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Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Haiti

REPUBLIC OF HAITI

Mainly covers the period June 1998 to April 2001 as well as including some earlier information.

• Population:
  – total: 8,087,000
  – under-18s: 3,930,000
• Government armed forces:
  – active: nil
  – paramilitary (National Police Force): 5,800⁸¹²
• Compulsory recruitment age: no conscription
• Voluntary recruitment age(police forces): 18
• Voting age (government elections): 18
• Child soldiers: none indicated
• CRC-OP-CAC: not signed
• Other treaties ratified: CRC; GC

• There are no indications of under-18s in the government police forces as the minimum recruitment age is 18. There are no government military forces.

CONTEXT

In September 1994, a UN-sanctioned multinational force restored the country's democratically elected president, President Aristide. Following the fall of the military regime which had ruled Haiti since 1991, the armed forces were demobilised in 1994⁸¹³ and officially dismantled in April 1995.⁸¹⁴ In 1999, the situation in Haiti was reported to be unstable with continuing activities by armed paramilitary groups,⁸¹⁵ as well as significant levels of crime and corruption.⁸¹⁶

GOVERNMENT

National Recruitment Legislation and Practice

The only government security forces in Haiti are the Haitian National Police (Police nationale d'Haïti, PNH). Recruitment into the Haitian National Police Force is voluntary.⁸¹⁷ However, the institution of the armed forces still exists in national legislation⁸¹⁸ and conscription is still enshrined in Article 268 of the Constitution of 1987, which states that "military service is compulsory for all Haitians who have attained eighteen years of age."⁸¹⁹ Only a constitutional amendment can eliminate these provisions. Candidates must be 18 or older in order to join the police.⁸²⁰

Controversy has surrounded the admission of former military personnel into the police force and their appointment at command positions, as the armed forces have been responsible for gross human rights violations in the past.⁸²¹ According to the Haitian authorities, the recruitment of ex-soldiers is necessary as there are not enough suitable civilian candidates.⁸²²

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812 Communication received by CSC from Permanent Mission of Haiti to the United Nations in Geneva, 1/4/01.

813 Communication received by CSC from Permanent Mission of Haiti to the United Nations in Geneva, 21/4/99.

814 Balencie and de La Grange, op. cit.

815 Ibid.

816 RB: www.rb.se.

817 Horeman and Stolwijk op. cit.

818 Permanent Mission of Haiti, 21/4/99 op. cit.

819 Text at: http://www.haitifocus.com/haitie/gov/constit.html.

820 Permanent Mission of Haiti, 1/4/01, op. cit.

821 Ibid.; see also Richardson, L., "Disarmament Derailed", NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol. XXIX, No. 6, May/June 1996, p. 13.

822 HRW, The Human Rights Watch Records of the Haitian National Police, 1/97, Vol. 9, No. 1, quoted by Horeman and Stolwijk.

Topics: Paramilitary forces, Child soldiers, Military service,