ARTICLE - OPC - WEAK JUDICIAL SYSTEM

THE OPC DEPLORES THE WEAKNESS OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
(Haiti Libre) -

The Office for the Protection of Citizens (OPC) respectfully salutes the memory of the fallen of the Duvalier regime and renews its sympathy to the victims and their families. The Office deeply deplores that the Haitian justice system has not been able to meet its responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the OPC takes note of the order "of nonsuit" given for the allegations of crimes against humanity, and the referral ... of the case of Jean Claude Duvalier to the Court of First Instance of the Jurisdiction of Port-au-Prince. However, while pointing out the deep and serious weaknesses of our penal system, the OPC notes that there are mechanisms to challenge the order of a judge, and at the international level, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights offers itself when the internal appeals are exhausted.

The OPC reiterated its concerns about penal reform and seized the opportunity, once again, to deplore the state of a system that does not allow the conduct of a healthy and impartial justice, and thus participates in the scourge of impunity in Haiti at all levels and in all sectors of public and private life, and in the smallest acts of daily life.

The Office of the Protection of Citizens recommends :

- the immediate establishment and urgent consolidation of the institutions essential to the collection of evidence, identification and preservation. namely: the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Forensic Sciences, the judicial police corps, the Justice of the Peace;

- The implementation by all actors in the criminal chain of international instruments to which Haiti is party;

- The ratification of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, signed by Haiti in 2002;

- The creation of a cell of protection of judicial actors and civilians in all phases of criminal proceedings;

- The signing and the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.