HAITI-CPT urged to provide an account of its mandate.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC -The Port-au-Prince Bar Association (PBA), Patrick Pierre-Louis, is calling on the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) to provide an account of its stewardship as it prepares to demit office on February 7.

Haiti has been without an elected head of state since July 2021, when President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his private residence overlooking the capital, Port-au-Prince. Since then, criminal gangs have been seeking to overthrow the provisional government and have taken control of a vast section of the capital.

The CPT was established in April 2024 to restore political stability, address the security crisis caused by powerful armed gangs, and facilitate a transition of power following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

The nine-member council was created to select a new prime minister and cabinet, prepare for, and oversee the nation’s next elections, scheduled for early 2026. Since April 2024, Haiti has held no national elections.

But with less than a week to go, political parties, civil society groups, and ordinary citizens are intensifying calls for the CPT’s departure, describing the council as costly, corrupt, and incapable of addressing the country’s deepening crisis.

The United Nations has reported that more than 8,000 people have been killed between 2024 and 2025, with at least 38 police officers also dying during the period. Over 1.4 million people have been displaced, while more than 5.7 million face acute food insecurity.

Pierre-Louis, in a statement, said that following the General Assembly of lawyers held on November 21, last year, and 19 months of the CPT “no significant action has been taken to concretely strengthen the justice system” noting that the assassination of prominent Haitian lawyer, law professor and former PBA president, Monferrier Dorval, who was murdered on August 28, 2020.

Pierre-Louis said that the PBA has also observed the absence of an adequate judicial and security policy, particularly in the face of acts of terror “perpetrated by armed gangs against a marginalised population” as well as “the chronic inability to establish the conditions necessary for the restoration of the rule of law, of which lawyers remain the guardians”.

The PBA said that it is also concerned “by the deficiencies that will manifest themselves within the criminal justice system when confronted with the multiple legal situations that, once state authority is restored, will arise in terms of conducting investigations, judicial decisions, the enforcement of judgments, and demands for redress, given the plethora of offenses committed against persons and property during the transition”.

The PBA said that given that the mandate of the CPT comes to an end on February 7, it is concerned “with the need to preserve the general interest through constructive dialogue among the vital forces of the nation.

The PBA said that it is reminding “those holding constituted powers of the requirements of the Political Agreement that provided a normative basis for their legitimacy and invites them to account for the exercise of their functions so that the nation may learn from this experience”.

Last week, the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping said it has noted “with great concern” the “internal turmoil” in Haiti and is urging “stakeholders to put the future of their people and country above all else”.

In a statement, CARICOM said that the internal turmoil was taking place “at this delicate point in time when stability and level-headedness in decision-making, and prioritisation of the well-being of the Haitian people, are urgently required of members of the Haitian executive”.