Law & Justice

Homophobia has long been a problem in Haiti, and staff at Kouraj (a LGBT rights organization focused on improving treatment towards LGBT people in Haiti) say it’s only gotten worse since the 2010 earthquake. Chachou Jean Francois, a transgender group leader and youth educator at Kouraj, is the arrival of foreign evangelicals imposing their views. After the 2010 earthquake, many of the organizations that rushed to Haiti to help were christian evangelical groups. It is   widely believed in Haiti’s LGBT community that Christian fundamentalism spread, along with anti-LGBT sentiment.   Read More HERE. Why it’s gotten harder for LGBT people in Haiti since the earthquake By Amy Bracken, February 6, 2018 The name of Haiti’s most prominent LGBT rights organization is Kouraj (Haitian Creole for courage) — with good reason. The group’s headquarters have moved three times after attacks. The current office is […]

 The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) along with its sister organization the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) continues to fight for Haiti’s prisoners’ rights by challenging the country’s justice system to respect the fundamental human rights of every single Haitian citizen.  We invite you to watch this 60-second video produced by our partner the New Media Advocacy Project titled “The Men of the Cell 5.”

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 […]