a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings

There were isolated allegations of police and other government officials’ involvement in arbitrary or unlawful killings. Some of these resulted in arrests, but there were no convictions.

On October 25, a girl was shot and killed during a fight that broke out at a post-Hurricane Matthew food distribution site in Dame-Marie. Similarly, on November 1, a boy was killed when a mob attempted to climb aboard a boat carrying supplies in Les Cayes. The Haitian National Police (HNP) Inspector General initiated an investigation into the death and administratively suspended the officer in question.

Human rights groups continued to criticize the Departmental Brigade of Operations and Interventions, a special unit of the HNP tasked with fighting crime in difficult environments.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the HNP investigated and recommended for dismissal 11 police officers implicated in homicides through October.

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.

In a high-profile case, after four years of legal proceedings, a court sentenced Clifford Brandt and his associate, Ricot Pierre-Val, to 18 years of penal labor for their participation in a kidnapping ring. The judge sentenced another associate, Carlo Bendel Saint-Fort, to 19 years and acquitted three other individuals accused in the case for lack of evidence.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The law prohibits such practices; however, there were several reports from international and domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that members of the HNP allegedly beat or otherwise abused detainees and suspects. Prisoners at times were subject to degrading treatment, in large part due to overcrowded facilities. Several reports noted corrections officers used physical punishment and psychological abuse to mistreat prisoners.

In January video circulated of two men being stripped and beaten on the floor of a police station in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Martissant. According to human rights advocates, members of the Departmental Brigade of Operations and Interventions, Departmental Unit to Maintain Order, and Corps for Intervention and Maintaining Order perpetrated the abuse. Police authorities identified five of the perpetrators, and an investigation was underway as of October.

Allegations persisted that the UN Peacekeeping and Stabilization Force (MINUSTAH) peacekeepers were involved in incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation. The United Nations reported that as of December 20, it had received four allegations during the year; two of these alleged incidents occurred during the year, one in 2015, and one for which the date of the incident was unknown.

One of the four allegations, made against a UN police officer whose nationality was unknown, involved minors. The UN investigation continued at year’s end. The United Nations also investigated two other allegations, made against UN police officers from Benin and Niger. The United Nations found the allegation against the Beninese officers to be unsubstantiated; it found the allegation against the Nigerien officer to be substantiated and repatriated the officer. The fourth allegation involved military personnel from Guatemala; the Guatemalan government investigated and substantiated this allegation and penalized the officers.

These reports represented an overall decline in the number of allegations in a given year. Officials attributed the decline in part to their efforts to combat the problem, and they highlighted a zero-tolerance policy that included training, raising awareness, and enforcement.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Prisons and detention centers throughout the country remained overcrowded, poorly maintained, and unsanitary.

Physical Conditions: Prison and detention center overcrowding was severe, especially in the National Penitentiary; the Petionville women’s prison; the Petit-Goave jail; and the prisons in Jeremie, Les Cayes, Port de Paix, and Hinche. The prison in Croix des Bouquets and the new prisons in Cabaret and Fort Liberte conformed to international norms and were not overcrowded. Others, including the detention facilities in Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitien, Mirabalais, Jacmel, Hinche, Les Cayes, Anse-a-Veau, and Port de Paix, exceeded the UN’s prescribed capacity of 27 square feet per inmate. In some prisons detainees slept in shifts due to lack of space. Some prisons had no beds for detainees, and some cells had no access to sunlight. In others the cells often were open to the elements and lacked adequate ventilation. Many prison facilities lacked basic services such as plumbing, sanitation, waste disposal, medical services, potable water, electricity, adequate ventilation, lighting, and isolation units for contagious patients. Some prison officials used chlorine to sanitize drinking water, but in general, prisoners in older prisons did not have access to treated drinking water.

International observers indicated prisoners and detainees continued to suffer from a lack of basic hygiene, malnutrition, poor quality health care, and water-borne illness. An estimated 10 percent of the prison population suffered from malnutrition and severe anemia, while sanitation-related diseases, including scabies, diarrhea, and oral infections, were commonplace. In several prisons the Department of Corrections (DAP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross provided personal hygiene kits; in many other facilities, inmates’ families provided the kits. Because of the poor security, severe understaffing, and conditions of some detention centers, some prisons did not allow prisoners out of their cells for exercise, and many prisoners spent 23 hours a day in confinement.

