White Paper on National Security and Defense for the Sustainable Economic and Social Development of Haiti

The white paper was drafted by the Commission d'Élaboration du Livre Blanc, created by presidential order on 16 September 2014 under the leadership of the Ministry of Defense. The President had asked the Inter-American Defense Board of the Organization of American States for assistance on 7 February 2014. The commission had nine members, chaired by Ambassador Pierre François Benoit, and held four thematic workshops in Port-au-Prince whose conclusions form the main chapters. Annex A presents the commission as the fourth of a series on the armed forces, after those named in 2004, 2007 and 2011.

The text has four parts and six annexes. Part one sets out the strategic vision and the country profile, which gives 10.9 million inhabitants in 2015 and 58.5 percent of the population below the national poverty line. Part two covers the interests to preserve and the global, regional and subregional frameworks. Part three treats security as a condition of stability and development and lists the resources it requires. Part four sets out the defense and security policies. The annexes give the background, the drafting process, considerations for a security doctrine and policy, a glossary, the presidential order creating the commission and the constitutional articles on the public force.

On defense, the white paper holds that rebuilding the armed forces is fundamental, with protection of the borders, rapid response to natural or human-made disasters and permanent surveillance of critical infrastructure and national communications as their missions. It recommends an advisory national security council, proposes military engineering units and a specialized unit that would restore communications and essential infrastructure after a disaster, and suggests considering a civil defense system. The message of the Prime Minister places the publication in the context of the expected departure of the UN force.