Haiti: A question of justice

On 7 February 1996 René Préval will succeed Jean-Bertrand Aristide as President of Haiti. He is expected to continue the institutional reforms initiated by the government of President Aristide since he was restored to power in October 1994. This document outlines the initiatives taken by the latter to strengthen human rights protection and documents ongoing problems which need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. As soon as President Aristide returned to Haiti in October 1994 following the arrival in the country of a United States-led Multinational Force (MNF), there was a dramatic reduction in the kind of gross human rights violations that characterized the de facto military government of General Raoul Cédras. The new government took immediate steps to dismantle the armed forces, ban the existence of paramilitary organizations and establish an interim police force, made up largely of former soldiers, who were to be responsible for law and order, in conjunction with international police monitors, while a new police force was built up. Reforms of the penitentiary system and, to a lesser extent, the justice system were also initiated. The National Commission for Truth and Justice was set up to 'establish the truth concerning the most serious human rights violations committed between 29 September 1991 and 15 October 1994 [the period of military rule]". Despite these positive initiatives, many problems and contradictions remain. Several members of both the new police force and the interim police are currently under investigation by the new police inspectorate after making apparently inappropriate use of firearms on a number of occasions, in some instances resulting in the death of the victim. Though prison conditions have shown a marked improvement over those that existed in the past, there have been recent reports of beatings by prison guards. While acknowledging the many difficulties faced by the Haitian authorities in reforming what was a corrupt and stagnant justice system, Amnesty International is concerned about the slowness of the present system to deliver justice for human rights violations committed both before and since President Aristide's return. The past year or so has witnessed a series of killings, the motives for which have been hard to determine. Victims have included people from across the political spectrum.Investigations are reported to be under way into most such killings. While Amnesty International has not received any substantive evidence implicating the government in such killings, the fact that in very few cases so far have those responsible been arrested and brought to justice suggests that impunity, despite repeated statements of intent on the part of the authorities, is not yet a thing of the past. Apparent frustration at the failure of the system to deliver justice has also on occasion provoked angry crowds into taking the law into their own hands and carrying out what appear to be revenge killings. Little action is known to have been taken by the authorities to bring those responsible to justice or to deter such killings. Despite statements of intent by President Aristide, only limited progress has been made in bringing the perpetrators of past human rights abuses to justice. At the time of his return to Haiti, little attempt was made by the Haitian authorities or the MNF to ensure that appropriate legal action was taken against members of the armed forces and paramilitary groups who were responsible for human rights violations under military rule or to carry out a systematic and effective disarmament program. Investigations are now under way into some significant cases of past human rights abuse but few trials have so far taken place. In two particularly prominent cases which did come to trial, all but one of the 20 accused were tried and convicted in their absence. Amnesty International is calling on President Préval to take urgent measures to speed up judicial reform so that justice can be seen to be done in all cases, both relating to the present and the past, in accordance with Haitian and international law; to ensure that all members of the security forces are familiar with, and adequately trained in order to abide by international human rights standards, such as the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, as well as Haitian law regarding detention and search procedures; to immediately suspend, pending investigation by an appropriate independent body, any member of the security forces, judiciary or prison administration suspected of breaching human rights; and to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It calls on the international community to continue supporting the efforts of the Haitian Government to build institutions that will guarantee respect for human rights, to give particular priority to projects aimed at strengthening the justice system, and to assist efforts to bring to justice those responsible for past human rights violations. The organization believes that, given the still fragile nature of Haitian institutions and the continuing potential for violence of various kinds, the United Nations and the Organization of American States, which have maintained a joint human rights monitoring mission in Haiti for most of the time since 1993, should continue to seek to maintain an effective human rights monitoring function with regard to Haiti for as long as possible. At the time of writing, the mission is due to withdraw in February 1996.