Many detention facilities did not contain clinics for treatment of illnesses and diseases contracted while in custody. Few prisons had the resources to treat serious medical situations. At intake, the prevalence rate of HIV among the prison population was 64 percent higher than the prevalence rate nationally. The intake prevalence rate for tuberculosis was more than 12 times higher than the national rate. The programs of several NGOs, international organizations, and donor countries, however, continued to reduce the incidence of these diseases in the prison population.

Prison conditions generally varied by inmate gender. Female inmates in coed prisons received proportionately more space in their cells than their male counterparts. Female prisoners also experienced a better quality of life than did their male counterparts due to their smaller numbers.

The DAP estimated there were 11,600 prisoners in the country’s prisons as of June. In addition the DAP held some prisoners in makeshift and unofficial detention centers, such as police stations in Petit-Goave, Miragoane, Gonaives, some parts of Port-au-Prince, and other locations. Local authorities held suspects in makeshift facilities, sometimes for extended periods, without registering them with the DAP.

Corrections authorities in Port-au-Prince maintained separate penitentiaries for adult men, women, and minors. In Port-au-Prince all male prisoners under 18 years of age were to be held at the juvenile facility at Delmas 33, but due to the lack of sufficient documentation, authorities could not always verify the ages of detainees. At times authorities detained minors believed to be older, and whose ages they could not confirm, with adult inmates. Authorities moved the vast majority of these minors to juvenile detention centers within two months of verifying their ages. Outside Port-au-Prince minors and adults often occupied the same cells due to lack of available space. The new women’s prison in Cabaret had the capacity to hold 300 detainees, and in October it held 254 prisoners, including 17 minors. Due to lack of space, resources, and oversight outside the capital, authorities often did not segregate juveniles from adult prisoners or convicted prisoners from pretrial detainees, as the law requires.

Prisoners’ access to adequate nutrition remained a problem. The HNP has contractual and fiscal responsibility for the delivery of food to prisons. According to a UN report, changes in the contracted food suppliers and delays in fund disbursement reduced the number of meals fed to prisoners. Some prisons had kitchen facilities and employed persons to prepare and distribute food. Prison authorities generally provided prisoners with one or two meals a day, consisting of broth with flour dumplings and potatoes, rice and beans, or porridge. None of the regular meals served to prisoners provided sufficient calories, according to medical standards. Authorities allowed prisoners regular deliveries of food from relatives and friends. Human rights groups reported that families sometimes paid prison staff to deliver supplemental meals and clothing to prisoners.

The HNP also managed other service contracts at prisons, such as sewage treatment. Most prisons had insufficient sewage facilities for their populations. Since only one HNP central office handled all contracts for law enforcement and prisons, attention to sewage problems often was lacking.

Administration: The government did not keep adequate prison records. The effectiveness of a 2009 database created by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the government was limited because the UNDP system was not completely compatible with the internal recordkeeping system. Prisons utilized only handwritten paper files to document and manage inmates. There was no alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders.

There was no prison ombudsman to handle complaints; however, the country’s independent human rights monitoring body, the Office of the Citizen Protector (OPC), maintained a presence at several prison facilities and advocated for the rights and better conditions of prisoners, especially juveniles in preventive detention, and investigated credible allegations of inhuman conditions. The OPC regularly visited prisons and detention facilities in the country’s 18 jurisdictions and worked closely with NGOs and civil society groups.

Independent Monitoring: The DAP permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross, MINUSTAH, local human rights NGOs, and other organizations to freely monitor prison conditions. These institutions and organizations investigated allegations of abuse and mistreatment of prisoners, resulting several times in the improvement of their situations.

Improvements: The Ministry of Justice and Public Security, with assistance from international partners, opened two new prisons that conformed to international norms. In January a new women’s prison opened in Cabaret with a design capacity of 300 inmates. It is equipped with classrooms, detention cells with toilets, a health clinic, and a solar power system.

The new prison in Ft. Liberte was inaugurated in August. It had the capacity to hold 600 detainees and had its own clean drinking water supply system and a solar power system.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the constitution stipulates that authorities may arrest a person only if apprehended during the commission of a crime or based on a warrant issued by a competent official such as a justice of the peace or magistrate. Authorities must bring the detainee before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. By routinely holding prisoners in pretrial detention, authorities often failed to comply with these provisions.

