(Lakimiesuutiset 2-2002 - Juhani Artto) Florence Elie has been serving for the last two years as the Ombudsman of the Republic of Haiti. This graceful lawyer discusses her job in peaceful and credible tones, even though to an outsider the assignment might seem hopeless. Haiti has a very long way to go in establishing the rule of law.

"The State organs have never managed their functions properly. We do not know exactly why the situation has remained so bad since independence in 1804. That’s just the way things are," is how Elie introduces her subject. In most cases power has changed hands through military coups, and successive dictatorships have been deaf to the rights and social needs of citizens.

Nominally democratic elections have been held in the country for about 15 years. Even this period, however, includes a three-year military dictatorship. The December 2000 presidential election was boycotted by the opposition amid allegations of electoral fraud. The parliamentary election earlier the same year also suffered from irregularities, as both the opposition and foreign observers agreed. Now, the problems have been exacerbated by a constitutional crisis and a consequent almost total cessation of foreign aid.

This impaired political system is reflected in the judiciary. "Most judges are badly corrupt and decisions of the courts are bought," is how Elie analyses matters.

Drug trafficking offers the most convincing examples of judicial corruption. Haiti is the most important Caribbean stopover on the route from Columbia to the USA. There are hardly any adults in Haiti lacking knowledge or direct observations of drug trafficking. However, only a handful of prisoners have been convicted or even charged with narcotics offences.

Moreover, the 5,000-strong police force and the country’s legislature have succumbed to corruption. Instead of combating illegal activities, their influential members render service within the arcane and dirty process. While it would be fruitless to seek proof of this in court records, such proof is available in discussions with representatives of various social strata and groups, and with foreigners working in Haiti. Because of the threat of violence, they are unwilling to speak openly about the illicit narcotics business.

The Ombudsman as educator

Establishing the Office of the Ombudsman to oversee and promote the rule of law was one of the novelties in the 1987 constitution. The relevant statute was eventually implemented in 1997.

The Ombudsman’s resources are small compared to the demands involved. With 20 employees, the office budget is little more than USD 100,000, of which one third is the rental cost of office accommodation. Most of the remainder finances the salaries of the four research assistants and the other employees. This financing is based on foreign sources, with Sweden playing a significant role.

Initially rather few Haitians knew of the existence of the Ombudsman and her office, but information campaigns on the radio and seminars around the country have made many people aware of the new organ. 2,000 students at educational institutions have seen a play describing the whole problem area.

The work itself consists of matters investigated on the Ombudsman’s own initiative and complaints made by citizens. The number of complaints has gradually increased. Some of the 600 complaints filed over the last four years have been class actions. Elie explains that typical cases involve consumer rights, dismissals of officials and living conditions in prisons.

She has had little time to prepare her own initiatives. A great deal of work could be done solely in defending the rights of remand prisoners. Many people have been arrested and held in pre-trial detention for longer than the legal maximum of six months.

"Suspects detained in criminal investigations barely have any means of regaining their freedom other than bribery. In the main only those who have become wealthy by illegal means can afford to do so."

However, some initial signs of change have been seen. Elie is pleased that officials and other persons in responsible positions have begun to reply to the letters of the Ombudsman’s office. "We approach them in a conciliatory manner. Our main line is not to accuse and expose but to educate all parties. Even members of our own organisation need training."

Elie and her predecessor did not need to start entirely from scratch. Over the period from 1994 to 2000 a United Nations special agency educated researchers in these subjects and received 6,000 complaints from the citizens. "The UN came here in 1994 to revive democracy with a contingent including 200 human rights observers. Their work focused on human rights problems and encouraged people to believe that justice had a chance of being done."

"A key institution for democracy"

In the course of the interview Elie returns several times to the issue of drug trafficking: "This has increased at least one hundred fold over the last decade. Experts estimate that one-sixth of the Colombian cocaine entering the USA is transported via Haiti. Previously soldiers administered the drug trade centrally, but in the 1990s the distribution network disintegrated and became chaotic. As a result violence has increased significantly." Warring drug gangs have protectors and money collectors in the power élite and the police. Lawlessness reigns openly, and the Ombudsman has no means to intervene. Any effort in this area would greatly increase the risks of the job. Narco-dollars tend to maintain corruption and lack of respect for the law.

In the face of this huge challenge Ombudsman Florence Elie characterises her office as a key institution for Haitian democracy, and she comments: "If we were allocated more money, then we could expand our educational programmes." For the immediate future, however, the international community has found only enough to allow the work to continue but not to be significantly expanded. One source of Elie’s optimism, on the other hand, is the promising outcome of similar work in El Salvador and Peru.

Elie gave ample proof of her own persistence in 1994 when she led the pre-trial work in a peasants’ massacre case. The army and paramilitary chiefs who were convicted in this case were sentenced to severe punishments in the longest trial in the history of the country. Most of them were sentenced in absentia.