IJDH Senior Staff Attorney Sandra Wisner and IJDH Bertha Justice Fellow Kristina Fried call attention to the international community’s problematic involvement in Haiti’s garment industry in an article in Opinio Juris. The current workers’ rights protests “are rooted in decades of rights violations perpetrated by foreign states’ approach to investment in Haiti.”
“[A]s our colleagues at the Haitian Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) observed first-hand while working to obtain redress for workers in Haitian courts, this apparel industry brought allegations of workers’ rights violations, including workplace sexual harassment, benefits theft, and polluting waste.”
“Foreign actors must be held accountable to their legal obligations both for the harm they have caused and to ensure that future investment in Haiti is fair and sustainable.”
Read the full article here. Read the French translation here.