Haiti’s troubled political history has impeded the country’s progress in justice sector development. Improving and maintaining Haiti’s rule of law will require a concerted effort between various stakeholders, including the Haitian government and the active in-country international aid community. Over time, there has been a spike in sexual and gender-based violence as well as in trafficking in persons, drugs and weapons. The rise in pre-trial detentions could also lead to increased human rights violations. Underlying these issues is a lack of a cohesive vision of criminal procedures among justice sector operators, which creates an obstacle to effective prosecution and adjudication of criminal cases.
From 2012-2017, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI) Strengthen the Haitian Justice Sector program worked to strengthen the technical capacity of the Haitian justice sector to effectively investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate criminal cases in accordance with current and anticipated criminal legislation.
From 2013-2017, ABA ROLI assisted the government of Haiti to establish a capable and accountable criminal justice sector to disrupt organized crime and other increasing threats to public security.