Foreign Assistance

This testimony discusses the preliminary results of GAO's review of U.S. assistance provided to Haiti's justice system. During six fiscal years, the United States provided about $97 million in assistance to help Haiti establish its first civilian-controlled police force and improve aspects of its judicial sector. About $70 million in U. S. assistance helped Haiti recruit, train, organize, and equip a basic police force, including an anti-narcotics unit, a special investigative unit, and the Haitian Coast Guard; $27 million in U.S. assistance trained magistrates and prosecutors and improved management practices of judicial institutions. Despite these achievements, the police force has not effectively carried out its basic law enforcement responsibilities and events suggest that politicization has compromised the force. It lacks independence from the executive branch and has outdated legal codes and cumbersome judicial proceedings. Judicial institutions have personnel shortages, inadequate infrastructure and equipment, and an ineffective internal oversight organization unable to stem corruption. The key factor affecting the lack of success of U.S. assistance has been the Haitian government's lack of commitment to addressing the major problems of its police and judicial institutions. It has failed to strengthen the police organization by filling key leadership positions or provide human and physical resources. It has also failed to support police investigations of serious crime or keep the police force out of politics. Concerning the judicial sector, the Haitian government has not followed through on implementing broad reforms and adopting improvements nor has it provided physical and human resources needed to operate effectively.

GAO noted that: (1) over the last 6 fiscal years, the United States provided about $97 million in assistance to help Haiti establish its first civilian-controlled police force and improve aspects of this judicial sector, which includes various judicial institutions, procedures, and legal codes; (2) about $70 million in U.S. assistance helped Haiti recruit, train, organize, and equip a basic police force, including specialized units, such as an antinarcotics unit, a special investigative unit, and the Haitian Coast Guard; (3) during the same period, the United States provided about $27 million in assistance that led to improvements in training magistrates and prosecutors, management practices of judicial institutions, and in the access of the Haitian people to justice services; (4) however, despite these achievements, the police force has not effectively carried out its basic law enforcement responsibilities, and recent events suggest that politicization has compromised the force, according to U.S. and other donor officials; (5) the judicial sector also has serious weaknesses, according to U.S. and other donor officials; (6) the sector has not undergone a major reform and, as a result, lacks independence from the executive branch and has outdated legal codes and cumbersome judicial proceedings; (7) the judicial institutions have personnel shortages, inadequate infrastructure and equipment, and an ineffective internal oversight organization unable to stem corruption; (8) overall, these institutions provide justice services to only a small segment of the population, because the institutions rely heavily in judicial proceedings on the use of French rather than Creole--the language of the majority of the population; and (9) the key factor affecting the lack of success of U.S. assistance has been the Haitian government's lack of commitment to addressing the major problems of its police and judicial institutions.