Responses to Information Requests

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa

1. Procedure for Filing a Civil or Criminal Complaint with a Peace Court

No information in addition to the Response to Information Request HTI105174 of June 2015 could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

2. Police Procedure in Peace Court Following a Complaint

No information in addition to Information Request HTI105534 of June 2016 on the procedures after a criminal complaint is filed could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

3. Whether Peace Court Procedures are Consistent Throughout the Country

Information indicating whether peace court procedures are consistent throughout the country could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

4. Relations Between the Police and Peace Courts

Information on relations between the police and peace courts was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

According to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016 from the United States (US) Department of State:

The code of criminal procedure does not clearly assign criminal investigation responsibility, which it divides among police, justices of the peace, prosecutors, and investigating magistrates. As a result authorities often failed to question witnesses, complete investigations, compile complete case files, or conduct autopsies. (US 3 Mar. 2017, 10)

Chapters II and III of Law No. 2 on the Judicial Police and the Police Officers and Officials Who Enforce It (Loi nº 2 sur la police judiciaire et les officiers et agents de police qui l’exercent), amended in 1962 and part of the Haitian Code of Criminal Procedure (Code d’instruction criminelle), amended in 1988, pertain to police officers and justices of the peace respectively (Haiti 1836). Article 10 of this legislation sets out that rural and urban police officers [translation] “will report to the commune’s justice of the peace about the nature, circumstances, time and location of crimes, misdemeanours and offences, and the proof and evidence that they have been able to collect” and they “will arrest and bring any individual that they have caught in the act before the justice of peace, or that will be denounced by public outcry” (Haiti 1836, Art. 10). A copy of Law No. 2 on the Judicial Police and the Police Officers and Officials Who Enforce It is attached to this Response.

The website of Haiti’s Superior Council of the Judiciary (Conseil supérieur du pouvoir judiciaire, CSPJ) [1] explains justice of the peace responsibilities as follows:

[translation]

The justice of the peace, the principal figure of the peace court, fulfills the civil and criminal roles within the court’s jurisdiction. The justice of the peace has line authority in the court. There is an incumbent and assistant judges – 2 or 3 depending on the size of the population served. These different judges have the same jurisdiction for judicial decisions. Their only difference is at the court administration level, where the responsibility falls on the regular judge.

The justice of the peace’s civil duties include:

• Hearing civil and commercial cases
• Presiding over family councils
• Drawing up documents of public knowledge
• Giving entry into premises during judgement enforcement
• Affixing and removing seals upon request by the civil court’s senior member
• Being available to see everything that disrupts community life

The justice of the peace’s criminal duties:

The justice of the peace, in criminal matters, fulfills two different roles: judge, for petty violations, and judicial police officer for crimes or misdemeanours.

As a simple police judge, they have the sole jurisdiction to hear contraventions. In this case, they are not an auxiliary judicial police officer of the government commissioner. They are completely independent. The decisions they give can only be amended by a decision from a higher court (civil court or Supreme Court [Cour de cassation]).

The justice of the peace, a judicial police officer, is an auxiliary of the government commissioner. As such, they are an officer who sends and receives information. They review preliminary information on all criminal offences committed in their jurisdiction. They visit localities; note the core of the offence; hear witnesses and providers of information; seize weapons and instruments involved in the offence or stemming from the offence; question the defendant; search the property; provide expertise under oath; and requisition law enforcement. (Haiti 21 June 2015)

According to Country Reports 2016, the functioning of peace courts is “inadequate” and “judges presided in chamber based on their personal availability and often maintained separate, full-time jobs.” (US 3 Mar. 2016, 11).

In the Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, published in February 2016 and covering the period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015, the Human Rights Section (HRS) of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights states the following:

[translation]

In many reported cases, people were arrested based on a court order issued by a justice of the peace, outside of being caught in the act, or were detained in custody beyond the legal limit. For example, in Camp-Perrin (south), this practice continues despite a memo from the Prosecutor’s Office in Les Cayes asking the police to refuse to accept the defendants who had been issued detention orders by justices of the peace. The officers’ [from the Haitian National Police] practice of enforcing the clearly unlawful orders that they receive, particularly from justices of the peace, is equally problematic. (UN Feb. 2016, para. 77)

An analysis report about the functioning of the Haitian judicial system, covering the period from October 2015 to September 2016, prepared by the National Human Rights Defense Network (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains, RNDDH), a Haitian NGO that is involved in [translation] “human rights education … [and] monitoring human rights violations in key state institutions” (RNDDH n.d.), indicates that “police authorities state that relations between the police and judicial authorities in [the commune] of Arcahaie are often contentious particularly because of the behaviour of the justices of the peace, who undermine police work” (RNDHH 8 Nov. 2016, 15).

