Despite the risks of abuse and harassment, as reported by the UN/OAS civilian mission, some women did report rape to the authorities during the coup regime. In theory, these cases should have been investigated by civilian authorities and tried in civilian courts. In practice, however, they were handled by the military, with the result that allegations of rape were seldom investigated formally and rapists were rarely brought to trial or punished fortheir crimes according to applicable law. The military's failure to ensure that rape cases were adjudicated by the proper civilian authorities clearly violated the 1987 Haitian Constitution, which specifies that conflicts between civilian and military personnel should be handled by civilian courts.
The UN/OAS civilian mission documented a case of rape committed by soldiers where the victim reported the assaults to military authorities who then conducted their own, informal investigations and never referred the cases to the civilian authorities.90 In this case, a thirteen-year-old girl was raped in Bayeux, Department of the North, by a corporal at a military post. According to the UN/OAS civilian mission: "The military authorities first tried to dismiss the rape by saying that the girl was not a virgin. The corporal was eventually given a punishment of ten days' detention."91 In a second case, a sixteen-year-old girl in the Department of the Northeast was raped by a soldier from the barracks of Fort Liberté. Her family took her to see a doctor who verified the rape and gave her a certificate of his diagnosis. The young woman's family presented all the evidence to a regional commander, who promised to order an investigation. According to the UN/OAS civilian mission's report, "The soldier was arrested for a few days and then released. He has been seen since, in uniform, circulating freely in the area."92
The results of the military-conducted investigations in these cases differed from the requirements of Haitian criminal law. In the case of the thirteen-year-old who was raped, according to the Haitian penal code, the soldier, if found guilty, would have been sentenced to imprisonment and hard labor.93 In the case of the sixteen-year-old who was raped, the soldier, if found guilty, would have been sentenced to imprisonment from three to nine years. Moreover, because soldiers and police act as public guardians and hold positions of trust and power over Haitian citizens, they, if convicted of rape, would have been subject to more severe punishment for abusing their positionsof authority or guardianship.94 Instead, the assailants in these two cases were detained for less than two weeks.
90 UN/OAS International Civilian Mission in Haiti, Report on the Situation of Democracy and Human Rights in Haiti, A/48/532, October 25, 1993, p.18.
93 Article 279 of the Haitian penal code provides: "Whosoever commits the crime of rape, or who attempts other indecent assaults, whether consummated or attempted, involving violence against individuals of either sex, will be punished with imprisonment." Article 280 further provides: "If the crime is committed against a minor under the age of fifteen, the guilty will be subjected to punishment of hard labor of limited duration."
94 Section IV, Article 279 states that "The punishment shall be a life sentence of forced labor if the guilty one is of the class of those who have authority over the person towards that which they have committed the attack, if they are primary school teachers or wage servants, or if they are civil servants or clergy...."
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