United States General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

Letter

October 17, 2000

The Honorable Jesse A. Helms

Chairman

Committee on Foreign Relations

United States Senate

The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman

Chairman

Committee on International Relations

House of Representatives

In September 1994, the United States and other countries intervened 

militarily in Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to 

restore the democratically elected government that had been overthrown 

by the Haitian military in September 1991. Soon after the intervention, the 

United States and other donors sought to help Haiti improve its justice 

system as a way of strengthening democracy, promoting development, and 

ensuring respect for human rights. At that time, this system's institutions 

were in disarray. Arbitrary arrests, lengthy pretrial detentions, widespread 

corruption, and lack of transparency (openness) in administering justice 

were endemic in Haiti. Consistent with its justice assistance objectives in 

other countries in the hemisphere,

1

 the United States provided assistance 

to Haiti aimed at developing a professional civilian police force, enhancing 

the effectiveness of existing judicial organizations, and improving the 

access of the population to justice. This assistance also aimed at 

supporting a broad reform of the judicial sector that the Haitian 

government might pursue over time.

Since fiscal year 1995, the United States has provided about $97 million in 

assistance to improve the Haitian justice system, mainly through programs 

administered by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Agency for 

International Development.

2

 At the end of July 2000, the United States 

suspended all of its assistance to the Haitian judicial sector because the 

1

 See Foreign Assistance: Rule of Law Funding Worldwide for Fiscal Years 1993 98 

(GAO/NSIAD 99 158, June 30, 1999); Foreign Assistance: U.S. Rule of Law Assistance to Five 

Latin American Countries (GAO/NSIAD 99 195, Aug. 4, 1999); and Foreign Assistance: 

Status of Rule of Law Program Coordination (GAO/NSIAD 00 8R, Oct. 13, 1999).

2

 This amount does not include the $1.1 billion spent by the U.S. military, mostly during fiscal 

years 1994 and 1995.

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