The law requires that authorities refer to the HNP’s OIG all cases involving allegations of police criminal misconduct. Senior police officials acknowledged receipt of several complaints alleging abuses committed by officers during the year but noted that financial, staffing, and training limitations prevented the institution from readily addressing all reports of such misconduct.

ROLE OF THE POLICE AND SECURITY APPARATUS

The HNP is an autonomous civilian institution under the authority of a single director general and includes police, corrections, fire, emergency response, airport security, port security, and coast guard functions. HNP capabilities and professionalism continued to improve, resulting in a sustained reduction in kidnappings.

The HNP took steps toward imposing systematic discipline on officers found to have committed abuses or fraud, but civil society continued to allege widespread impunity. The HNP held monthly press conferences that served as awareness campaigns to inform the public of their roles and responsibilities and provided an opportunity to report on cases of misconduct. The OIG maintained a 24-hour hotline to receive public reports of police corruption or misconduct. As of August the OIG for the HNP had recommended 27 officers for dismissal, compared with 41 such recommendations by the OIG in 2015. The most common reasons for the recommendation of dismissal were homicide, corruption, and drug trafficking. A lack of well-trained internal investigators in the HNP slowed case investigations and impeded final resolutions.

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security, through its minister and the secretary of state for public security, provides oversight to the HNP.

The HNP Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) unit remained underresourced and understaffed. The unit had two satellite offices at Fort National and Delmas 33. The HNP assigned officers who received SGBV training to serve as regional SGBV representatives in all 10 departments. These officers had minimal links to the SGBV unit in Port-au-Prince.

MINUSTAH has operated since 2004 with a mandate to assist and advise the government on security-related matters. As of November MINUSTAH consisted of 4,577 uniformed personnel (2,338 troops and 2,239 police). MINUSTAH retained responsibility for patrolling the remaining 31 camps for IDPs. In October the UN Security Council renewed MINUSTAH’s mandate for six months at existing force levels.

Foreign governments and other entities continued to provide a wide variety of training and other types of assistance to improve police professionalism, including increasing respect for human rights. The police continued to expand its outreach to and relations with local populations in Port-au-Prince by supporting the community policing unit, which had 106 officers. The unit aimed to implement policing strategies oriented toward crime reduction and foster positive police-populace communication over aggressive interdiction.

ARREST PROCEDURES AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES

The law permits police officers to make arrests with a court-authorized warrant, or when they apprehend a suspect during the commission of a crime.

Authorities generally allowed detainees access to family members after arrest. While authorities generally acknowledged the right to counsel, most detainees could not afford a private attorney. Some departmental bar associations and legal assistance groups provided free counsel to indigents. Some NGO attorneys also provided free services to the indigent. The criminal procedure code does not allow for a functional bail system.

Arbitrary Arrest: Independent reporting confirmed instances in which, contrary to law, police without warrants or with improperly prepared warrants apprehended persons not actively committing crimes. Authorities frequently detained individuals on unspecified charges. Persons arrested reported credible instances of extortion, false charges, illegal detention, physical violence by HNP personnel, and judiciary officials’ refusal to comply with basic due process requirements. The judicial system rarely observed the constitutional mandate to bring detainees before a judge within 48 hours. In some cases detainees spent years in detention without appearing before a judge.

Pretrial Detention: Prolonged pretrial detention remained a serious problem. Prison population statistics did not include the large number of persons held in police stations around the country for longer than the 48-hour maximum initial detention period. Of the approximately 11,600 prison inmates, authorities held an estimated 8,300 (or 72 percent) in pretrial detention. Approximately 71 percent of adult male prisoners and 82 percent of adult female prisoners were in pretrial detention, while 84 percent of male minors and 91 percent of female minors were pretrial detainees. Pretrial detention was significantly more prevalent in Port-au-Prince–48 percent of pretrial detainees nationally are in Port-au-Prince. As of June authorities had yet to try an estimated 88 percent of Port-au-Prince’s inmates.

Many pretrial detainees had never consulted with an attorney, appeared before a judge, or been given a docket timeline. While statements from prison wardens suggested that the majority of detainees spent between two and five years in pretrial detention, reports indicated that time spent in pretrial detention was much lower and varied by geographic jurisdiction.

Between January and March, 100 percent of the 92 detainees held in the Petionville police station had surpassed the legal limit of 48 hours in detention without seeing a judge. After the government and international partners introduced a pilot program to improve procedures and oversight, that number was reduced to 7 percent between the months of March and August.

