Lawyers liken situation in Haiti to Somalia

The Council of the Bar Association of Port-au-Prince is warning that the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country is in the “ process of Somalization ” where armed gangs clash with each other for a piece of the country on a daily basis.

“The life of the simplest citizen is daily put in danger, not even sparing parents and their children front the schools,” the lawyers said

“The horror, barbarity, and monstrosity of these acts of banditry are not able to move the Government in place, clinging to a purposeless power, always inclined to show expressions of sympathy for tragedies abroad but stubbornly disconnected from the suffering of the local population ”

The Council said kidnappings have become part of their daily lives “to the point that this crime has become normalized ”

Alarmed by the “ process of Somalization of the national territory”, the Council “condemns the casualness of the authorities responsible for public security and tranquility while taking note of the immobility of international institutions whose vocation is to contribute to the establishment of the rule of law in Haiti”

Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa where an ongoing civil war and drought, displacement, and conflict have increased protection risks for children, including early marriage, gender-based violence, child labor, and child recruitment Approximately 4 8 million Somali children remain out of school, representing a 15 per cent increase over the previous year

The Council also expressed concern “ by the routine adoption of public acts devoid of any constitutional basis, particularly with regard to the appointment of judges to the Court of Cassation, challenged by the general dysfunction of national institutions and the growing devaluation of rule of law ”

“The failure of the current State mainly affects the judiciary which seems to have renounced its prerogatives in the administration of justice” it said recalling that “for more than four years, mainly in the jurisdiction of Port-au-Prince, justice has been regularly disrupted, even completely paralyzed at times, especially after the perimeter of the Palais de