News and Resources
Publications
Thematic Reports
2023
December 2023
In a new article published in the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, IJDH’s Brian Concannon, Kristina Fried, and Alexandra Filippova explore the fight for restitution of Haiti’s Independence Debt, its link to Haiti’s democracy, and how the global reparations movement can benefit from supporting Haitians in their struggle for self-determination and justice.
May 2023
Debt and Dependence: Foreign Interference in Haiti and the Importance of Non-State Actor Accountability
In a new article in the Northwestern Journal of Human Rights, former IJDH staff attorney Sandra Wisner of the University of Toronto and IJDH Executive Director Brian Concannon explain how unaccountable foreign interference in Haiti has created a vicious cycle of entrenched debt and aid dependence and violated Haitians’ human rights.
2022
May 2022
Starved for Justice: International Complicity in Systematic Violations of the Right to Food in Haiti
This article by IJDH Senior Staff Attorney Sandra Wisner in Columbia Human Rights Law Review examines the impact of unaccountable foreign aid on Haiti’s food crisis and Haitians’ human rights.
April 2022
Cholera in the Time of MINUSTAH: Experiences of Community Members Affected by Cholera in Haiti
This article by Susan A. Bartels, Georgia Fraulin, Stéphanie Etienne, Sandra Wisner (IJDH), and Sabine Lee in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health examines the experiences of Haitian community members impacted by the cholera outbreak caused by the UN in 2010.
February 2022
“It’s because We are ‘Loose Girls’ That’s why We had Children with MINUSTAH Soldiers”: A Qualitative Analysis of Stigma Experienced by Peacekeeper-Fathered Children and Their Mothers in Haiti
This article by Luissa Vahedi, Heather Stuart, Stéphanie Etienne, Sandra Wisner (IJDH), Sabine Lee, and Susan Bartels in Journal of Interpersonal Violence explores the stigma experienced by survivors of UN peacekeeper sexual exploitation and abuse, with a focus on those in Haiti. The study was implemented in collaboration with BAI and Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim (KOFAVIV).
2021
November 2021
‘MINUSTAH is doing positive things just as they do negative things’: nuanced perceptions of a UN peacekeeping operation amidst peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse in Haiti
This article, authored by Carla King, Greg Ferraro, Sandra C. Wisner (IJDH), Stéphanie Etienne, Sabine Lee, and Susan A. Bartels, and published in Conflict, Security & Development, focuses on Haitian perceptions of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The authors “find that Haitian perceptions on reporting, justice and responsibility for SEA are in juxtaposition with MINUSTAH’s efforts towards stabilisation and security” and underline the need to address impunity.
2020
November 2020
Briefing Paper: Reversing Post-Raboteau Massacre Trial Impunity
The Raboteau Massacre Trial (the “Trial”) was celebrated as a commitment by the government of Haiti to ending impunity. [2] It was the first case to bring Haiti’s military leadership to justice.[3] It was also momentous because it embodied the dividends of a concerted investment in systematic improvements to Haiti’s justice sector. The Trial showed that meaningful accountability for past abuses was possible in a Haitian court of law. The recent deportation of one of the main actors responsible for the Raboteau Massacre, Emmanuel “Toto” Constant, to Haiti offers a new opportunity for the government of Haiti to re-examine the arc of the Raboteau Massacre Trial history and – hopefully – bend it towards justice.[5] Constant and any other in absentia Raboteau defendants who have returned to Haiti, regardless of position, should be arrested and brought to justice. To do otherwise is not only contrary to the rule of law but would also betray the Raboteau promise of Haitian justice that is fair and independent.
June 2020
Cholera 9 Years On… A “New Approach"
This report from IJDH and BAI brings to light the challenges that cholera survivors still face, and provides background on: the United Nations’ legal obligations to cholera survivors, the decade-long movement for justice calling for the UN to fulfill the rights it claims to protect internationally, and the ongoing violation of victims’ right to effective remedy.
2018
April 2018
Submission to the International Development Committee: Inquiry on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Aid Industry
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti partners with Doughty Street Chambers and Disaster Law Project on a submission to the UK International Development Committee (IDC) addressing the IDC’s examination of the measures necessary to establish effective safeguarding policies and processes. This submission also calls for deeper oversight, including a “next-level” review – an independent, external sector-wide inquiry – to be conducted outside of the auspices of the IDC and the Department for International Development in order to analyze how safeguarding practices are carried out in crisis and emergency settings.
2017
September 2017
The UN’s Liability for Civilian Harms: Lessons from Cholera in Haiti
This article first appeared in the September 2017 issue of the Newsletter of the Human Rights Law Committee of the Public and Professional Interest Division of the International Bar Association (Vol 1, Issue 1), and is reproduced by kind permission of the International Bar Association, London, UK. © International Bar Association.
