On November 26, 2021, Managing Attorney Mario Joseph of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) participated in a pre-session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to present on the current human rights situation in Haiti. Mr. Joseph and other representatives of Haitian civil society organizations as well as national human rights institutions presented an overview of Haiti’s human rights situation and their recommendations to international diplomatic representatives. UN agencies and the Haitian government were also invited. Mr. Joseph’s presentation focused on impunity and access to justice. The pre-session was organized by UPR Info, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the Swiss Embassy, Combite pour la Paix et le Développement, and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights.

BAI Presentation on Impunity and Access to Justice

During his presentation, Mr. Joseph called attention to chronic and worsening impunity for human rights violations in Haiti and linked it directly to Haiti’s current state of insecurity. He further discussed the ways in which Haiti’s justice sector has become dysfunctional and politicized under the rule of the PHTK political party. He concluded by emphasizing that “Haiti can and must do better,” and that his assessment “is not a lamentation but a call to action. What Haiti needs is a legitimate government with the political will to confront chronic impunity, deliver justice to Haitians, and reform the justice system so that it is designed to and capable of serving all Haitians without distinction.”

Read Mr. Joseph’s full statement in French here. Read his statement in English here.