On 26 June 2012, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti’s (MINUSTAH) Human Rights Section (HRS) published a report focused on the response of the judiciary to cases of rape that were lodged in five police stations or sub-stations in the greater metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince between June and August 2010. The report is not intended to be an exhaustive study, but rather seeks to provide a sense of the challenges encountered by victims of rape when they try to access justice.

The research found that due to blockages in the criminal justice system not a single case was ruled on over the 18 month period reviewed. In general, the way in which the police and the judiciary handle criminal affairs affects the smooth processing of lodged complaints and leads to failure in the administration of justice and consequently to impunity, particularly in rape cases. In the report, the HRS recommends more particularly that law-makers provide a well-defined terminology of what legally constitutes a rape, adopt legislation protecting women, strengthen the capacities of police and the judiciary and endow the police with the necessary resources to properly conduct its investigations.