Awaiting to be deployed North-East in the meantime...

Since my last blog few things changed, so let's start by the beginning. Prior to go to the North-East region I had to work few days in one of the "commissariat" (police station) in PAP since the UN helicopter was only scheduled for the week after. My three days in the Petionville's commissariat principal (main police station) were fairly easy on work load. However, visiting the jail were people are in custody awaiting to go before a judge was quite an experience. The UNPOL have a small office in the PNH (Police National de Haiti) main commissariat so from there, in the morning at 06:00 we were going to check the register to record the names of the people jailed the night before. We had to make sure their detention was legal; that they had opportunity to contact their family (since the family has the responsibility to supply food and water to the prisonner) and also that they were not mistreated by the local police. Any infraction had to be recorded in a UN record book and a report had to be written detailing the issues as well as the recommendations provided to the PNH to remedy to these issues. Since our mandate in Haiti is not executive we can only provide recommendations to the local police but if no action is taken we have to add this in our report hoping that something will happen from it. Among prisoners jailed for rape, theft, assault...some people were locked up because during a road block they were caught with no driving licence. The Haitian Criminal Code specify that this offence is punishable with a fine only but obviously it is not followed by all police officers. In Petionville area, there is the main commissariat and four sous-commissariats. So the checks had to be done to the four small police stations as well. With the traffic situation in PAP, it took more than half a day to do only that. The condition in which people are detained is still very precarious. They sleep on the bare cement in the heat, the noise and the smell of urine and feces. At 06:00 in the morning that sight and smell wake you right up. Some people can wait three or four days before going before a judge even though the Haitian Criminal Code and also the Haitian Constitution make it quite clear that custody should not exceed 48 hrs. Well, this is why we are here. Our presence is definitely justified, I just hope our recommendations and reports will help to make a difference in the long run.