International law of the rule of law: issues and challenges of international action as seen through Haiti

Since the beginning of the 90's, international community bosltered the Rule of Law, particularly in Haiti. Looking in vain to establish a democracy and devastated by humanitarian and political crises, this State emphasizes the difficulties of acting at the international level. This interdisciplinary thesis focuses on access to justice as a guarantee of rights and freedoms. It examines how and to what extent the norms used to promote the Rule of Law can be considered as States' legal duties and as a mean of change.

Appealing to international human rights law, States, international organizations and non-state actors use different legal sources of the Rule of Law in various circumstances and contribute to its elasticity in the context of progressive institutionalization at the national and international levels. The Haitian example shows that by being internationalized, the Rule of Law becomes structured and consolidated through improved State guidance, the exercise of its competences being part of a national law that respects international law, and because of strong institutions protecting rights and freedoms of which the respect is monitored by various mechanisms and institutions. Nonetheless, the relationships between national and international law, the Rule of Law and immunities, sovereignty, relations between State and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, as well as structural weaknesses impeding the development of a culture favorable to the Rule of Law restrain individuals' effective access to justice. Therefore, it seems necessary to reorient actions through transversal reforms that should result in better practices of valuing human beings.