organization unable to stem corruption, according to U.S. and other donor 

officials. Overall, this sector provides justice services to only a small 

segment of the population because, among other things, the sector still 

relies heavily on the use of French in judicial proceedings rather than 

Creole the language of the majority of the population.

The Haitian government's lack of a clear commitment to addressing the 

major problems of its police and judicial institutions has been the key 

factor affecting the success of the U.S. assistance provided to these 

institutions. U.S. assistance to the police has been impeded because the 

Haitian government has not acted, for example, to (1) strengthen the police 

organization by filling currently vacant key leadership positions, such as 

the Inspector General and the heads of many field units; (2) provide the 

human and physical resources needed to develop an effective police force; 

(3) support vigorously police investigations of serious crimes; and (4) keep 

the police force out of politics. U.S. assistance to the judicial sector has 

been undercut because the Haitian government has not, for instance, 

(1) followed through the broad reform of the judicial sector needed to 

address its major problems, (2) assumed ownership of many of the 

improvements made possible by U.S. assistance, and (3) provided the 

physical and human resources needed to operate the sector effectively.

In this report, we recommend that, if the United States decides to provide 

any further assistance to the Haitian police and judicial sector, the 

Secretary of State provide this assistance with specific, performance 

related conditions to ensure that Haiti takes the necessary steps to 

strengthen these justice institutions. We obtained written comments from 

the Department of State, which agreed with our report and 

recommendation. We also obtained written comments from the U.S. 

Agency for International Development and oral comments from the 

Department of Justice. These agencies also agreed with the information 

presented in the report.

Background

Prior to the U.S. led military intervention in Haiti in September 1994, the 

Haitian military controlled the police and the judicial sector. According to 

U.S. officials, these justice institutions were ineffective and corrupt, and 

the population had little access to justice. Military and political cronyism 

dominated these justice institutions, with the military providing police 

services throughout the country, staffing police positions, and influencing 

appointments of magistrates and the decisions they made. 

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