Haitian Coast Guard

Coast Guard Commission of Haiti
Commissariat des Gardes-Côtes d’Haïti
Flag[1]
Flag[1]
AbbreviationG-Cd'H
Agency overview
Formed1997
Employees200
Jurisdictional structure
National agency
(Operations jurisdiction)		Haiti
Operations jurisdictionHaiti
Legal jurisdictionHaitian and international waters
Specialist jurisdiction
  • Coastal patrol, marine border protection, marine search and rescue.
Operational structure
HeadquartersKillick, Port-au-Prince
Agency executive
Parent agencyHaitian National Police

The Haitian Coast Guard, officially the Haitian Coast Guard Commission (French: Commissariat des Gardes-Côtes d’Haïti; abbreviated G-Cd'H), is an operational unit of the Haitian National Police. It is one of the few law enforcement organisations in the world to combine water policing and coast guard duties while remaining as a policing unit. It operates primarily as a law enforcement agency, with secondary responsibilities in search and rescue.

The Haitian Coast Guard had its name changed several times. The Haitian Navy (Marine Haitienne) existed from 1860 until the U.S. occupation in 1915 and then again from 1970 until the U.S. Operation Restore Democracy in 1994. The Coast Guard was established in the late 1930s and was renamed as the Navy in 1970, before being abolished with the rest of the Armed Forces in 1994.[2] In 1997, the Haitian Coast Guard was recreated as a special unit in the Haitian National Police,[3] and since then it has received assistance in the form of training and equipment from the United States Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard.[4]

The Haitian Coast Guard has four bases[1] along with eight patrol boats[5] and 200 personnel.[6] The Killick Coast Guard base at the harbor of Port-au-Prince is the headquarters of the Coast Guard, and it also has bases in Cap-Haïtien, Les Cayes, and Port-de-Paix.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d "High Level / Technical Visit Report to the Republic of Haiti" (PDF). International Hydrographic Organization. June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  2. ^ Metz 2001, pp. 470–471.
  3. ^ Metz 2001, p. 479.
  4. ^ Wartko 1999, pp. 38–39.
  5. ^ IISS 2023, p. 402.
  6. ^ "Coast Guard of Haiti : Only 4 boats in bad condition to control 1,500 km of coastline". icihaiti.com. 5 December 2019.