Patrick Pelissier, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, opened a workshop at the Montana Hotel to present the preliminary steps for implementing the new penal and procedure codes. Minister Pelissier emphasized that the implementation of these codes, "scheduled for 2027, is essential for respecting human rights and establishing a genuine rule of law in the country," in the presence of several representatives of donors and partners committed to supporting the Haitian government in reforming its criminal legislation.

Ms. Sabine Boucher, President of the Presidential Commission on the Implementation of Criminal Reform, stressed the essential steps to be taken for this implementation to be effective. She cited, among other things, the adoption of some forty implementing texts and the training of about twenty trainers who will, in turn, be responsible for training judicial actors at the various jurisdictions throughout the country.

These new instruments, which incorporate the human rights conventions to which Haiti is a party, place particular emphasis on fundamental rights, address organized crime, financial crimes, and technology-related offenses, and create alternatives to imprisonment. They also transform the Government Commissioner into the Public Prosecutor, establish a judge to review the legality of arrests, and remove the Justice of the Peace's role as a Judicial Police Officer (OPJ), while increasing the involvement of the judicial police in conducting criminal investigations.

It should be noted that numerous state institutions, including the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ), the National School for the Judiciary, the State University of Haiti, the Bar School, and the Haitian National Police (PNH), are actively involved, alongside the Ministry of Justice, in this project to modernize panal legislation.

HL/ HaitiLibre