The number of police officers per 1,000 inhabitants has fallen to 1.32 in Haiti, Guinea's Bintou Keita, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told Security Council members recently, stressing the need to implement the development plan of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), in order to increase the number and professionalism of the Haitian police.

Note that this decline can be attributed to multiple factors such as : resignations, dismissals, illnesses, deaths and retirement among others.

She lamented that progress in the rule of law in Haiti depends on the adoption of legislation, particularly to improve the work of the police and the functioning of the prison administration has not yet started pointing out that the shortcomings noted in particular in financial terms will have to be filled.

For the Assistant Secretary-General, the successful implementation of the 2017-2021 PNH development plan, with the assistance of Minujusth, will enable the Government of Haiti to continue to progressively assume its security responsibilities.

Keïta recalled that the integrated security transition plan, as requested by the Security Council, will guide the first phase of a responsible and effective withdrawal of the UN police presence in Haiti, saying "This first phase will bring from 7 to 5 Constituted Police Units (FPU) between October 15, 2018 and April 15, 2019"

However, for Under-Secretary Keïta, the transition to a United Nations presence in Haiti, without a peacekeeping operation, will not take place until October 2019, underlining that the Haitian Government and Minujusth will have to redouble their efforts to catch up after the July riots concluding that "only a fully functional government will be able to meet these challenges."

HL/ HaitiLibre