Project profile — Access to Judicial Services in Haiti

• Haiti (100.00%)

• Justice, law and order policy, planning and administration:
Justice, law and order policy, planning and administration (15131) (25.00%)
Prisons (15137) (25.00%)
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (25.00%)
Human rights (15160) (25.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project aims to engage civil society as a key stakeholder for strengthening justice in Haiti so that it can play its role as a democratic counterweight, guardian of the rule of law, and pillar of inclusive and responsible governance. To achieve that goal, the project proposes actions at three levels: (1) support the Office de la Protection du Citoyen so that it can more effectively fulfil its role of promoting and protecting human rights, including women and minors; (2) build the capacities of civil society human rights organizations and lawyers representing victims of human rights violations; and (3) increase citizen participation through improved public awareness, including women and youth, of human rights, anti-impunity and anti-corruption issues.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved access to justice for vulnerable persons, especially women, minors and prisoners; (2) increased legal and judicial services for civil society organizations (CSO) and justice actors to advance anti-impunity and anti-corruption cases; and (3) increased participation of SCOs and justice actors in dialogue with the government and international bodies on issues relating to the rights of vulnerable persons.

Results achieved at the end of the project (June 2024) include: (1) provided support to Haiti's Office de la Protection du Citoyen (Office for the Protection of Citizens) to strengthen its capacity to better document human rights violations. This helped to facilitate the effective processing of complaints from 9,546 people; (2) supported more than 10,000 individuals (including 3,155 women) to benefited from legal services. This is done through mobile clinics in more rural regions; (3) provided psychosocial services and legal aid to more than 3,000 people; (4) supported 76 students (48 women) through an internship or mentoring programme to deepen their knowledge. Also supported 826 people (347 women) through a training programme on strategic litigation, to be better equipped to defend human rights victims and create new laws and precedents; (5) provided legal support for the release of 122 people (7 women) from illegal and arbitrary detention; (6) sensitized more than 16,653 people (including 8,843 women and 1,680 minors) about their human rights; (7) organised training for 1,003 people (382 women) working in the justice and human rights sector. These include representatives of civil society organisations, lawyers, health workers, journalists and community groups, to equip them better to identify and document abuses, in particular by providing them with more information on how the justice system works and the remedies available; and (8) supported 189 women and 2 minors in filing investigation requests for victims of gang rape.

• Proactive disclosure