On April 8, 2025, IJDH co-sponsored the 2025 Samuel Dash Conference on Human Rights, entitled “Truth, Solidarity, and Repair in Haiti: The Global Movement for Reparations,” alongside Georgetown University Law Center’s Human Rights Institute (HRI). The Conference commemorated the 200th anniversary of the “Independence Debt,” a ransom extorted from Haiti by France in 1825 as compensation for the value of what France considered its “property” – the lives of the formerly enslaved. The catastrophic impacts of the Independence Debt on Haiti’s development and additional vestiges of colonialism on the Haitian economy and society continue to reverberate today.
The 2025 Dash Conference centered Haiti as both a symbol and site of global injustice and revolutionary possibility. It brought together Haitian and international experts, advocates, and legal practitioners to reflect on the historical injustice of the debt and mobilize support for Haiti’s growing demand for restitution. Drawing from the country’s historic struggle for Black sovereignty and its ongoing fight for reparations, panelists explored how Haiti’s Independence Debt continues to shape the political, economic, and social conditions of the nation. Across panels, experts called for bold legal strategies, community-led advocacy, and international accountability to correct over two centuries of systemic harm.
“Haiti owes nothing, while the world owes Haiti everything.” – Dr. Peter James Hudson
The Conference took place at Georgetown University Law Center, but was live streamed with Kreyòl interpretation to ensure inclusive access, especially for Haitian audiences. IJDH partnered with the École Supérieure Catholique du Droit de Jérémie (ESCDROJ) to organize a community viewing event in Haiti, which was attended by students from four different universities. IJDH strongly condemns U.S. policies that bar Haitians from traveling to the U.S. and participating in forums like this one.
Read about the panel discussions and watch the recordings (available in English and Kreyòl) below.
PANELS AND RECORDINGS
Opening Keynote by Madame Mildred Trouillot-Aristide, Former First Lady of Haiti
Madame Mildred Aristide opened the conference by reflecting on Haiti’s 200-year struggle for justice. She delved into the turbulent legacy of the 2004 coup—a critical juncture in Haiti’s history that was, in part, a reaction to President Aristide’s bold pursuit of restitution for the country’s Independence Debt in 2003. In her address, Madame Aristide charted the longstanding struggle to assert Haiti’s legal claims and underscored how achieving restitution is not merely a matter of historical justice but a vital step toward establishing a stable and prosperous future for all Haitians. “This is what reparatory justice looks like,” she said, “advocating for what is just and right, restitution and reparations for all formerly enslaved and colonized people, while at the same time taking action to repair Haiti.”
English Version
Haitian Creole Version
Panel I: Haiti’s “Independence Debt” and the Legacy of Oppression
This opening panel, moderated by IJDH Advisory Council Member Charlot Lucien, set the historical foundation of the conference, tracing Haiti’s Independence Debt to France in 1825 and its devastating ripple effects across centuries. Historian Dr. Leslie Alexander framed the indemnity as a deliberate act of economic warfare, rooted in white supremacy and colonial retaliation against Black liberation. Dr. Peter James Hudson underscored Citibank’s central role in entrenching U.S. financial imperialism, calling for access to hidden archives and greater scrutiny of the legal structures that enabled predatory lending. Author and researcher Jake Johnston illustrated how Haiti’s enforced debt repayments created structural underdevelopment and seeded the “aid state” model, where foreign funding replaces sovereignty. Dr. Jemima Pierre emphasized the ideological function of racial capitalism and Western contempt for Haitian self-determination, arguing that the legacy of U.S. and UN occupation continues to erase Haiti’s agency.
English Version
Haitian Creole Version
Fireside Chat with Charlot Lucien
This discussion re-imagined Haiti’s trajectory had it not been shackled by the crippling indemnity imposed by France after its hard-won independence. As the first Black republic, a trailblazer in the abolition of slavery, and an inspiration to other colonized Black nations, an unburdened Haiti could have forged its legacy as a beacon of resilience, autonomy, and possibility. Charlot Lucien delved into how a debt-free Haiti might have flourished as a powerful economic and cultural force and highlighted the power of storytelling in reshaping Haiti’s image, “not just as an art, but as a transformational tool to change narratives.” The conversation celebrated Haiti’s revolutionary spirit and explored the ripple effects of such an alternate history, inspiring us to think boldly about Haiti’s future.
