Haiti: Summary of observations made by Cécile Marotte, Associate Researcher at the Knowledge and Freedom Foundation (Fondation connaissance et liberté, FOKAL), 5 November 2008

The following summarizes observations made by Cécile Marotte, Associate Researcher at the Knowledge and Freedom Foundation (Fondation connaissance et liberté, FOKAL), a Haitian non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes development and education in Haiti (Friends of FOKAL n.d.), in a presentation entitled Violence et insécurité en Haïti (Violence and Insecurity in Haiti), which was given in Montréal at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) on 5 November 2008. In 1991, Cécile Marotte worked for the United States Agency for International Developement (USAID) at a private clinic with victims of the coup in Haiti. She also collaborated with the United Nations (UN) medical unit on writing the final recommendations of the National Commission for Truth and Justice (Commission nationale de vérité et de justice, CNVJ) and USAID concerning projects to assist victims of violence in Haiti.

In the first part of her presentation, which was based on questions sent to her by the IRB before the meeting, Cécile Marotte gave an overview of the situation in Haiti in terms of security and violence. She then answered questions from the audience. This document presents her comments and her answers.

Presentation

Describe the security and political situation in Haiti over the past 12 months.

Insecurity still persists in the country, even though some areas that are known to be very dangerous have been made safe. For example, Cité Soleil, a shantytown, has sheltered serious criminals for years, but has now been [translation] "pacified." However, the Haitian government has not yet issued clear orders or specific directives on security matters. Consequently, the country is caught in a cycle of violence that is extremely confusing and harmful. In Haiti, political violence has transformed into violence from organized crime. Haiti has a desperate need for legal services; its judiciary is deficient and slow, judges are corrupt, and the economy is unstable and weak.

Corruption in Haiti affects all levels of government. Its police protection and legal services are ineffective. Haiti has government agencies, laws and a legal structure, but because of the corruption, problems take too long to resolve and government bodies are either poorly run or are non-existent.

However, the Haitian National Police (Police nationale d'Haïti, PNH) is becoming increasingly effective. It offers more services and is perceived more positively by the population. The PNH has additional staff, is better trained, and has improved equipment (uniforms, weapons, mopeds, vehicles, etc.). Currently, 9,206 police officers work for the PNH, 700 of whom have been assigned to the prison system. It has neighbourhood teams and anti-kidnapping units that work with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti, MINUSTAH). MINUSTAH has 7,060 soldiers, 1,897 police officers and 497 UN officers.

Haitian police officers have received international guidance and improved training offered by the Police Academy (Académie de Police), and their salaries are paid regularly. However, the corruption continues and will not go away overnight. There are still dirty policy officers, although they face increasing penalties. Some police officers have committed rape, which is considered to be a form of torture. Officers have also been known to work with gangs. Furthermore, there are too few prisons, which are overcrowded and where multiple abuses are still being observed.

There is also a great deal of political instability in Haiti. Government authorities lack credibility, they rarely make official statements about the major problems, and the administration is slow and complex. Services are lacking and are difficult for the population to access. In addition, there is no consensus in the media, and the government does not take positions on key issues such as insecurity, the violence in the country and the economy, even as 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

The government authorities operate slowly. Consequently, legal processes, such as filing a complaint or searching for an aggressor, are frequently delayed. The filing of a complaint does not mean that the judiciary, which still has a problem with corruption, will forward it to the courts.

Moreover, Haitians still have difficulty obtaining identity documents, including birth registration documents (certificats de naissance), birth certificates (actes de naissance), voter's cards (which replaced identity cards) and passports. However, in order to have a right to recourse, proof of identity is required. A person's identity is extremely important in terms of security. Identifying someone in Haiti is difficult because many people have no identity documents and some use several names. Haiti does not yet have an identification system in routine use that could be used to verify whether a person is trying to impersonate someone else.

The public education system is extremely poor. Students have to pay to attend school, so a family with no money cannot send their children to school. As a result, approximately 70 percent of school-aged children do not go to school. The level of professional training is also poor and does not provide access to a national labour market. In addition, the public health system is ineffective and restrictive in terms of access to emergency care and medication, especially in the regions.