In May and June, the chief prosecutor for Port-au-Prince released 763 persons–nearly 9 percent of the country’s total pretrial detainee population.

Detainee’s Ability to Challenge Lawfulness of Detention before a Court: A habeas corpus law passed in 2009 was never published by a president and therefore is not legally in effect. The OPC’s national and 12 regional offices worked on behalf of citizens to verify that law enforcement and judicial authorities respected the right to due process. When authorities detained persons beyond the maximum allotted 48 hours, the OPC must intervene on their behalf to expedite the process. The OPC did not have the resources to intervene in all cases of arbitrary detention.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The law provides for an independent judiciary, but senior officials in the executive and legislative branches exerted significant influence on the judicial branch and law enforcement. MINUSTAH and international and local NGOs repeatedly criticized the government for attempting to influence judicial officials. Judges assigned to politically sensitive cases complained about interference from the executive branch. With a weakened transitional government, however, local NGOs reported that influence from the executive branch decreased during the year.

Internal political divisions as well as organizational, funding, and logistical problems often hampered the efficient functioning of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ). The CSPJ is charged with independently overseeing judicial appointments, the discipline of judges, ethics issues, and management of the judiciary’s financial resources. Half of the CSPJ membership positions were vacant as of December.

Pervasive and longstanding problems, primarily stemming from a lack of judicial oversight and professionalism, contributed to a large backlog of criminal cases. Judiciary personnel were paid haphazardly, with arrears often running into months, and worked in facilities that often lacked basic supplies. The failure to appoint or reappoint judges at the expiration of their terms further slowed the functioning of the judiciary.

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. While the law provides magistrates two months to request additional information from investigators, authorities were not supposed to invoke this delay more than twice for a given case. Magistrates often did not follow this requirement, and investigative judges frequently dropped cases or did not return them within the two-month limit. This resulted in extended pretrial detention for numerous detainees.

By law each of the country’s 18 jurisdictions should twice per year convene a jury for trials involving major violent crimes. Many jurisdictions, however, convened only one jury per year because they lacked the resources to pay for them.

Corruption and a lack of judicial oversight also severely hampered the judiciary. Human rights organizations reported that several judicial officials, including judges and court clerks, arbitrarily charged fees to initiate criminal prosecutions, and that judges and prosecutors failed to respond to those who could not afford to pay. There were widespread, credible allegations of unqualified and unprofessional judges who received appointments as political favors. There were also persistent accusations that court deans, who are responsible for assigning cases to judges for investigation and review, at times assigned politically sensitive cases to judges with close ties to figures in the executive and legislative branches. Some human rights groups reported an improvement during the year due to the change in government and uncertainty and weakness in the power of the executive branch. Furthermore, the CSPJ was not effective in providing judicial accountability and transparency. Many judicial officials also held full-time occupations outside the courts, although the constitution bars judges from holding any other type of employment except teaching.

TRIAL PROCEDURES

The judiciary follows a civil law system based on the Napoleonic Code that has remained largely unchanged since 1835. The constitution denies police and judicial authorities the right to interrogate suspects unless legal counsel or a representative of the suspect’s choice is present or the suspect waives this right. Authorities, however, widely ignored certain constitutionally provided trial and due process rights.

The constitution provides defendants a presumption of innocence, as well as the right to attend trial, confront hostile witnesses, and call witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Judges often denied these rights. The perception of widespread impunity also discouraged some witnesses from testifying at trials. Defendants and their attorneys had access to government-held evidence before trial, and defendants had the right of appeal. Defendants have the right to communicate with an attorney of their choice; however, legal aid programs were limited, and those who could not pay for attorneys were not always provided one free of charge. Free interpretation is not provided for defendants. As the majority of legal proceedings are conducted in French, and the most commonly spoken language is Haitian Creole, defendants were often unable to understand the proceedings.

The functioning of justice of peace courts (tribunaux de paix), the lowest courts in the judicial system, was inadequate. Judges presided in chamber based on their personal availability and often maintained separate, full-time jobs. Law enforcement personnel rarely maintained order during court proceedings, and frequently there was no court reporter. Bribes were often the principal factor in a judge’s decision to hear a case.

