Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State

5. Reflections on the Situation in Haiti and the Ongoing UN Mission

This chapter examines, through a military lens, the situation in Haiti between January and July 2005. The perspective advanced is a personal one, informed by my position as the former Chief of Staff (cos) of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (minustah) Military Force during those months. The chapter begins with a brief description of the country during this period, stressing the key challenges, followed by a discussion of minustah’s functions , including Canada’s contribution to the Mission, and concludes with a set of reflections and recommendations. Haiti’s Present Outlook The situation in Haiti is marked by political, social, economic, ecological, and security problems. In order for minustah to succeed it will have to address these interrelated problems simultaneously. The challenges are formidable and the barriers to success are many. One obstacle lies with the Haitian public sector which is unable to deliver services to the population because of historic and endemic corruption and insufficient resources at the national, regional, and municipal levels. Consequently, basic services such as road maintenance , electricity, running water, water purification, health and education are not available to many Haitians. 71 Reflections on the Situation in Haiti and the Ongoing UN Mission COL. JACQUES MORNEAU 5 The opinions expressed in this chapter are those of the author only and do not represent the official policy of Canada’s Department of National Defence. 05_morneau.qxd 2006/04/11 11:00 AM Page 71 The justice and penitentiary systems are also completely dysfunctional and in urgent need of reform, which should be carried out in concert with reform of the country’s police force, the Haitian National Police (hnp). Most of the detainees in Haitian jails have neither been formally accused nor received due process; a large number have been in jail for long periods of time and have yet to be tried. Moreover, many criminals arrested by minustah and turned over to the police/justice systems are released without any proper prosecution because some judges are afraid to press charges, and others are sympathetic to the detainees or are simply bought. The hnp is the only law enforcement agency in Haiti; there is no army, nor are there independent municipal or provincial police forces.Reforming the hnp is a major challenge, one that will take many years. In the meantime, the only existing law enforcement entity in the country has very serious deficiencies and is unable to maintain law and order on its own. One of these deficiencies is a huge shortage of officers. Of the six thousand officers who receive paycheques, only approximately four thousand are available for police duties. The appropriate number of officers for a country with the population the size of Haiti’s would be twelve thousand. Presently the hnp, assisted by UN Police, is graduating one thousand new officers per year; however,it will take another six to eight years to reach the desired number.Even if the hnp eventually reaches its objective of twelve thousand police officers, with a population of approximately 8.5 million inhabitants, Haiti will still in all likelihood be under-policed (New York City, which has a population of eight million, has forty-four thousand police officers). The hnp also lacks vehicles, armaments, communication systems, and many of its installations were destroyed during the anti-Aristide insurgency of 2004 or during previous crises. Due to their small numbers, there are many cities and municipalities without any hnp presence. With an unemployment rate of more than 80 per cent, Haiti is highly susceptible to crime, which is often driven by desperation or simply the need to survive. New York’s current unemployment rate is less than 5 per cent, but, despite of its low unemployment rate, a very large professional, well-paid, and well-equipped police force, New York still has a fairly high crime rate. The point is that no UN Mission, regardless of the size or capability of its forces, would be able to completely eliminate crime in the country. The question is: “What is an acceptable level of crime considering the appalling living conditions that Haitian’s are forced to endure?”The existing hnp is also plagued by corruption, with a number of its members associated with illegal groups. Many were either accomplices or have committed illegal activities themselves such 72 | COL. JACQUES MORNEAU 05_morneau.qxd 2006/04/11 11:00 AM Page 72 as kidnapping, extortion, and drug trafficking, or...