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)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Disability (significant objective)

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): (1) provided support to Haiti's Office de la Protection du Citoyen (Office for the Protection of Citizens) to better document human rights violations. This support helped facilitate the effective processing of complaints from 9,546 people; (2) more than 10,000 individuals (including 3,155 women) benefited from legal services, particularly through mobile clinics in rural areas; (3) provided psychosocial services and legal aid to more than 3,000 people; (4) 76 law students (48 women) benefited from an internship or mentoring programme; (5) trained 826 people (347 women), including lawyers and other stakeholders working in the judicial sector on strategic litigation to create new laws and precedents and better defend human rights victims; (6) provided legal support for the release of 122 people (7 women) from illegal and arbitrary detention; (7) better informed more than 16,653 people (including 8,843 women and 1,680 minors) about their human rights; (8) organised training for 1,003 people (382 women) working in the justice and human rights sector, including representatives of civil society organisations, lawyers, health workers, journalists and community groups, to better equip them with identification and documentation of abuses; and (9) provided support to 189 women and 2 minors in filing investigation requests for victims of gang rape.

• Proactive disclosure