The members of the Commission de mise en oeuvre de la Réforme Pénale took office this Thursday, July 25, 2024, at a ceremony held at the Villa d’Accueil.
The commission’s mission is to evaluate the decrees of March 11, 2020 relating to the Penal Code and the Code of Penal Procedure, and to make recommendations for their effective implementation, in accordance with the decree establishing its creation and operation, published in the official newspaper Le Moniteur.
The ceremony was attended by numerous dignitaries, including Prime Minister Dr Garry Conille, the President of the Court of Cassation Mr Jean Joseph Lebrun, the Minister of Justice Mr Carlos Hercule, the Dean of the Port-au-Prince Court of First Instance, the representative of the Port-au-Prince Bar Association, members of the diplomatic and consular corps, and the representative of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
At the ceremony, the President of the Conseil Présidentiel de Transition (CPT), Edgard Leblanc Fils, recalled the commission’s mission, which is to evaluate the two codes and make appropriate recommendations for penal reform, if necessary.
Edgard Leblanc Fils expressed his confidence in the skills and professional experience of the commission’s members to implement the two codes within the allotted timeframe, in accordance with the decree. He pledged the support of the government, which will make all necessary means available to the commission to enable it to recast these two codes, while appeasing the protests that have marked each attempt at implementation.
Appointed by presidential decree, this structure is chaired by Enex Jean-Charles. The other members of the commission are René Magloire, Jean Joseph Exumé, Pierre Richard Casimir, Patrick Pierre-Louis, Père Kenel Sénatus, Wando St Villier, Youdeline Cherisard and Rubain A. Joseph.
The new Haitian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure were postponed by the Transitional Presidential Council in a decree published in the official newspaper Le Moniteur on Monday June 24, 2024. The Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure were promulgated and published in March 2020 and June 2020 respectively. Following protests, these two codes, which were due to come into force in June 2022 and June 2024, have been put on hold. Several sectors of society, including the Protestant sector, had organized demonstrations to denounce certain articles of the two codes as “immoral, contrary to good morals and Haitian traditions”.
Haiti-Justice: Commission in charge of penal reform takes office
