Jean-Bart's favour "exposes systemic failures by FIFA to create structures to allow safe reporting of abuse and to protect witnesses, whistleblowers, survivors, and family members who provide evidence".

They urged FIFA to appeal the ruling, emphasising the importance of ensuring "Jean-Bart does not come back to a position from which he can continue doing great harm" in light of Haiti's "deep political, humanitarian, and security crisis".

HRW and the Army of Survivors said that "survivors and potential witnesses were asked to testify without meaningful protection for their identities", and alleged that no systems were in place to ensure "emotional, physical, and digital protection" in FIFA's reporting system and the CAS appeal process.

Among the groups' criticisms, they claim that Véron Mosengo-Omba, an aide to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, shared details of sexual abuse survivors' complaint with Jean-Bart's team, leading to papers being destroyed by FHF staff.

There were also reports of attempts to intimidate witnesses in 2020 and in April last year following the CAS hearing.

The Army of Survivors executive director Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran expressed her concerns over the case had been handled.

"Since players first started reporting sexual abuse in Haiti’s national football federation, every step of the way has been unsafe for survivors," Rivers-Cochran said.

"Not only does reinstating Yves Jean-Bart put him back into a position of power, but it also creates a terrifying situation for the current survivors and all Haitian soccer athletes.

"FIFA and CAS have a duty of care for athlete survivors and whistleblowers, and they must make it safe to report abuse, and use a trauma-informed approach in Haiti and the many other national federations where sexual abuse is taking place."

HRW director of global initiatives Minky Worden added: "With the Women’s World Cup taking place this year, a harsh spotlight is shining on FIFA’s poor governance and inability to remove sexual abusers from sport."

insidethegames has asked FIFA for a comment on the HRW and Army of Survivors statement.

The CAS has released its reasoned decision for lifting Jean-Bart's ban, insisting it could not prove his guilt nor his innocence.

It revealed that 66 witnesses had "established the nonexistence of sexual abuse allegedly committed on young players", and claimed that the only witness presented by FIFA "had never witnessed the sexual abuse allegedly committed".

The CAS said other witnesses were "not direct witnesses and had only heard about sexual abuse of players, thus contradicting their initial written testimonies", and ruled none of the testimonies "were sufficiently precise and convincing to establish Yves Jean-Bart's guilt".

It insisted "the protection of witnesses was at all times guaranteed by the CAS", and that all witnesses were able to "testify from a secure and secret location, without video, by encrypted telephone, with a voice modified by distortion, and in the presence of a trusted person from CAS" if they wished to do so.

Furthermore, the CAS said a HRW article "based on oral testimonies of unidentified persons or on rumours" could not "constitute satisfactory evidence".

Football players' union FIFPro admitted it was "deeply disappointed" by the CAS' ruling, and "raises further questions about football’s ability to offer effective remedy for serious human rights violations".

Jean-Bart is reportedly under investigation in the United States for alleged human trafficking offences and the public prosecutor in Haiti has not finished its probe.

Earlier this week, Haiti qualified for the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand later this year for the first time.

To read the reasoned CAS award on the decision click here.