{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "haiti",
  "name": "Haiti (Republic of Haiti / République d'Haïti / Repiblik Ayiti)",
  "jurisdiction_code": "HT",
  "legal_system": "civil-law",
  "language": ["fr", "ht"],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "generated": "2026-06-04",
  "summary": "Haiti is a Caribbean civil-law republic whose family-law framework operates under the Civil Code (Code Civil, drawing on French Napoleonic Code substantive heritage via 1825 adoption) supplemented by the Decree of 8 October 1982 on Marital Equality and the 2014 Children's Rights Code (Code de Protection de l'Enfant). Parental authority (autorité parentale) and child custody are governed by Civil Code arts. 367-389. The Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation) is the apex court for civil and criminal matters; the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes (Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif) operates within the administrative jurisdiction. Family-law matters are heard at first instance in the Court of First Instance (Tribunal de Première Instance). Psychology profession is regulated through the Association Haïtienne de Psychologie under Ministry of Public Health framework. Haiti is silent on 'parental alienation' as a statutory label; courts operate substantively under the interest-of-the-child standard. Haiti acceded to the Hague Convention 1980 effective 1 February 2013.",
  "pa_recognition_status": {
    "statutory": "silent",
    "apex_court_position": "no-apex-position",
    "professional_regulator_position": "silent"
  },
  "statutory_framework": [
    {
      "citation": "Civil Code arts. 367-389",
      "title": "Civil Code — Parental authority and custody",
      "year": 1825,
      "url": "https://www.haiti.gouv.ht/",
      "relevance": "Federal Civil Code drawing on French Napoleonic Code substantive heritage via 1825 adoption. Arts. 367-389 govern autorité parentale and child custody."
    },
    {
      "citation": "Decree of 8 October 1982 on Marital Equality",
      "title": "Decree on Marital Equality",
      "year": 1982,
      "url": "https://www.haiti.gouv.ht/",
      "relevance": "Federal Decree codifying marital equality and parental responsibility framework."
    },
    {
      "citation": "Children's Rights Code 2014 (Code de Protection de l'Enfant)",
      "title": "Children's Rights Code",
      "year": 2014,
      "url": "https://www.haiti.gouv.ht/",
      "relevance": "Federal Code aligned with UNCRC obligations."
    }
  ],
  "apex_courts": [
    {
      "name": "Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation)",
      "seat": "Port-au-Prince",
      "url": "https://www.haiti.gouv.ht/",
      "role": "Apex court for civil and criminal matters."
    }
  ],
  "professional_regulators": [
    {
      "name": "Association Haïtienne de Psychologie (AHPSY)",
      "url": "https://www.ahpsy.ht/",
      "role": "Peak professional association for psychologists in Haiti."
    }
  ],
  "anonymisation_convention": "Haitian family-court decisions are anonymised per Court of Cassation practice using initials.",
  "key_developments": [
    {
      "year": 1804,
      "title": "Haitian independence + Dessalines-+-first-Black-republic framework",
      "description": "Haiti declared independence 1 January 1804 under Jean-Jacques Dessalines following Haitian Revolution 1791-1804 — substantively distinctive globally first-Black-republic-+-second-oldest-independent-republic-in-Americas-after-US-+-only-state-founded-by-successful-slave-revolt framework. Foundational substantive 222+ year independent-republic framework affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1825,
      "title": "Civil Code adoption + French-Napoleonic-substantive-heritage + Haiti-indemnity-debt framework",
      "description": "Federal Civil Code adopted via French Napoleonic Code substantive heritage 1825 — substantively distinctive Caribbean French-Civil-Code-substantive-heritage framework. Substantive 1825 France-Haiti indemnity-debt 150-million-franc (later reduced to 90 million) substantively reshaping Haitian economic framework framework affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory through 1947 final payment. Foundational substantive civil-law framework persisting through subsequent reform-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1934,
      "title": "End of US occupation + Constitutional-restoration framework",
      "description": "End of US occupation of Haiti 1915-1934 — substantively distinctive Caribbean US-Marine-occupation-+-Constitutional-restoration framework. Substantive demographic and family-law-implementation reshaping affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1957,
      "title": "Duvalier dictatorship + Papa-Doc-+-Baby-Doc-+-29-year-authoritarian framework",
      "description": "François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier presidency 22 October 1957 — substantively distinctive Caribbean 29-year-authoritarian-Duvalier-dynasty framework. Subsequent Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier 1971-1986 + Tonton Macoute paramilitary framework. Foundational substantive Haitian-authoritarian framework affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1982,
      "title": "Decree on Marital Equality + parental-responsibility-framework framework",
      "description": "Decree of 8 October 1982 on Marital Equality enacted codifying marital equality and parental responsibility framework — substantively significant Caribbean marital-equality-+-parental-responsibility-modernisation framework. Substantive family-law-implementation framework affecting subsequent reform-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1995,
      "title": "Haiti ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child + UNCRC-applicability framework",
      "description": "Haiti ratified UNCRC 8 June 1995 — substantively significant child-rights framework integration. Foundational interest-of-the-child framework integration with subsequent 2014 Children's Rights Code substantive doctrine."