In the Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, the HRS states that they have continued [translation] “to observe many situations in which justices of the peace overstep their mandates” and have noted that “many justices of the peace have ordered the release of people suspected of crimes and misdemeanours, thereby overstepping their jurisdiction” (UN Feb. 2016, para. 76). The same source states that [translation] “other cases have been reported in which justices of the peace make illegal arrests and detainments” (UN Feb. 2016, para. 78).

The Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti also states that [translation] “according to some judicial and police authorities who met with the HRS, justices of the peace regularly exceeded the periods in custody to try to ‘force’ deals” (UN Feb. 2016, para. 78). The same source explains the following:

[translation]

In many cases, justices of the peace have closed cases by arranging out-of-court settlements between suspects and victims. The HRS sees this as a major problem in the judicial processing of sexual assault allegations, particularly in rape cases. (UN Feb. 2016, para. 79)

In the Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, the HRS indicates that [translation] “justices of the peace claim a jurisdiction over rape that they do not have” (UN Feb. 2016, para. 99). The same source gives the following example:

[translation]

In Trou du Nord (northeast), the justice of the peace stated that he released an individual suspected of raping a minor following a withdrawal by the plaintiff, even though the judge lacked the authority to handle such a case, which is a crime, and in addition, the withdrawal could not end the public action. (UN Feb. 2016, para. 79)

According to the Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti,

[translation]

in order to stem this practice in Gonaives and in Saint Marc (Artibonite), the leaders of these two jurisdictions (elders and government commissioners) have published a memo reminding justices of the peace in their respective jurisdictions of the strict legal obligation prohibiting them from deciding rape cases. The impact of the memo has yet to be assessed, but such an initiative ought to be nationwide. (UN Feb. 2016, para. 79)

Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Note

[1] The CSPJ’s website explains its mission as follows: [translation] “It is the administrative, regulatory, disciplinary and deliberative body of this authority. It provides advice with regards to judicial member appointments and updates the annual progress chart of the entire judiciary. It has general authority on information and recommendations about the state of the judiciary” (Haiti 31 May 2015).

References

Haiti. 21 June 2015. Conseil supérieur du pouvoir judicaire (CSPJ). “Le personnel des cours et tribunaux.” [Accessed 2 June 2017]

Haiti. 31 May 2015. Conseil supérieur du pouvoir judicaire (CSPJ). “Mission du CSPJ.” [Accessed 2 June 2017]

Haiti. 1836 (amended in 1962). Loi nº 2 sur la police judiciaire et les officiers et agents de police qui l'exercent, dans le Code d'instruction criminelle. 1836 (amended in 1988). [Accessed 7 June 2017]

Réseau national de défense des droits humains (RNDDH). 8 November 2016. Analyse du fonctionnement de la justice au regard du droit aux garanties judicaires. [Accessed 2 June 2017]

Réseau national de défense des droits humains (RNDDH). N.d. “Vision et mission.” [Accessed 7 June 2017]

United Nations (UN). February 2016. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, Human Rights Section. Rapport annuel sur la situation des droits de l’homme en Haïti : 1er juillet 2014 - 30 juin 2015. [Accessed 2 June 2017]

United States (US). 3 March 2017. Department of State. “Haiti.” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016. [Accessed 2 June 2017]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Bureau des avocats internationaux; Bureau des droits humains en Haïti; Centre de recherche et d'information juridiques; four law offices in Port-au-Prince; Haiti – Conseil supérieur du pouvoir judiciaire, Police nationale d’Haïti; Lawyers Without Borders Canada; Réseau national de défense des droits humains.

Internet sources, including: AlterPresse; Amnesty International; Center for Research Libraries; Challenges; Digital Library of the Caribbean; ecoi.net; Factiva; France – Cour nationale du droit d’asile; GlobalLex; Haiti Action Network; Haïti Libre; Haiti – ministère de la Justice et de la Sécurité publique, Primature; Haïti Press Network; Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti; International Crisis Group; Juricaf; Le juriste haïtien; Library of Congress; Le National; Le Nouvelliste; Organization of American States – Hemispheric Information Exchange Network for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition; Radio France internationale; Rezo Nòdwès; United Nations – Refworld; United States – Embassy of the United States in Port-au-Prince; World Legal Information Institute.

Attachment

Haiti. 1836 (amended in 1962). Loi nº 2 sur la police judiciaire et les officiers et agents de police qui l'exercent, dans le Code d'instruction criminelle. 1836 (amended in 1988). [Accessed 7 June 2017]