Survey on the functioning of the PNH: police officers demand better working conditions
- 132 officers were surveyed between 6 and 27 May 2024, 108 men and 24 women, in eight of the ten departments; the Artibonite and Nord-Ouest were not covered.
- 303 officers were killed between 2015 and 2023, an average of thirty-four a year, with 54 in 2021 the highest.
- At least sixty-eight armed attacks on police facilities were recorded since 1 June 2021, an average of two per post.
- Thirty-six officers were assassinated from June 2023 to June 2024, twenty of them from January 2024.
- The demands are the officers' own: pay, health insurance, survivors' salaries, transparent ranks and premiums, equipment, certification and unions outside the capital.
Between 6 and 27 May 2024 the network's monitors put a prepared survey form to 132 officers of the Haitian National Police, 108 men and 24 women, posted in stations, sub-stations, prisons and specialised units across eight of the country's ten geographical departments; the Artibonite and the Nord-Ouest could not be covered. The report opens by thanking the officers who took part and sets out their age, sex, years of service, rank and place of posting before turning to what they said about general working conditions, social security and protection at work, training, equipment, and the organisation of their own physical security.
Two counts sit inside it. The first is nine years of officers killed, 303 between 2015 and 2023, an average of thirty-four a year, with the annual figures printed as a table: 25 in 2015, 17 in 2016, 15 in 2017, 17 in 2018, 45 in 2019, 37 in 2020, 54 in 2021, 50 in 2022 and 43 in 2023, and at least twenty more between January and mid-June 2024. The second is armed attacks on police stations, prisons, specialised unit bases and fixed and mobile patrols: at least sixty-eight since 1 June 2021, listed with dates and places, most of them killing officers stationed there, and averaging two attacks per post over the period. From June 2023 to June 2024 thirty-six officers were assassinated, twenty of them from January 2024. The demands the report carries are the officers' own: salary revision and the regular funding of their debit cards, effective health insurance, the salaries of officers killed on duty continued to their spouses and their children's education, transparent distribution of ranks and risk premiums, clean premises with proper dormitories, equipment and rolling stock for every station and prison, competent and honest appointments to the leadership, professionalisation, continuous training, certification of every member, and unions that operate in all ten departments; the officers say they operate only in Port-au-Prince.
How to cite
National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), 2024, Survey on the functioning of the PNH: police officers demand better working conditions, https://web.rnddh.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/5-Rap-PNH-12Juin2024.FR_.pdf
- Rights holder
- Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)