In the current context, who is most likely to be subjected to persecution, a risk to their life or a danger of torture in Haiti?

The Haitian population lives in a constant state of collective vulnerability that affects them daily. The insecurity is marked by rampant violence that takes various forms, which reduces citizens' collective living space. Families and individuals have withdrawn out of fear or because of threats made against them.

Violence in Haiti produces victims, and the environment of impunity creates near-permanent insecurity. Security measures are not available to everyone, and access to immediate and appropriate care is lacking. More victims means less stable and more vulnerable communities, as well as fewer improvements in standard of living. As the number of victims increases, the number of citizens decreases. Those who can emigrate do so willingly.

Currently, the main form of violence in Haiti is kidnapping for ransom, which is sometimes followed by beatings and sexual assault. From 2005 to 2006, many women who were kidnapped were raped. However, ransom is the main objective today. Overt aggression followed by death or disappearances have also been observed. Finally, weapons trafficking, which contributes to organized crime, is another major issue in Haiti.

In the current context, who is targeted by the gangs that commit the acts of violence, kidnappings or other types of extortion?

Statistically speaking, it is difficult to obtain figures for Haiti, but in general, an equal proportion of men and women are victims of attacks. More Haitians than foreigners are threatened. Aggressors target those people who can pay a ransom, although the initial amount is usually reduced following negotiations. People leaving parties, receptions and restaurants late at night are also targeted. However, some kidnappings are still carried out on the streets in broad daylight. The kidnappers use their weapons to threaten witnesses to dissuade them from interfering (for example, at the end of 2006, children were targeted as they left their school, and sometimes even when they arrived).

Kidnappers generally become very familiar with their victims by following them and monitoring their comings and goings (with the help of street children, neighbours, guards, drivers, etc.).

The number of kidnappings in Haiti from 2005 to 2008:

• 2005: 760 (for political reasons; for example, Jacques Roche, a journalist opposed to former president J.-B. Aristide)
• 2006: 554, including 150 in Port-au-Prince
• 2007: 246 (usually for ransom)
• 2008: Kidnappings have decreased, but still continue.

However, the exact number of kidnappings is not known because the victims' families do not want to draw attention to themselves and avoid speaking publicly out of fear of retribution.

Have the gangs that are currently carrying out kidnappings and other types of extortion been identified? In other words, are there gangs that have not been identified but that are active? Are these gangs concentrated in a few cities or are they spread throughout the country?

The gang members come from poor, tough neighbourhoods, have access to weapons stockpiles or deliveries, and use street children as informers. The gangs primarily operate in the capital, and they hide out in the shantytowns around Port-au-Prince and the suburb of Pétionville. These shantytowns are home to anarchic structures that receive no support from city councils. These structures were able to be built because the armed gangs threatened and controlled the population. Victims of kidnappings are brought to the labyrinthine shantytowns, where they stay until they are released, if they are released, on main streets in the middle of the night. Some hideouts are hard to access.

A few gangs are still operating and growing. Several gangs, such as the ones in Cité Soleil, have been identified, monitored and dismantled, but there are still many contradictions. On the one hand, the PNH has better means than in 2004, but it still lacks a sufficient number of police officers. On the other hand, the UN anti-gang unit has to follow very strict security and operating rules. Furthermore, the Haitian government has issued contradictory mandates for intervention. For example, during the first mission, which was led by Juan Gabriel Valdés from 2004 to 2006, MINUSTAH staff and anti-gang experts were not allowed to arrest gang leaders. During the second mission, led by Edmond Mulet from May 2006 to September 2007, MINUSTAH was allowed to confront and arrest the leaders of gangs and armed groups. The results could be seen immediately. MINUSTAH helped stabilize some of the problems, but the security measures that the mission members must follow often restrict their actions. They cannot even travel without a security entourage.

In the current context, are the Haitian authorities capable of protecting citizens who are subjected to persecution or a risk to their lives? What efforts are being made in this direction?

