Haitian Government Also 

U.S. assistance to the judicial sector has been undercut because the Haitian 

Lacks Strong Commitment 

government, after initially supporting the assistance effort, failed to follow 

to Enhancing the Judicial 

through in implementing a broad reform of the judicial sector, adopt and 

Sector

institutionalize many of the improvements made possible by the assistance, 

provide the resources needed to operate the sector adequately, build an 

oversight capability to monitor the sector, and vigorously support the 

prosecution of major crimes. 

The Haitian government did not follow through in implementing a broad 

reform of its legal codes and judicial organizations and processes some of 

the measures that donors consider key to addressing the main problems of 

the sector. The Haitian government has taken some steps that may 

eventually lead to the implementation of a comprehensive reform of the 

judicial sector. These steps included enacting judicial reform related 

legislation in 1998, increasing judicial salaries, and pursuing further reform 

plans, such as expanding the use of Creole in judicial proceedings. 

However, none of these steps has moved significantly toward addressing 

the main shortcomings of the judicial sector. 

Many of the improvements made possible by U.S. assistance have not been 

institutionalized because the Haitian government did not assume 

ownership of most of them. Although the Haitian government assumed 

responsibility for most of the funding for the magistrate school that was 

created with U.S. and other donors' support, the government did not adopt 

and fund most of the improvements made possible by U.S. assistance in the 

justice of the peace courts, prosecutors' offices, and 10 judicial 

jurisdictions. For example, during our visit to Jacmel we found that 

administrative improvements, such as case registration systems, made to 

the justice of the peace courts during the first several years of U.S. 

assistance had disappeared after U.S. assistance to these courts stopped in 

August 1999. In the absence of further U.S. assistance, U.S. and Haitian 

officials were concerned that the rest of the improvements made to the 

judicial sector particularly in the prosecutors' offices and in 10 of the 15 

judicial jurisdictions would disappear in the short term. U.S. officials and 

Haitian contractors noted that the enhancements to 1 of the 10 jurisdictions 

had practically faded away during the previous year because the U.S. 

assistance had not been implemented in that jurisdiction during that 

period. 

Also, the Haitian government has not provided the physical and human 

resources needed to operate judicial institutions. During our visits to 

judicial institutions in Port au Prince, Saint Marc, and Jacmel, we saw that 

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