United States and Haiti were not able to reach an agreement for continuing 

the assistance. As of September 2000, most U.S. assistance to the Haitian 

police had stopped due to congressional concerns related to events 

surrounding the May 2000 Haitian parliamentary and local elections.

At your request, we examined the U.S. assistance provided to Haiti for 

improving its justice system, including its police and judicial sector, since 

1995. Specifically, we identified (1) the results of this assistance and any 

major problems that continue to affect justice institutions and (2) the 

factors that have affected the success of the assistance. We summarized the 

U.S. assistance provided to the Haitian police and to the judicial sector in 

appendixes I and II. In these appendixes, we also include information on 

the other donors' assistance to these justice institutions. We describe the 

organization of the Haitian justice system in appendix III.

Our work was based on meetings with officials of the U.S. Departments of 

State and Justice, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. 

Coast Guard, and other U.S. agencies. To examine the results of the 

assistance, in June 2000 we went to Haiti, where we met with officials of 

the Haitian government, other donor countries (Canada and France), the 

United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and U.S. Agency for 

International Development contractors. We also performed an extensive 

review of program documents.

Results in Brief

Over the last 6 fiscal years, the United States provided assistance to help 

Haiti establish its first civilian controlled police and improve some aspects 

of the judicial sector and the access of the population to justice services. 

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. 

During the same period, the United States provided about $27 million in 

assistance that led to some improvements in the training of magistrates and 

prosecutors, the management practices of judicial institutions, and the 

access of the population to justice services. 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. 

The judicial sector also has serious weaknesses, including lack of 

independence from the executive branch, outdated legal codes, 

cumbersome judicial proceedings, personnel shortages, inadequate 

infrastructure and equipment, and an ineffective internal oversight 

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