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Human
Rights Monitoring Program: A Narrative Summary
I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND
OBJECTIVES
Introduction
The roots of democracy are desperately
trying to take hold in Haiti but cannot because
of a flawed foundation. Here, the fundamental
principles and concepts of Justice are not
applied to those with power and influence, money
and eminence. In Haiti, different socio-economic
status means different status before the law.
With more than half of its population illiterate,
primarily but not exclusively the rural poor,
Haiti finds its citizens continual victims of
blatant and systematic violations of their
fundamental human rights.
Haiti’s primary state institutions are weak,
lacking credibility, objectivity, accountability
and overall professionalism. The result is the
suffocating noose of impunity and corruption,
accompanied by a deliberate disrespect for basic
human rights.
Capacity Building
RNDDH’s investment in building the
capacity of Haitian civil society in respect to
democracy and human rights has taken two
principal forms: (i) the provision of human
rights education and professional development;
and (ii) the ongoing support of efforts at a
local and regional level to monitor the exercise
and enjoyment of fundamental rights.
Human Rights Monitoring
In addition to building the capacity of civil
society and supporting ongoing human rights
activities at a local level, RNDDH has developed
significant credibility as a monitor and advocate
on matters of national and international
significance for human rights and democracy in
Haiti.
By working at the local, regional, national and
international level on the growing commitment to
human rights and democracy in Haiti while
monitoring the nation’s progress to realize
its objectives, RNDDH believes that the prospects
for change will be enhanced in realizing these
objectives.
RNDDH maintains the view that pursuing these
activities will result in evolutionary changes in
Haiti’s popular and institutional culture.
At the heart of these efforts is a belief in the
importance of a strong and vital civil sector in
Haiti that can participate in the political
process and evaluate its outcomes in human rights
and democratic terms. We believe that in turn a
strong and vital civil sector will assist in
creating its twin pillar of a fair and responsive
government.
RNDDH has subsequently developed a series of
objectives and activities devoted to democratic
capacity building and monitoring that mutually
support the realization of the Institutionalizing
Human Rights in Haiti Project’s aims. The
aims and matching objectives are detailed below.
Aim :
1. increase institutional and political support
by reinforcing key state institutions for the
purpose of assisting Haiti to
make the transition to democracy and the
establishment of the rule of law in Haiti.
Objectives :
1.1 Develop and sustain an independent,
authoritative and credible network of competent
individuals to monitor Haiti’s
(a) judicial and law enforcement systems,
including court procedure, the treatment of
prisoners and the operation and conduct of the
Haitian National Police; and
(b) democratic institutions and mechanisms,
including the conduct of elections at all levels,
parliamentary oversight of the executive and the
operation and conduct of political parties,
for the purpose of developing independent and
objective state institutions, void of political
manipulation and/or corruption;
1.2 Generate informed community interest in the
functioning of Haiti’s legal and democratic
systems and thereby
contribute to political will supportive of their
reform and effective functioning; and
1.3 Increased national and international pressure
on the Haitian government to institute judicial
reform, eradicate impunity
and corruption, and to establish a State of Law
in Haiti.
II. PROJECT ACTIVITIES
Human Rights Monitoring Program
RNDDH has developed significant credibility as a
monitor and advocate on matters of national and
international consequence for human rights and
democracy in Haiti. RNDDH believes that working
at the local, regional, and international level
on the commitment to human rights while
monitoring the nation’s progress in regards
to human rights, will enhance the prospects for
change.
The central thrust of the Human Rights Monitoring
Network Program is advocacy for the protection of
basic human rights in Haiti through a process of
action-based research on alleged human rights
violations. The program has two principal tasks,
which include:
• Observation, documentation, and analysis
of the applied procedures and conditions that
prevail in the prisons, police stations, public
prosecutor’s office, and courts, working
side-by-side with the authorities to ensure that
the justice that is rendered is the justice that
is due, and
• Informing and educating the general
public, members of parliament, and members of the
government, by means of written reports and/or
other relevant means, about topics of public
interest and the measures that should be taken in
the context of providing better protection for
basic rights in an emerging democracy.
RNDDH focuses on three areas of the state in its
monitoring work, including:
• Observation and analysis of the
functioning of the police and their subsidiary
bodies;
• Observation and analysis of judicial
procedures and the conduct of the judicial
system;
• Observation and analysis of the system of
incarceration, including the national prison
system.
Systematic Monitoring of Key Institutions: The
establishment of a state of law in Haiti will be
determined by the effective and efficient
functioning of its primary state institutions.
RNDDH’s Port au Prince office works with its
regionally based staff and volunteer monitors to
monitor the work and behaviour of these key
institutions in order to produce a comprehensive
picture of the exercise and enjoyment of civil
and political rights in Haiti and to assist Haiti
in its transition to democracy.
