Haiti: Free and fair elections unlikely as security worsens

With less than three months to go before the first stage of voting in Haiti's general election, the security situation is spiralling out of control, writes Annie Street, CIIR Advocacy Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In late June the UN Security Council unveiled plans to extend the mandate of the UN Stabilisation and Peace Keeping Force (MINUSTAH) until February 2006, which will result in the deployment of another 1,000 military personnel and 275 UN civilian police officers. This brings the total number to 8,500 UN troops and 1,987 civilian police force officers.

And yet MINUSTAH has been beset by problems since it took over in July 2004, with critics within Haiti accusing it of failing in its mission and simply not being present in many parts of the country. Most notable is its failure to control the violence that has gripped the country, particularly in the densely populated slum areas of the capital city Port-au-Prince. Daily shootings, extortion and protection rackets by warring factions have made it impossible for ordinary citizens to go about their daily lives with any sense of safety. Added to this is a marked increase in kidnappings, with foreigners now being targeted as well as Haitians. Since March, 450 people have been kidnapped, according to police: on Monday 18 July, for instance, there were seven kidnappings. 

A report released in March 2005 by the Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights together with the Global Justice Center says MINUSTAH had 'a strong mandate in three principal areas: providing a secure and stable environment, particularly through disarmament; supporting the political process and good governance in preparation for upcoming elections; and monitoring and reporting on human rights,' but that it has 'made little, if any, progress on any of these three fronts'.

Support on the ground for ordinary citizens is minimal. In June, the British Consular office in the capital city Port-au-Prince closed its doors, while the US Peace Corps suspended operations and evacuated its volunteers because of increasing violence. In July, the US embassy also announced that all non-essential staff were leaving the country.

On 14 July the well-known journalist, poet and community activist Jacques Roche was killed three days after being abducted by unknown assailants. At the funeral, the auxiliary bishop of Port-au-Prince Pierre André Dumas called for respect for human rights and an end to violence, impunity and the existence of what he described as lawless zones. 'How many more widows, widowers and orphans will it take to stop this violence?' he asked.

There are an estimated 300,000 firearms in Haiti and deep flaws in the functioning of the judiciary mean there is widespread impunity for those committing crimes. A corrupt system allows those with money to buy their way out of prosecution while the poor, or those accused of being supporters of ex-president Aristide's Llavalas party, languish in jail without trial or sentence.

The corruption extends into the Haitian National Police. Many of the 5,000-strong force have links to the previous military or have been involved in drugs rackets, kidnappings, extrajudicial killings or other illegal activities. Most are inadequately trained. The UN international civilian police needs to be increased in order to exercise sufficient executive control over the Haitian police to root out the questionable elements, train those who remain, recruit new members and establish effective internal accountability structures.

Despite all these problems, the interim government, supported by the international community, is still insisting that the elections go ahead, regardless of the security situation. With the first stage of the elections due to take place on 9 October, voter registration must be completed by 9 August. Yet only a fraction of the country's potential voters have registered. So far, less than a quarter of those registered voters are women.

In the last general election there were more than 2,000 registration centres, but this has been slashed to less than 500 for the 2005 elections, ostensibly for security reasons. This raises concerns about the ability of those living in rural areas to participate, as they have to walk much further or pay to reach the registration centres by bus. The location of the registration centres also appears to favour the wealthier urban voter and potential government supporter. There are no registration centres in Cite Soleil, the capital's most populous neighbourhood known for its high support for ex-president Aristide, for instance. Yet there are three centres in the upper class suburb of Petionville.

In a recent visit to Haiti, the newly-elected general secretary of the Organisation of America States recognised that the situation was critical and proposed that voter registration be extended by one month. This would violate the Haitian constitution, however, and would do nothing to rectify one of the major problems facing the elections: the non-participation of ex-president Aristide's Llavalas party which, despite everything, has by far the largest support. Llavalas is refusing to participate until a series of demands are met: freedom for all political prisoners; until attacks against its activists are curbed; and an end to indiscriminate shooting by police of demonstrations and political gatherings.