A/HRC/4/3
page 14
39.
In order to make this offensive even more effective, MINUSTAH and the Government
decided to form two specialized intervention groups (currently in training) to make high-risk
arrests or conduct special security operations. The two groups should begin operation in the near
future.
A. The temptation - heedless of the past - to re-establish an army
(at great expense) instead of investing in the considerable
efforts being made to create a professional police force
1. Re-establishment of the army
40.
The independent expert can only recall his position on this point: what is really at stake
is not so much the potential role of an army (so that a war may be waged one day against the
people, as has so often occurred in Haiti’s history) as the creation - and this will take time - of a
democratic and effective police force. Not only must the vetting procedure be carried out to
completion with the utmost rigour but also, and above all, all efforts must be concentrated on
both the initial and continued training of police officers, which will give the Haitian National
Police the logistical means necessary to deal with the crisis (the role of donors is important in
this regard) and eradicate in the police force - in addition to certain widely acknowledged areas
of incompetence - corruption, mafia-like collusion with gangs and other arms and drug
traffickers, even with certain political figures. This vetting process is a long-term task, since the
gangrene of corruption has become widespread.
2. The priority of vetting the police force
41.
In addition to the decisive role that the Haitian National Police Training Academy in
Frères should play in training, two essential measures must be taken to raise the moral standards
of the police force: (a) the police force must be vetted so that the most compromised elements
can be removed and (b) the reform of the General Police Inspectorate must be commensurate
with the scale of the crisis. It is also necessary to ensure that the measures taken are properly
implemented.
42.
There is real political will regarding the first measure, and the measure appears to be well
under way. According to the Directorate General of the Haitian National Police, at the beginning
of December 2006, 53 police officers underwent the isolation procedure, 186 were dismissed,
and 464 others were subjected to a similar procedure. Following the adoption in August 2006 of
a plan to reform the Haitian National Police, a major vetting operation was launched in
November 2006 in accordance with the following procedure:
(a)
Creation of a database from two sources of information: the register of all
currently active police officers, and a programme to appraise police officers in the field under the
responsibility of the Haitian National Police;
(b)
This database will then be used to create individual files for initial screening
accompanied by provisional certification;
(c)
succession:
The next stage involves the following measures, conducted simultaneously or in
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