Despite the concrete efforts of the PNH, Haitian citizens do not yet receive protection in Haiti, for several reasons:

• It can be difficult to identify someone. A person may use several first or last names and may not be legally identifiable. Partly because of corruption in the vital statistics system, only 40 percent of the population have birth registration documents or birth certificates.

– Some aggressors, even if they are known, hide out in neighbourhoods that are difficult to access, with no passable roads. They hide in small interconnected houses with numerous entrances. The neighbours are complicit with the aggressors or have been threatened by them. These are the large urban gangs in the shantytowns (such as Martissant, Bel-Air and Cité Militaire).

• Recourse to the PNH and the justice system is still rare. Haitians do not yet believe that they are effective and have become accustomed to enduring and managing on their own.
• Sanctions are applied with flagrant contradictions. For example, the prisons are overcrowded, unsanitary and dangerous. Theoretically, they cannot handle any more inmates. Therefore, people who are arrested are quickly released, regardless of the crimes they have committed. Preventive detention (prior to sentencing) takes place in the police stations, and even though people can be legally detained for only 48 hours, this is rarely followed.
• Haiti has an unstable social climate. The population is never completely certain what the next day will bring.

What is the current situation for women in Haiti, in terms of domestic violence and violence in general outside of their close romantic relationships?

Paradoxically, Haitian culture favours women: economically speaking, for 80 percent of the population, women are the potomitan, the pillar of the family unit. However, the basic services for citizens are not available to them. Women often give birth at home under risky conditions, they have access to few preventive medical services, and medical care is available only in the event of a reported disease. In addition, women who are sexually assaulted receive little or no support in the police stations and have little or no access to legal mechanisms.

However, there have been some improvements. In 2005, a decree law was adopted that considers rape to be a crime against the person punishable by forced labour and imprisonment for 10 years to life, depending on the circumstances. In addition, the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women's Rights (Ministère à la Condition féminine et aux Droits des femmes) has made considerable efforts since 2006 to strengthen women's rights organizations, including the following:

• centres of the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (Groupe haïtien d'étude du sarcome de Kaposi et des infections opportunistes, GHESKIO), which offer emergency kits (against pregnancy and HIV infection) to victims of sexual assault. They also offer psychological support and medical care.
• Haitian Women in Solidarity (Solidarité des femmes haïtiennes, SOFA), a clinic for women who have been sexually assaulted.
• the KAY FANM Women's Shelter (Maison des femmes KAY FANM), which is the only organization that shelters young girls and women who have been raped.
• the Medico-Legal Research and Action Unit (Unité de recherche et d'action en médecine légale, URAMEL), a Haitian NGO that worked to implement the medico-legal certificate issued free of charge by public health hospitals. The certificate is required to file a complaint with a judicial authority.
• the National Human Rights Defense Network (Réseau national de défense des droits humains, RNDDH), a Haitian non-governmental and not-for-profit organization.
• the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), which set up the women's round table.

Question-and-answer period

Question 1: Does unofficial, de facto polygamy still exist in Haiti? How could a single-parent family led by a mother, for example, come up with the exorbitant ransoms demanded when her children are kidnapped?

In Haiti's cultural system, marriage is rare and is entered into primarily for reasons of official status and money. If you live with someone, which is known as "plaçage," and you are not married, you cannot get divorced. Therefore, you can have another companion, but this is not polygamy as such.

Most homes are single-parent homes and are headed by women. It is primarily in the lower-income neighbourhoods that women are the heads of the household, and the gangs will not obtain large ransoms from these neighbourhoods. Instead, they target middle- and upper-class areas.

Question 2: In the current context, is an internal flight alternative possible in Haiti?

When someone has been threatened in the capital, internal flight within the country is quite difficult. It is often not easy to travel to the regions because of the state of the roads. Furthermore, families in the regions are generally supported by family members in the city or by the diaspora, so they can only rarely help or house unexpected visitors. Finally, it is difficult to hide in Haiti: the idle population has a great deal of time to observe what is going on in the neighbourhood.

