September 2018
The BAI Fights Government Corruption and Violence in Haiti
The Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) stepped up for the 36 families of Pelerin 5, who were evicted illegally and had their houses near the President’s private residence illegally destroyed to make room for a helicopter pad and access road. The office is helping the victims take their case to Haitian courts, with complaints against the prosecutor, police, and elected officials involved. We are also fighting at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in the press and on the streets with high-profile protests.
BAI and IJDH advocacy generates more funds for cholera victim assistance
As a result of our advocacy, donors have now provided $18 million to support victims of cholera in Haiti over the past year. This includes a $10 million Congressional appropriation that we helped secure through bi-partisan advocacy and by mobilizing constituents, faith-leaders and media. This is far short of the $200 million, that the UN promised, but we are making huge progress: a year ago only $500,000 was planned to go to victims. BAI and IJDH’s advocacy over the years has also kept pressure on the international community to spend $680 million to combat cholera in Haiti over the past eight years. These numbers were featured in the Secretary-General’s recent report on the UN’s “New Approach” to eliminate cholera and repair victims in Haiti, launched in response to BAI and IJDH’s campaign for justice.
Our advocacy also pushed the Haitian government to speak publicly on cholera, with President Jovenel Moise calling on the UN to compensate victims during his address to the UN General Assembly in September. Hundreds of cholera victims mobilized in Mirebalais to demand stronger government action.
Good-Bye to IJDH Staff Attorney Nicole Phillips
We are very sad to be saying good-bye to Staff Attorney Nicole Phillips, who has been a poto-mitan (centerpost) of our work for over a decade. Nicole started helping IJDH in 2007, supervising students at the University of San Francisco School of Law working on our cases. She jumped on board full-time in the wake of Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake, bringing critical expertise in international human rights institutions, women’s rights, labor rights and elections, as well as a deep commitment to justice in Haiti. Nicole has been a thoughtful and accessible mentor to dozens of lawyers and law students in the U.S. and Haiti, and a valued collaborator to a host of organizations working on human rights in Haiti.
Nicole is leaving to spend more time on her teaching at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and the University of the Aristide Foundation Law School. We will miss having Nicole on the team, but look forward to continuing collaborating with her and her well-trained students!
September Reads:
Judge allows torture lawsuit to proceed against former Haitian mayor turned Boston
School-Bus Driver, Center for Justice & Accountability, September 5, 2018
After riots, Haiti still doesn’t have a working government, lawmakers say, Jacqueline
Charles, Miami Herald, September 6, 2018
The Roots of Haiti’s Movement for PetroCaribe Transparency, Kim Ives, Haiti Liberte,
September 12, 2018
Haiti finally has a new government after riots over fuel prices, Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald, September 16, 2018
Où sont passées les promesses de l’ONU envers les victimes du choléra? (What
happened to the UN’s promises to cholera victims?), Jean Pharès Jérôme, Le
Nouvelliste, September 26, 2018
UN Pledges to eradicate peacekeeper sex abuse, Ruairi Casey, Al Jazeera, September
29, 2018
Sit-in Near the Residence of President Moise, Haiti Libre, October 1, 2018
July update
IJDH and BAI Focus Discussion of Haiti Fuel Increase Protests on Root Causes
IJDH and BAI influenced the discussion of Haiti’s July 6 civil unrest, in both Haiti and the U.S., to focus on the misery and corruption that left Haitians feeling that provocative demonstrations were the only way they could make their voices heard. BAI’s Managing Director Mario Joseph, in a press release, decried the Haitian government’s willingness to execute the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) unpopular and disastrous economic policy while ignoring the pain and the suffering that the policy will inflict on the Haiti’s poor. IJDH Executive Director Brian Concannon’s Op-Ed, in the Miami Herald noted that “Haiti’s poverty, like the fuel-price increases, is the product of decisions made by those who possess wealth and power in Haiti and abroad — with a stunning absence of input from the majority of Haitians who are poor.” Concanon criticized both Haitian government and IMF’s failed economic policy that is designed to only protect the interest of the wealthiest Haitians at the expense of the poor on the Brian Lehrer Show(WNYC/NPR in New York City) and the morning show (WBAI/Pacifica, New York).
With the majority of Haitians living under USD$2 per day, rampant corruption and deeply flawed elections, it was almost inevitable that a drastic reduction in fuel subsidies would trigger street unrests. IJDH and BAI work every day to increase the Haitian people’s ability to non-violently assert their rights through the Legal Observer Program, defending protesters arrested illegally, the civic engagement network and making the courts more accessible for all Haitians.
BAI’s Mario Joseph was featured in a Vice News/HBO video report, explaining why the planned return of Haiti’s army will bring a return of increased state violence.
Human Rights Organizations Demand UN Consult with Haiti’s Cholera Victims
Over 60 human rights organizations, including the Amnesty International, joined the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) in a letter urging the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to consult with the victims of cholera in Haiti. They also called on Mr. Guterres to follow through on the promise made by his predecessor to raise $400 million to eradicate cholera, and compensate the victims. The organizations noted that “[t]he UN has an opportunity with the New Approach to help rebuild the lives of thousands of cholera victims and set a powerful example that the UN will embody the principles of human rights and rule of law that it promotes to others.”
IJDH and BAI Continue the Fight for Justice for Victims of Sexual Assault and Exploitation
Haitian press articles on the obstacles facing sexual assault victims- and one successful prosecution—featuring BAI’s work were in Le Nouvelliste and Loop Haiti. IJDH Staff Attorney Nicole Phillips told a PBS Frontlinedocumentary on Haitian mothers’ paternity claims against UN soldiers in Haiti “How are you supposed to file a claim against somebody from the UN who had left the country and now lives on another continent in a country that speaks another language? … The hurdles are almost insurmountable for her.”
IJDH Is Accepting Applications for Fall 2018 Internships
IJDH is now accepting applications for its Fall 2018 Communications & Development Internships and Legal Internships. We count on interns as a critical part of our work. Most interns find their time with us to be exciting; many find it life-changing. Please consider passing this message on to anyone in your network who might be interested. Interns and volunteers at IJDH are unpaid, but internships provide significant training in nonprofit administration, development, and communication, and human rights advocacy.
Join IJDH this fall as a communications & development or legal intern.
July’s Reads
‘Scared to death’: Miami Haitians fear family separations if protected status expires, by Martin Vassolo, Miami Herald, July 24, 2018
Op-Ed: If Haiti’s government does not confront poverty, corruption, more unrest will follow, by Brian Concannon Jr., Miami Herald, July 17, 2018
Haiti’s Army Is Making A Comeback 20 Years After Disbanding, by Joshua Hersch and Harriet Dedman, Vice News, June 25, 2018