RNDDH’s monitoring work is also designed to
improve the accountability and responsiveness of
government institutions. Without the presence of
the presence of the OAS and United Nations
Missions for human rights, RNDDH’s
fundamental role in monitoring the nation’s
key institutions has become increasingly crucial.
RNDDH delegations make annual systematic and
routine visits of the country’s key
institutions, namely the police, the judiciary,
local officials, and correctional institutions
(prisons and gardes-à-vues). This entails
several trips to key areas in Haiti’s ten
geographic departments on a number of occasions
throughout the year. Delegations of 3-5 staff
members meet with mayors, Justices of the Peace,
Police Commissioners and Inspectors, and prison
wardens and prisoners to gather information, to
evaluate and assess performance, to monitor and
identify human rights violations. In addition,
RNDDH makes recommendations and applies pressure
in cases where reform is needed.
Specific Monitoring Activities and
Advocacy Campaigns: RNDDH’s
monitoring program provides an increasingly
critical source of independent and authoritative
assessment of the Haitian States’ compliance
with internationally recognized human rights
norms. In addition to systematic monitoring of
Haiti’s key state institutions, RNDDH
monitoring delegations respond to specific
alleged human rights violations committed at the
hands the Haitian National Police, elected
officials, judicial officials, and prison agents.
An important focus of the monitoring network is
working for and securing just outcomes for
victims. Things includes getting official
apologies, changes in policy and practice,
reparation, or where appropriate and possible,
taking legal action. Investigations are
conducted, which include meetings with victims
and their families, alleged perpetrators,
witnesses, concerned authorities and the like for
the purpose of seeking justice and reparation for
the victims of human rights abuses.
Demonstrations, sit-ins, press conferences, and
press releases also form the foundation of
RNDDH’s monitoring activities.
Victim Support and Assistance:
On a regular basis, RNDDH monitoring staff
received victims of all kinds of human rights
violations of varying degrees of severity.
Victims and/or their families make impromptu or
pre-arranged visits to the RNDDH office in
Port-au-Prince to discuss their particular
situations. RNDDH’s involvement in these
cases may vary. In many cases, RNDDH staff spends
time distinguishing the difference between a
legal offence and a human rights violation.
Whereas a human rights violation is always a
legal offence, a legal offence is not necessarily
always a human rights violation. Additionally,
RNDDH helps victims and their families understand
judicial procedures and the proper legal channels
to be followed, for example, explaining how to
file a complaint at the General Inspection of the
PNH or at the State Prosecutor’s office.
RNDDH’s assistance to victims of human
rights violations and to their families can take
many forms. This might include securing financial
support for the victim and their families (which
often includes covering accommodation expenses
for victims forced into hiding), providing legal
counsel, publicizing and denouncing the
violation, working with local authorities to
affect policy or practical change, or taking
legal action to establish accountability. In
cases where RNDDH is not the best suited
organisation for a specific case (for example in
cases of domestic violence) victims are provided
with reference information for other
organisations specialising in these areas.
Increased Emphasis on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights: The importance of
economic, social, and economic rights is also
making an impact on RNDDH’s monitoring
program. In the coming years, RNDDH will
undertake increased interest in monitoring in a
more systematic manner the state’s
responsibility to promote and protect economic,
social, and cultural (ESC) rights. Human rights
monitoring delegations will investigate and
research the state of Haiti’s healthcare
system, the state of Haitian education, levels of
employment and working conditions, and so on.
III. BENEFICIARIES
Throughout Haiti’s struggle for democracy,
the concepts of accountability and responsibility
have rarely been applied to those in positions of
authority. Within this continued climate of
corruption and impunity, RNDDH works at creating
an environment of accountability, where people
are held accountable and responsible for their
actions, regardless of societal position or rank.
Through its monitoring and advocacy work, RNDDH
has been instrumental in creating the environment
in which political and policy reforms supportive
of human rights can be advanced.
The ultimate beneficiary of RNDDH’s
nationally focused monitoring and advocacy
activities is Haitian society. Victims of human
rights abuses committed at the hands of police
officers, prison guards, and other state
officials find justice when abuses are exposed
and perpetrators punished accordingly. Haitian
families begin to live in safer communities,
where incidents of police brutality are in
decline, and where officers take seriously their
professional responsibility to protect and serve
and where justice is applied with equity and
fairness according to the law.
Law enforcement officials, including judges,
prison administrators and the Haitian National
Police also benefit from the provision of advice
and assistance through RNDDH’s national
monitoring and advocacy activities.
Victims of human rights violations identified and
supported by the network benefit significantly
also. The network assists victims by helping them
to meet their material and financial needs,
and/or by arranging counseling or legal
assistance. Both individual victims and the
communities in which violations have occurred
also benefit from the network’s contribution
to ending the culture of impunity, which exists
in Haiti.
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