In multiple communities, especially in rural areas, appointed communal administrators (CASECs) took the place of state judges and asserted powers of arrest, detention, and issuance of legal judgments. Some CASECs turned their offices into courtrooms. The most recent elections for CASECs took place in 2011. The next round of CASEC elections is scheduled for January 2017.

POLITICAL PRISONERS AND DETAINEES

There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.

CIVIL JUDICIAL PROCEDURES AND REMEDIES

Victims of alleged human rights abuses were legally able to bring their cases before a judge. Courts could award damages for human rights abuse claims brought in civil forums, but seeking such remedies was difficult and rarely successful.

Cases involving violations of an individual’s human rights may be submitted through petitions by individuals or organizations to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, which in turn may submit the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The court can order civil remedies, including fair compensation to the individual injured.

PROPERTY RESTITUTION

There were several highly publicized reports that the government failed to provide proportionate and timely restitution or compensation for governmental confiscation of private property.

In August a group of hooded gunmen entered an office of the Ministry of Health in Port-au-Prince on behalf of a private citizen who claimed the government seized his property illegally and demanded that the ministry returned it to him. A justice of the peace, who supported the private citizen’s claim, accompanied them. Later, however, the minister of justice declared the property had been lawfully occupied after it was declared a public utility. Because of this and other recent incidents of private citizens attempting to seize property with the assistance of justices of the peace, the Ministry of Justice temporarily suspended the issuance or enforcement of any eviction orders.

f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The law prohibits such actions, and there were no reports that the government failed to respect these prohibitions.

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The law provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respected these rights. The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.

Press and Media Freedoms: There were isolated incidents of actions against journalists by national and local government officials. As a result, some independent media believed they were unable to criticize the government freely. Certain topics such as narcotics trafficking and organized crime remained largely unreported because of perceived danger.

Violence and Harassment: Some journalists were subjected to threats, harassment, and physical assault, allegedly due to their reporting throughout the year. In some instances government authorities participated in these acts. In January then president Martelly released a lewd song harassing journalist and human rights advocate Liliane Pierre-Paul, an outspoken critic of the Martelly administration. There was no progress in the investigation into the 2000 killing of journalist Jean Dominique or of a witness to the killing who was shot to death in March 2015.

Censorship or Content Restrictions: There were no reported cases of government-sponsored censorship. Human rights advocates claimed that certain government officials used public security ordinances to limit radio commentary criticizing the executive branch.

INTERNET FREEDOM

The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet or censor online content, and there were no credible reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authorization. Socioeconomic and infrastructure hurdles contributed to the dominance of radio and, to a lesser extent, television, over the internet. According to the International Telecommunication Union, approximately 12 percent of citizens had access to the internet in 2015.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND CULTURAL EVENTS

There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected this right. There were several instances when police used force to impose order during demonstrations. Citizens must apply for a permit to hold legal demonstrations. Although impromptu political demonstrations in some instances provoked aggressive law enforcement responses, the police generally responded to these protests in a professional and effective manner.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

The constitution provides for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right.

See the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/.

The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights. The government cooperated with international and humanitarian organizations, as well as other countries, in providing protection and assistance to IDPs, refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, or other persons of concern.

Foreign Travel: The Institute for Social Well-Being and Research (IBESR), under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, maintained its policy of requiring minors departing the country without their parents to have parental documentation authorizing the travel. According to IBESR officials, this policy helped deter child trafficking and smuggling.

In May the chief prosecutor of Ouest Department placed overseas travel bans on nine former electoral officials and 11 cabinet ministers who had served under former president Michel Martelly, ostensibly to keep them in country to answer questions relating to corruption allegations. After a public outcry over whether the travel bans constituted political oppression and whether the prosecutor had the authority to issue the travel bans, the order was rescinded three days later.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

The government engaged in efforts to promote the safe, voluntary return, or resettlement of post-2010 earthquake IDPs, with substantial operational and financial support from international partners. These actions contributed to the significant decline of the earthquake-related IDP population during the year. The presence of IDP camps in the country persisted, with a large concentration of the estimated 33 remaining camps located in the greater Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. September estimates placed the number of IDPs remaining in camps at 55,107 persons or 14,593 households with 45 percent in tent or makeshift shelter sites. Statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) suggested that by September, the overall post-2010 earthquake IDP population had decreased 96 percent from its estimated peak in 2010 of 1.5 million.