February 2017
UNstoppable: How Advocates Persevered in the Fight for Justice for Haitian Cholera Victims
IJDH volunteer and former legal fellow Adam Houston outlines outlines the cholera epidemic in Haiti in terms of the advocacy around justice for the victims and our accompanying lawsuit in U.S. courts.
2014
April 2014
Haitian labor movement struggles as workers face increased anti-union persecution and wage suppression
This report released by Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) describes persecution against union activists, wage suppression and worker exploitation in Haiti’s public sector and apparel industry four years after the January 12, 2010 earthquake.The report also proposes a series of recommendations for the Haitian government, employers, and foreign investors like the United States government, as well as international partners wanting to support Haiti’s labor movement.
January 2014
Summary of Findings in Long-Term Assessment of Haitian Government’s 16/6 Housing Plan for Earthquake Victims
A survey conducted by the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) indicates that victims of Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake who received cash rental subsidies under the Haitian government’s 16/6 housing plan face another housing crisis as their aid money runs out. The survey also found that most aid recipients’ standard of living is worse now than before the earthquake.
2012
September 2012
Freedom of the Press in Haiti: The Chilling Effect on Journalists Critical of the Government
The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and the University of San Francisco publish a report on freedom of the press in Haiti. The report analyzes journalist complaints in light of the freedoms and protections that journalists enjoy under Haitian and international law. The report findings include information gathered in interviews with Haitian and international journalists conducted in June 2012.
2011
October 2011
HAITI’S HOUSING CRISIS: Results of a Household Survey on the Progress of President Michel Martelly’s 100-Day Plan to Close Six IDP Camps
A survey conducted in six displacement camps targeted by President Michel Martelly’s 100-day housing plan documents peoples’ lack of access to information and consultation on camp closures, one camp closure where armed law enforcement destroyed tents and belongings with sticks and machetes, and hand-outs of small cash payments without any other assistance – all of which directly contradict the durable solutions touted under the plan. The survey was conducted in August by the University of San Francisco School of Law, Center for Law and Global Justice (USF), the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) at the end of 100 days into Martelly’s presidency.
January 2011
Our Bodies Are Still Trembling: Haitian Women Continue to Fight Against Rape
MADRE, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the IWHR Clinic of CUNY School of Law release a report on sexual violence in Haiti one year after the earthquake, entitled Our Bodies Are Still Trembling: Haitian Women Continue to Fight Against Rape
January 2011
One Year After the Earthquake: Haitians Still Living in Crisis
This report, by the LAMP for Haiti Foundation (LAMP), Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), and Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), provides results from a December survey that is part of a longitudinal analysis of conditions in six of Haiti’s over 1000 camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). The first survey of camp residents was conducted in February, the second one in July, both yielding reports measuring living conditions in the camps and the on-the-ground impact of relief efforts from the international community.
2010
November 2010
Reconstructing Democracy: Joint Report of Independent Electoral Monitors of Haiti’s
November 28, 2010 Election
The consistent failure of the Haitian government to respect the laws on constitutional election procedures has been one of the BAI’s major concerns in the establishment of the rule of law in Haiti. Among these concerns are the exclusion of political parties in the legislative elections of 2009 and the presidential and legislative elections of 2010 and 2011, as well as violations of the right to vote of persons displaced since the January 12, 2010 earthquake. The BAI, TransAfrica Forum and the Louisiana Justice Institute submitted this report concerning political rights to the UN Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review of Haiti.
September 2010
“We’ve Been Forgotten”: Conditions in Haiti’s Displacement Camps Eight Months After the Earthquake
This report, by the LAMP for Haiti Foundation (LAMP), Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN), and Center for Law and Global Justice at the University of San Francisco School of Law, presents findings from a five–month follow–up of 90 Haitian families displaced by the January 12, 2010 earthquake. The initial survey was conducted in six displacement camps in February 2010. The resulting report, Neglect in the Encampments: Haiti’s Second–Wave Humanitarian Disaster, was presented to the Inter–American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C. on March 23, 2010. Summary here.
March 2010
Neglect in the Encampments: Haiti’s Second Wave Humanitarian Disaster
This report, by the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University (EMSoL), LAMP for Haiti Foundation (LAMP), Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN), Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), and Haitian Education & Leadership Program (HELP), covers aid in the aftermath of Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake. The information “suggests that while the specific numbers of people receiving help will have improved, an enormous gap between aid promised and aid received persists on the ground.” The report was presented to the Inter–American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C. on March 23, 2010.
2003
December 2003
Haitian Women’s Fight for Gender Justice
This document is a draft of a book [chapter] written in 2003, for a series of books on women’s human rights. The series was cancelled, so this chapter has never been published. The chapter should be useful for scholars and immigration advocates interested in gender-related violence in Haiti in general, and politically-motivated rape between 1991 and 1994 in particular.