Haiti Update

This study reviews recent political and economic developments in Haiti and assesses the prospects for democratization, political stability and economic development. The report is pessimistic, but far from hopeless. While political violence and human rights violations persist and the economy is stagnant, the Preval administration and the Haitian Congress have finally made the hard decisions to press on with economic modernization, including partial privatization and civil service reforms. International lenders are once more extending aid, which means that the economy should improve. In general, both President Preval and Congress receive high marks for their performances. Even the Haitian National Police, though still probably incapable of maintaining law and order without the help of U.N. peacekeepers, has done reasonably well considering its limited resources and the trying circumstances under which it is operating. Nevertheless, the challenges facing Haiti and the international community remain enormous. The moment of truth will come when the U.N. peacekeepers leave. Since the United Nations is unlikely to stay past July 1997 and the Haitian police will probably not be up to the task of maintaining law and order by that time, other bilateral and/or multilateral security arrangements will have to be made. The United States and Canada should take the lead in forging those arrangements in the months ahead. Beyond this, the report also calls for an accelerated effort to create a functioning judicial system and recommends that the United States convert its military support mission into a semipermanent operation with ongoing infrastructural and humanitarian responsibilities. Finally, the author notes that there is a need to hold the Haitian government's feet to the fire with regard to human rights violations. If allowed to continue, the recent slide down the slippery slope of political violence could destroy everything that has been accomplished thus far.