Question 3: Is it possible to settle in another neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince or in another city? For example, if a person's neighbourhood is under the control of a particular gang and that person is a victim of that gang, can the person move?

Yes, it is possible to move to another neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince or another city. I do not know how hard this is, but it happens often. For example, people from Cité Soleil have moved to Santo (Croix-des-Bouquets, a neighbourhood north of Port-au-Prince) after being persecuted in Cité Soleil. In addition, the Haitian NGO the Collective of Eminent Persons of Cité Soleil (Collectif des notables de Cité Soleil, CONOCS) was unable to remain in Cité Soleil and settled elsewhere. It is not easy, but it can be done.

Question 4: Are Haitians free to voice their political opinions without fear of violence? Do people who were labelled as being either for or against the Lavalas party in the 2000s still face repercussions?

I would answer yes to the second part of the question. The period from 2000 to 2004 was bloody, and if someone openly supported the Lavalas party at that time, then people would find it hard to understand how in 2007 that person would be openly against the party. Generally speaking, that person would not have changed their mind, but perhaps the situation has calmed down and that person has modified their way of expressing him or herself. Today, freedom of expression is tolerated much more, but people are still cautious. Currently, violence is less directly related to Aristide's departure, whereas in 2004-2005, violence was directly related to it. Remember that those gangs existed only because they were paid, and they had weapons because someone gave them to them. When the payments and supply of weapons dwindled, so did their enthusiasm for the cause. Today, those gangs have been replaced by organized crime groups.

Haiti's population is poor and has absolutely nothing to do. Suggest something to people and they will join in. However, political enthusiasm diminishes when the funding decreases. Also remember that people can easily cross the border without any problems and without going through the customs post.

Question 5: Do the groups close to former president Aristide, the groups commonly called the chimères, still exist in 2008?

They still exist, but there are fewer of them. Aristide still has his supporters, certainly. It is said that his supporters continue to allow weapons trafficking, but at this time not all violent acts in Haiti can be attributed to them. International organized crime is also present. It is less political, much less political, in 2008 than it was in 2004.

Question 6: When someone is targeted by a criminal gang or by former chimères, is the reflex not to seek help from the police? Could, or would, the police make an effort to help these people despite their lack of means or their limited means?

People in Haiti no longer talk about chimères or former chimères. They talk about gangs. The international community wanted to rehabilitate and reintegrate gang members into the so-called normal population, perhaps forgetting that the normal population itself finds it very difficult to access mechanisms for survival and for obtaining jobs, minimal salaries and small homes. Therefore, working with the gangs rather than the civilian population created a misunderstanding of international assistance in Haiti, and it is unknown whether the gang members want to be reintegrated or rehabilitated and thus have a standard of living that is close to the survival line.

Question 7: Are the gangs organized like organized crime groups in western countries?

Not to that extent, no. When I speak of organized crime, I mainly mean assaults that have been committed for money rather than for political reasons.

Political crimes have become crimes of ordinary law. There are still groups that have been called former chimères or supporters who, in the name of their association with Lavalas, continue to persecute other people. This phenomonen is diminishing, but it has not disappeared completely.

Question 8: Do the gangs also use violence against the most underprivileged when they start to resist the armed gangs?

A poor neighbourhood may be under threat from armed groups. Indeed, a kidnapped person who is left in a shantytown is watched by a family who takes care of the person and who cannot really go to the police. The gangs also need protection. These families act under threat from these groups.

Question 9: Do the gangs operate in a particular neighbourhood?

Yes, they all have their own territory, and their members take many security measures. They continue to operate this way because it would be easy to find out where they went if they left their territory.

Question 10: Is it reasonable to deduce from your presentation that an unsuccessful refugee protection claimant who returns to Haiti after three or four years, having exhausted all recourse, would be or will be targeted when they return to Haiti?

People who have spent time abroad may be targeted, but they are not targeted systematically. If people have left Haiti because they were persecuted specifically, someone will be waiting for them when they return.

Question 11: Could you elaborate on the difficulty of obtaining vital statistics documents, such as birth certificates?

