Haiti Rule of Law Assessment

In 2015 Democracy International conducted an assessment of USAID’s Rule of Law programming in Haiti. The assessment team interviewed a wide range of stakeholders with the following findings: 1) Haiti’s elite, dominant from Independence onward, still rules and unduly influences all other governmental sectors, particularly the Judiciary. 2) Political instability, lack of inclusion and failure to create national discourse retards economic, political and jurisprudential reform. 3) Haitian government priorities are not focused on rule of law. The government fails to support the commitments it makes for justice reform. 4) Donor assistance has enabled low revenue collection, resulting in insufficient GOH financial commitment to the justice sector and sustaining the elite’s privileged status. 5) The security and justice sector has been underfunded for the last 20 years. Justice institutions have received a small percentage of the funding of this sector. Thus, donor- funded justice projects have faced major obstacles in achieving sustainable results.