At least 9 or more Haitians have been killed and police are accused of employing "illegal force" including torture. UN human rights officials in Haiti urged authorities to properly investigate and prosecute local police officers suspected of carrying out extrajudicial executions and acts of torture in Port-au-Prince over last year.


The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the human rights section of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti (MINUSTAH) have issued two reports – one on a series of alleged killings by members of the Haitian National Police (known as HNP) and the other on the torture and murder of Serge Démosthène, who had been accused of a crime.


Initial Report:

Stressing that these cases “represent only a sample of the total cases of reported deaths at the hands of HNP officers in the course of the past year,” OHCHR and MINUSTAH said they are currently "investigating allegations that up to 70 police officers are implicated in more than 20 other killings in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area."


“It is urgent that the Government take action to prevent killings… by representatives of the HNP and ensure rapid and effective investigations where deaths do occur, with a view to punishing those police officers responsible or clearing their responsibility where the circumstances and legal justifications for lethal force exist,” according to the Report.


Another Report addressed a documented case of torture, beating and subsequent death of Mr. Démosthène in Pétionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.


Flawed Investigations:

OHCHR noted that while criminal justice investigations were launched in some cases and accused police were suspended or detained, there were no criminal convictions in any of the incidents. Sometimes the suspended police officers resumed their functions even before the investigations into their actions were completed. “Autopsies and ballistic analyses are not systematically conducted in investigations. Witnesses are often afraid of the consequences of giving testimony and convinced that justice will not be rendered,” according to the Report.


Link to MINUSTAH - www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/LACRegion/Pages/HTReports.aspx


By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey

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