Not all 8.5 million Haitians are without documents. Children who are born at the General Hospital (Hôpital général) will have a birth registration document (certificat de naissance), but this is still not a birth certificate (acte de naissance). The birth registration document states only the place of birth, not the names of the child's parents. The problem is that a person has to pay to obtain vital statistics certificates, and many families cannot pay for a birth certificate.

Some people never have any documents, but others make an effort. The birth certificate is nevertheless an extremely important document that it is not necessarily always fake. However, fewer people have one than you would think because many cannot afford to pay for a document that should be free.

Question 12: Is it possible, by corruption, to obtain a birth certificate, for example, from the National Archives (Archives nationales)?

Normally the issuance of a birth registration document (certificat de naissance) by the hospital, if the child was born in a hospital, leads to the filing of a birth certificate (acte de naissance) in the archives, since it contains the newborn's last and given names and the names of the child's parents. If this procedure has indeed been followed and the birth certificate was forwarded to the archives, the applicant will be able to find his or her birth certificate. If the archives cannot locate a birth certificate, one was not submitted.

Question 13: What about documents from the police or peace offices? For example, does someone who asks a justice of the peace to prepare an official report have to pay for this service?

Normally, justices of the peace are required to prepare the official report, but do not write the report. A clerk usually writes it. The report corresponds to a complaint, but the complainant has to pay to have one prepared, even though this should not be the case. In other words, the justice of the peace is paid when he or she should not be. The complainant can obtain a reliable document, but has to pay for it. Otherwise, the complainant cannot obtain this document.

Question 14: What is the state of communications and the Internet in the country?

Communications are extremely precarious in Haiti. The telephone system is rather poor. Teleco, the state telephone system, barely works at this time. The Internet generally works only with a satellite antenna. Consquently, Internet cafés are subject to frequent breaks in service.

Question 15: Do the gangs communicate with each other? For example, does a gang operating in Cap-Haïtien communicate with a gang operating in Port-au-Prince?

Yes, the gangs communicate with each other. For example, during the massacre de La Scierie [the 2004 massacre of opponents of Aristide] in the city of Saint-Marc, which is halfway between Gonaïves and Port-au-Prince, the gangs that operated in Saint-Marc took refuge in Port-au-Prince and Gonaïves and among themselves they knew very well where they were. That is, they did not stay in Saint-Marc. They moved from one spot to another, they hid, and they were never found. Messages are frequently sent through the grapevine, which is very efficient.

Question 16: Does the national police communicate country-wide or does it conduct itself as a local police force, having no contact with its various offices across the country?

I do not know whether the various offices communicate with each other. However, there is indeed communication within the anti-gang unit. It also depends on the police station, however, because some stations are still completely unequipped: they have no doors, pencils, paper, lights or telephone. It is difficult to file a complaint, and if the most basic tools are lacking, a complaint will not be filed at all.

Question 17: Is there a people's justice system that handles arrests, trials or sentencing in the absence of a functional official justice system?

No, the situation in Haiti is not the same as in Rwanda with the "gacaca" courts. In Haiti, you see personal methods of resolution, such as immediate vengence, the settling of accounts and agreements between the parties present. There is no people's justice as such.

Question 18: What can an honest police officer do when he or she is threatened by corrupt colleagues?

The number of corrupt police officers is decreasing, but corruption cannot disappear overnight. Some appalled officers have reported the involvement of superintendents in gangs and kidnappings, and the offenders have been arrested. However, this is new.

Question 19: What is the state of the roads between the airport and the capital, downtown Port-au-Prince? Have gangs set up road barriers to steal from newcomers?

That has happened, but happens less often now. From 2005 to 2007, the road from the airport was indeed very dangerous.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Cécile Marotte, Associate Researcher at the Fondation connaissance et liberté (FOKAL). 5 November 2008. Violence et insécurité en Haïti. Presentation at the Montréal office of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, followed by a question and answer period.

Friends of FOKAL. N.d. "What is FOKAL." [Accessed 15 Jan. 2009]