Law & Justice

About Us Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) has successfully helped Haitians enforce their human rights since 2004. The Institute partners with Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) to support grassroots struggles for justice in Haiti and in the powerful countries abroad where decisions about Haitians’ rights are often made. IJDH and BAI combine traditional legal strategies with organizing, emerging technology, and public advocacy to address the root causes of instability and poverty in Haiti. We fight for justice with routinely excellent legal work, but also with creativity, humility, inspiration and humor, and a supportive work culture. We effect broad changes with modest resources by nurturing large advocacy networks. 2018 Legal Internship IJDH seeks legal interns to work on advocacy and legal cases, including our groundbreaking work to hold the UN accountable for introducing cholera to Haiti, and other human rights projects on an as-needed basis […]

This Interview was first published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding Dr. Nicolas Lemay-Hébert interviewed Brian Concannon, Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), on 22 July 2017. IJDH, along with its sister group, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Haiti, have spearheaded a campaign to push the United Nations (UN) to recognize its responsibility in bringing cholera to Haiti, a decision that will certainly have ramifications for the future of international peacekeeping. In the name of thousands of victims in Haiti, IJDH has decided to sue the United Nations in New York for their responsibility in bringing cholera to the country. Can you tell us more about the genesis of the campaign and why IJDH has decided to address this specific issue? As soon as the outbreak was reported, Haitians started pointing at the UN base in […]

Dear friends,In October of this year, “Marie” came into a Partners In Health-supported hospital in Haiti with diarrhea and dehydration. My amazing colleagues at Zanmi Lasante successfully treated her cholera, but that was the easy part. The hard part is the work done by the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) to end the conditions that exposed Marie to a disease no one should get in the 21st century.The real disease that afflicts Marie and other impoverished Haitians is chronic injustice. Ill health is just a symptom of this deeper problem. Marie left the hospital only to return to the ongoing lack of potable water and sanitation that inflicts cholera and other diseases on millions of Haitians every day. The treatment for these conditions is justice. Justice in the form of […]

 Dear friends,I am writing this letter to thank you for standing with me and my community when we need you the most. If there is a time in my life I can dare to say to my fellow Haitians that better days are ahead of them, it is today.When Father Gérard Jean-Juste, whom I called my adoptive father was illegally arrested from 2004-2006 after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to leave Haiti, I knew that I had to fight for his freedom. We had an uphill battle because a brutal and illegal government ruled Haiti, using the justice system as a tool of repression. In Haiti we were protesting against Fr. Jean-Juste’s arbitrary arrest while in the United States you were doing your part through donations to Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau des Avocats […]

Dear Friends,Times are tough for those of us who care about justice in our world. But the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) were built for tough times, and so are you. You are a vital part of the network of supporters that have won “impossible” victories for the Haitian people for over two decades:  ✓ Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier had the support of Haiti’s President and prosecutors, but in 2014 the Appeals Court declared in our case that Duvalier must stand trial, thus showing tyrants that they could be pursued as long as necessary; ✓ Haiti had one of the world’s weakest judiciaries, but our Raboteau Massacre trial in 2000 was hailed as one of the most important human rights prosecutions ever in the Americas.            Will you consider a year-end gift to help us keep […]

Dear Friend, My day job is playing in a rock and roll band, and through my travels in the last decade I’ve been incredibly lucky to witness the work of IJDH. I’ve seen them work to hold the UN accountable for its role in spreading cholera in Haiti, representing those who were (and still are!) directly harmed. After six long years—thanks to their advocacy and legal work—the UN apologized and promised a renewed fight against cholera. And now I see IJDH still working to make the UN live up to its apology, and fund its promises to eradicate cholera and compensate the victims. I’ve also met up with IJDH and made late night phone calls to Congress from the bar Great Scott in Allston, Massachusetts. I’ve danced with their lawyers at the Hotel Florita in Haiti after the Kanaval parade […]