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Haitian Creole Version
Panel II: Haiti’s Restitution Claim: A Key to Unlock Global Justice
This panel, moderated by Professor Britta Redwood, explored how Haiti’s demand for restitution from France could unlock broader conversations on reparations and global justice. Ira Kurzban, former attorney for Haiti, described the 1825 “double debt” imposed under threat of re-enslavement as a legally precise, morally repugnant injustice; and that the restitution claim remains a legally valid and important symbol in Haiti’s fight for justice, despite political opposition. Gaynel Curry, Independent Expert Member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, emphasized Haiti’s central role in today’s reparations discourse, stressing that no real sustainable development conversation can happen without addressing Haiti’s historical debt. Monique Clesca, representing Haitian civil society, traced how the 1825 ransom created long-standing economic devastation and reinforced a neo-colonial oligarchic system, one that activists continue to resist today. Dr. Clarence Lusane reflected on the United States’ historic marginalization of Haiti’s legacy within Black political thought and underscored the critical role of civil society in building global solidarity. Panelists agreed that Haitian-led action, targeted litigation, and sustained international advocacy are crucial to ensuring that Haiti’s demand for justice is finally heard and acted upon.
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Haitian Creole Version
Featured Remarks by Ambassador Myrtha Désulmé
Haiti’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, Ambassador Myrtha Désulmé, framed Haiti’s present suffering as the inevitable consequence of centuries of deliberate hostility. Far from being naturally impoverished, Haiti, she argued, has been purposefully contained, its poverty manufactured by centuries of reparations demands, diplomatic isolation, economic embargoes, and military interventions designed to punish its audacious pursuit of freedom. For daring to overturn the world economic order built on slavery, Haiti was condemned to centuries of sabotage: “Two centuries later, Haitians are still being punished for daring to shake off their chains.” The “double debt” Haiti was forced to pay France, she explained, crippled the nation’s economy and trapped it in a cycle of poverty that persists today. Calling reparations an urgent moral imperative, not a historical abstraction, Désulmé invoked Haiti’s leadership within the CARICOM Reparations Commission and the International Repair Campaign. Closing her remarks, she reminded the audience that “Haiti needs allies,” and called on the next generation of legal advocates to “become the legal luminaries who will finally help to give back to Haiti the price of her blood.”
English Version
Haitian Creole Version
Panel III: Answering Haiti’s Call to Action
The final panel, moderated by IJDH Executive Director Brian Concannon, featured activists, lawyers and policy experts working at the front lines of reparations advocacy for a discussion on how Haiti’s reparations movement can build political traction, financial infrastructure, and community trust both domestically and internationally. Haitian human rights activist Nixon Boumba challenged attendees to consider what social and political conditions are necessary for Haiti’s future, pointing to predatory power structures and the need for new imaginaries rooted in Haitian self-determination. Enith Williams of the Reparations Finance Lab outlined a visionary blueprint for a perpetual fund governed by a coalition of Haitian community leaders, descendants, legal scholars, and global allies to ensure restitution is collective, accountable, and strategic. Reparative justice expert Dreisen Heath emphasized the cultural violence of erasure and called for a global narrative shift to support reparative justice as not only financial, but also spiritual and psychological healing. Ivan Noisette added insights from within the U.S. legislative space, pointing to the power of diaspora-led advocacy and the need to bridge insider-outside strategies to sustain political will. Throughout the discussion, panelists affirmed that reparations for Haiti are not a symbolic gesture but a concrete necessity. The question is no longer if, but how and more importantly, when. As one speaker noted, “This moment isn’t just timely, it’s overdue.”
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Haitian Creole Version
Get More Involved: Join over 200 Haitian, diaspora, and allied organizations and individuals who have pledged their support for the Eight Point Framework! The document lays out a framework for restitution for the Independence Debt illegally coerced from Haiti by France, including a long-term repayment plan focusing on areas of socio-economic development most impacted by the debt. Individuals and organizations can endorse the Framework here.