In the first six months of the year, the government closed four camps. Return programs carried out by the government, with the aid of international partners, accounted for all closures during this period. From these closed sites, a total of 294 households (representing 1,127 individuals) were relocated. No camps were closed through evictions.

Through the UN police force (UNPOL), MINUSTAH maintained a security presence in IDP camps and provided security in some camps with high levels of reported violence. Nonetheless, even in camps with a law enforcement presence, residents and international observers reported minimal protection from violence, including SGBV and urban crime. MINUSTAH and UNPOL members did not have arrest authority and typically functioned as a deterrent force rather than one actively engaged in law enforcement. International arrangements governing MINUSTAH’s operations require a police officer to be present for any law-enforcement operation, which effectively prevented MINUSTAH officers from engaging in crime prevention in the IDP camps without a police presence. HNP understaffing sometimes prevented this partnership from functioning effectively. International workers in the camps noted that the police and MINUSTAH did not always enjoy positive relationships with IDPs. Camp residents and NGO workers reported that most police patrols, both UNPOL and HNP, monitored only the perimeter of camps and typically did not patrol after dark.

As of November the IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix project registered approximately 14,000 people displaced by Hurricane Matthew in 61 shelters, down from an estimated immediate displacement of 175,500 people. At the surveyed sites, malaria was the most prevalent health issue, followed by influenza-like illnesses, and cholera. In coordination with the government, the United Nations developed a strategy to support the return of IDPs from collective shelters and host communities to their communities of origin. While the plan sought to ensure that the return of populations is only on a voluntary basis, IOM recorded 14 forced closures.

PROTECTION OF REFUGEES

Access to Asylum: The law provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum through Haitian missions or consulates abroad. Additionally, individuals could petition for asylum through the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. There were few reports, however, of requests for such status.

STATELESS PERSONS

The dysfunctional civil registry system and weak consular capacity made obtaining documentation extremely difficult for individuals living inside or outside the country. This problem was particularly acute for many Haitians living in the Dominican Republic seeking to participate in the Dominican government’s migrant regularization plan. According to the Haitian Immigrant Identification and Documentation Program, as of March fewer than 50,000 of the nearly 300,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic had applied for documentation through the government of Haiti’s Haitian Immigrant Identification and Documentation Program, launched in 2014. Of these, only 5,000 had received passports, 38,000 had received national identity cards, and 43,000 had received birth certificates. Due to these systemic deficiencies, many Haitians living abroad were effectively stateless in their country of residence.

The law provides citizens the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

Recent Elections: In 2015 legislative, municipal, and first-round presidential elections were held, and while there were allegations of fraud, the results conformed to international observer estimated outcomes and were generally regarded as credible. Second-round presidential elections were postponed indefinitely in early 2016, and President Michel Martelly left office on February 7 at the end of his term with no elected successor. An accord signed on February 5 between President Martelly and the presidents of the two chambers of parliament formally agreed on a roadmap for electing a provisional president and completing 2015 elections. On February 14, parliament elected Senate President Jocelerme Privert as provisional president with a 120-day mandate. Privert established an electoral verification commission to review the October 2015 election. The commission issued its report on May 30 and recommended restarting the presidential elections due to its own conclusions that there had been irregularities, fraud, and a large number of “untraceable votes.” In June the CEP accepted the recommendations and scheduled the presidential first round and select legislative races for October 9. The CEP scheduled the second round of the presidential election, select legislative races, and local elections for January 8, 2017. While Privert’s 120-day mandate expired on June 14, parliament had not voted on extending his mandate as of December, but Privert nonetheless continued to function as the provisional president. On October 4, Hurricane Matthew struck southwestern Haiti causing widespread and devastating destruction, with an estimated 2.1 million people affected. Due to this natural disaster, the CEP postponed the presidential first round to November 20 and moved the second round to January 29, 2017.

November 20 elections occurred with minimal violence and disruption and with calm and orderly voting. The preliminary report by the Organization of American States Observation Mission noted significant improvements to electoral operations due to measures implemented by the electoral authorities, greater “ownership of the process” by the country, and greater civil society engagement through national observers. While voter turnout was estimated to be 21 percent, the turnout in hurricane-affected areas was higher than many expected. The CEP issued preliminary presidential results on November 28, which showed Jovenel Moise with more than 50 percent of the vote. If final results, which are scheduled to be published on January 3, 2017, determine one candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be no presidential second round.

