The National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) organized, on Friday, September 11, 2026, the second morning of reflection devoted to the consequences of the decree on the organization and functioning of the High Court of Justice, adopted in December 2025. Two speakers, Attorney Roseberthe Augustin, a lawyer with the Port-au-Prince Bar, and Magistrate Sonel Jean François, a judge at the Port-au-Prince Court of Appeal, presented converging and critical analyses of the text, supplemented by comments from Rosy Auguste Ducéna, Program Manager at RNDDH.

According to Attorney Roseberthe Augustin, the decree completely reverses the constitutional logic. Designed by the 1987 Constitution to protect the office, and not the person holding it, the High Court of Justice was intended to make it possible to prosecute senior officials without exposing them to abusive proceedings, while ensuring that they could be tried, the lawyer recalled. The new text, she said, reverses this purpose: it no longer protects the office, but builds a shield around the person, including after that person has left office.