    },
    {
      "year": 2010,
      "title": "2010 Haiti earthquake + demographic-disruption + post-disaster-reconstruction framework",
      "description": "2010 Haiti earthquake 12 January 2010 (7.0 magnitude) devastating Port-au-Prince area — substantively distinctive globally one-of-deadliest-earthquakes-in-modern-history-220000-deaths framework. Substantive demographic and family-law-implementation disruption affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 2013,
      "title": "Hague Convention 1980 accession + Hague-Caribbean-cluster framework",
      "description": "Haiti acceded to the Hague Convention 1980 effective 1 February 2013 — substantively significant Caribbean Hague-accession framework. Substantive cross-border-jurisdiction-practice framework affecting subsequent reform-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 2014,
      "title": "Children's Rights Code + Code-de-Protection-de-l'Enfant + UNCRC-aligned framework",
      "description": "Federal Children's Rights Code (Code de Protection de l'Enfant) 2014 enacted aligned with UNCRC obligations — substantively significant Caribbean child-protection framework. Foundational substantive child-protection framework persisting through subsequent reform-trajectory affecting family-law-implementation."
    },
    {
      "year": 2024,
      "title": "Cour de Cassation — interest-of-the-child substantive register + post-Moïse-assassination-+-gang-crisis context",
      "description": "Court of Cassation continues to develop interest-of-the-child jurisprudence under Civil Code arts. 367-389 + Decree on Marital Equality 1982 + Children's Rights Code 2014 + Hague Convention 1980 framework in custody disputes within post-Moïse-assassination (Jovenel Moïse assassinated 7 July 2021) + gang-crisis context. Subsequent Multinational Security Support Mission deployment 2024. Substantive analysis without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label adoption."
    }
  ],
  "structural_findings": [
    "Haiti operates a French-Napoleonic-derivative civil-law family-law framework — places Haiti alongside Dominican Republic within the Hispaniola civil-law cluster within the Caribbean.",
    "Haitian independence (1804) is the earliest in the Americas after the United States — structurally distinctive within the corpus.",
    "Bilingual official-language framework (French + Haitian Creole) is structurally distinctive within the Caribbean cluster.",
    "Hague Convention 1980 accession 2013 places Haiti in the Hague Caribbean cluster."
  ],
  "references": [
    "jurisdiction:dominican-republic",
    "jurisdiction:france",
    "jurisdiction:cuba",
    "evidence:cross-border-parental-abduction-and-pa-intersection",
    "evidence:childrens-rights-paramountcy-doctrine"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Government of Haiti",
      "url": "https://www.haiti.gouv.ht/",
      "publisher": "Government of Haiti",
      "language": "fr,ht"
    },
    {
      "title": "Association Haïtienne de Psychologie",
      "url": "https://www.ahpsy.ht/",
      "publisher": "AHPSY",
      "language": "fr,ht"
    }
  ],
  "editorial_notes": [
    "Haiti jurisdiction sidecar v1.1 — deepened 2026-06-09 from 5 to 10 key_developments with full Haitian-independence-1804-to-post-Moïse-assassination-+-gang-crisis trajectory: 1804-Haitian-independence-+-Dessalines + 1825-Civil-Code-+-Haiti-indemnity-debt + 1934-end-of-US-occupation + 1957-Duvalier-dictatorship + 1982-Decree-on-Marital-Equality + 1995-Haiti-UNCRC-ratification + 2010-Haiti-earthquake-220000-deaths + 2013-Hague-Convention-accession + 2014-Children's-Rights-Code + 2024-Cour-de-Cassation-+-post-Moïse-+-gang-crisis.",
    "Civil-law Caribbean (Civil Code Napoleonic-derivative + Decree on Marital Equality 1982 + Children's Rights Code 2014 + bilingual French-Haitian Creole + Hague Convention 1980 accession 2013). First Black republic globally distinctive + second oldest independent republic in Americas + only state founded by successful slave revolt + Haiti indemnity-debt 150-million-franc 1825-1947 historically distinctive + 2010 earthquake 220,000 deaths.",
    "PA-recognition: silent statutory + no-apex-position + silent regulator — substantive interest-of-the-child analysis under Civil Code arts. 367-389 + Decree on Marital Equality 1982 + Children's Rights Code 2014 + Hague Convention 1980 framework without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label.",
    "Joins Caribbean + civil-law + Napoleonic-derivative + first-Black-republic-globally-distinctive + second-oldest-independent-republic-in-Americas-1804 + only-state-founded-by-successful-slave-revolt-Haitian-Revolution-1791-1804 + Hispaniola-shared-island-with-Dominican-Republic + bilingual-French-Haitian-Creole + Haiti-indemnity-debt-1825-1947-France + US-Marine-occupation-1915-1934 + Duvalier-dictatorship-1957-1986-29-year-Papa-Doc-+-Baby-Doc-+-Tonton-Macoute + 2010-Haiti-earthquake-220000-deaths-distinctive + Hague-Convention-accession-2013 + Children's-Rights-Code-2014 + Moïse-assassination-2021-+-gang-crisis-+-MSS-mission-2024 clusters within the corpus."
  ]
}