Haiti‬’s Judiciary used to be directly elected; now it is appointed by the president and completely servile to him. Local executives, such as mayors, governors, etc., have been replaced by presidentially appointed interim executives; many of these new people have criminal records, and some are actively wanted for crimes as serious as arson and murder. The Haitian Senate has operated for two years with barely a quorum; it will become nonfunctional on January 12, 2015, when only 10 senators will be left. Simultaneously, the terms of all the members of the House of Representatives will expire. Coincidentally January 12, 2015 will be the fifth anniversary of the earthquake. In Haiti, such anniversaries have become a time for stocktaking.

The dissolution of Haiti’s Legislature from neglect and dismantlement of the Judiciary and local governance are all the realization of a vision that ‪‎Clinton‬ unsuccessfully tried to foist on the country as a series of constitutional changes in 2011. I wrote about this while it was happening. Nobody paid much attention. The Executive branch has gone ahead and pushed these changes on the country anyway, as a series of decrees.

Bill and Hillary Clinton are about the worst thing that could happen to a country, and I’m not thinking of only Haiti.

What will happen in January is up to us. Will Haiti be declared a failed state and turned over to the United Nations for an experiment in state building? Will ‎Michel Martelly‬ be formally declared president for life? Will Michel Martelly and ‪‎Laurent Lamothe‬ continue as if nothing is amiss and run the country by decree as a pair of dictators? Or will we rise to the challenge once again and make our own way?

Dady Chery, Editor

Haiti Chery

By Staff

AHP

English | French

Translated from the French by Dady Chery for Haiti Chery.

A group of 13 human rights organizations, including the National Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, the ACHR, RNDDH, POHDH GARR, the ECHR and the Haitian Justice Observatory reject governance by decree in Haiti.

Haitian organizations for the defense of human rights say no to governance by decree.

The Haitian organizations for the promotion and defense of human rights that are signatories to this note find that the socio-political situation in the country is deteriorating and becoming very worrying. This greatly impacts decades worth of efforts to put Haiti on the path of a democratic rule of law.

It is a general principle that the Executive branch is responsible to ensure the function and stability of institutions, according to Section 136 of the 1987 Constitution.

This requires it, among other things, to take up the task of organizing parliamentary and local elections, a task which it has not performed in three years. On the contrary, instead of assuming its constitutional responsibilities, the Executive has simply appointed “Interim Executives”, many of whom are persons in contravention of the law, according to reports and denunciations by Haitian and foreign human rights organizations.

Furthermore, since two years, the Senate of the Republic has been reduced by one third of its members. After Monday, January 12, 2015, the Parliament will have only 10 members, and the mandates of the House of Representatives members will expire.

At this stage, the Haitian organizations for the promotion and defense of human rights that are signatories to this note wish to emphasize that it is the responsibility of the Executive to ensure that the Parliament, one of the pillars of the republic, be operational.

Relying instead on an erroneous interpretation of Article 136, however, the Executive has said on the sidelines of the 69th United Nations General Assembly, and during interviews with journalists in Europe, that it would lead the country by decree after Monday, January 12, 2015.

This attempt to prepare minds for the unacceptable is an affront to democratic gains and a maneuver that is becoming more and more disturbing.

The Executive cannot claim a right to lead the Republic by decree merely because it has failed its fundamental and constitutional mandate prescribed under Section 136. This would be a flagrant violation of the 1987 Constitution, a challenge to republican values ​​and a serious undermining of the foundations of a state based on three powers: namely the Judicial, Legislative and Executive.

If, by Monday, January 12, 2015 elections are not conducted in the country, then this will merely prove that the Executive has not fulfilled its constitutional mission to deliver specific results and respect the letter of its mandate.

Moreover, the establishment of the Constitutional Council (CJSP), one of the conditions thought to be important for achieving the democratic rule of law, has not contributed to an independent Judiciary but one that has instead been vassalized by the Executive.

Today, it is recognized that the Constitutional Council far from meets the expectations of the people and the judges at various levels of the judicial system. Consequently, the whole struggle for years to ensure the independence of the Judiciary is being challenged.

Faced with the imminent dangers posed by the failure to hold elections and the dependency of the Judiciary, the Haitian organizations for the promotion and defense of human rights that are signatories to this note, assuming their responsibilities as one of the pillars of democracy and the rule of law, rise up clearly and unequivocally against the interference of the Executive in the affairs of the Judiciary and denounce the impending return to presidentialism as being the sole authority in the country.

To accept that one of the branches of government deliberately exercises the powers of the others, in violation of the sacred principle of separation of powers enshrined in Articles 59.1 and 60.1 of the Constitution, is simply to abandon all efforts to put Haiti on the path to democracy and development. The Judiciary has already been weakened. Haitian citizens cannot afford to accept the Legislature being wiped out by the Executive.

The Haitian organizations for the promotion and defense of human rights that are signatories to this note publicly express their categorical refusal to see the Executive run the country by decree, and they invite all sectors of society, without exception, to speak out against this neo-dictatorship and organize by all democratic means to defeat this macabre project.

The Haitian organizations for the promotion and defense of human rights that are signatories to this note urge the Executive to reconsider its dictatorial ambition, take the path of democracy, exercise wisdom and live up to its responsibilities.

Finally, the Haitian organizations for the promotion and defense of human rights that are signatories to this note believe that it is the duty of all sectors of society to assume their responsibilities to prevent any project that aims to challenge decades of the fight for democracy in Haiti.

Indeed, there is no need to remember that democracy is, above all, respect for the law and the given mandate. It therefore implies an obligation that some results are incumbent on the government, including the President of the Republic, who is responsible to ensure the proper function of institutions.

The signatories are as follows:

• Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH);

• Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights (ACHR)

• Group Intervention on Human Rights (GIDH);

• Vision of Haitian Human Rights (VHDH);

• Solidarity for the Defense of Human Rights (SODDH);

• Ecumenical Center for Human Rights (ECHR);

• National Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace (CE-JILAP);

• Combite for Peace and Development (Combite for Peace);

• Haitian Justice Observatory (OHJ);

• Action for the Abolition of Torture from Haiti (ACAT-Haiti);

• National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH);

• Program for Alternative Justice (PAJ);

• Support Group for Returnees and Refugees (GARR).