Political Parties and Political Participation: The 2014 Law on Formation, Functioning, and Financing of Political Parties was not implemented. Opposition parties claimed that then president Michel Martelly improperly used government resources to support candidates from parties close to him during the August and October elections in 2015. The results of these elections were discarded but not because of government support for particular candidates.

Participation of Women and Minorities: No laws limit participation of women and minorities in the political process. As of December there were no female members in parliament; however, if the preliminary results from the November 20 elections hold, there will be three female deputies (out of 119, or 2.5 percent) and one female senator (out of 30, or 3 percent). In the most recent election cycle (2015-2016), 8 percent of candidates for deputy and 10 percent of candidates for senator were women. In the period preceding the elections, female candidates expressed concerns regarding their security.

In local races the CEP enforced the constitution, which calls for “at least 30 percent women’s participation in national life and in public service.” As a condition to running for local races, the CEP required that each mayoral cartel (with three candidates) include one woman. All 139 mayoral cartels installed as a result of 2015 elections met this criterion. Election laws since 2008 provide significant financial incentives for political parties to field women candidates, but parties consistently failed to meet the incentive criteria. The 2015 electoral decree includes such provisions, but only 10 percent of the government’s funding available for support to candidates and political parties was used for various incentives, including rewarding parties fielding higher numbers of female candidates.

Civil society actors, including unsuccessful women candidates, cited three key factors for the lack of women in politics: the lack of financing due to political parties continuing to invest more in male candidates, fear of violence and general electoral insecurity that complicates the campaigning process, and a lack of family support from parents or spouses who do not believe that a woman should be involved in politics.

As of September, three of 16 ministers and two of seven secretaries of state were women, as well as three of the nine CEP counselors, which was a slight decrease from 2015. One of the nine members of the CSPJ and one of the nine members of the country’s high court were women.

The 2014 Law on Prevention and Repression of Corruption, the country’s first anticorruption law, criminalizes a wide variety of corruption-related offenses, including illicit enrichment, bribery, embezzlement, illegal procurement, insider trading, influence peddling, and nepotism. The law imposes sentences of three to 15 years’ imprisonment and gives legal authority to the government’s Anticorruption Unit (ULCC) and its Financial Intelligence Unit, among others, to combat corruption.

Despite these efforts, there were numerous reports of government corruption and a perception of impunity for abusers. Law enforcement authorities and the government’s anticorruption agencies launched several corruption investigations. The perception of corruption remained widespread in all branches and at all levels.

Corruption: The constitution mandates that the Senate prosecute high-level officials and parliament members accused of official corruption instead of handling such cases within the judicial system. During the year Senator Youri Latortue, chair of the Senate’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Committee, called for an investigation into the management of the PetroCaribe assistance program offered by Venezuela. The targets of Senator Latortue’s investigation, including former prime ministers Jean Max Bellrive, Gary Conille, Laurent Lamothe, and Evans Paul, were all prominent officials under the two previous presidential administrations of Michel Martelly and Rene Preval. Some of the targets of Latortue’s allegations decried the investigation as politically motivated, as many investigation targets were political opponents of Senator Latortue.

In another case Sandro Joseph faced corruption charges from his time as director of the National Insurance Agency from 2006 to 2008. In response Joseph issued a list of prominent citizens, including former president Rene Preval and three sitting senators, who he claimed received funds unlawfully from the agency. Joseph was acquitted of all charges in September.

There were persistent reports of corruption in the HNP. Affluent prisoners at times obtained favorable conditions of detention. The HNP investigated some allegations of police malfeasance. The OIG recommended to the Ministry of Justice that eight officers be dismissed as a result of investigations into corruption complaints, but as of October, it was unclear whether the Ministry of Justice accepted the recommendations.

A new ULCC director was appointed in April and was considered generally neutral and effective by civil society groups. Nonetheless, ULCC officials cited a lack of prosecutorial follow-through as an impediment to resolution of matters referred for prosecution.

Financial Disclosure: The law requires all senior officials of the government to file financial disclosure forms within 90 days of taking office and within 90 days of leaving office. There is no requirement for periodic reporting. Disclosure reports are confidential and not available to the public.

The sanction for failure to file financial disclosure reports is a withholding of 30 percent of the official’s salary, but the government did not apply this sanction in previous years. Current government officials indicated that most officials from the departed Martelly administration were complying with those requirements.

Public Access to Information: No law requires the government to provide citizens access to government information.