Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Dear Friend,   I came to the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti in December of 2017, because through my work at IJDH I am able to live out my deep, personal commitment to Haiti and her people.   I began working within the Boston Haitian community in graduate school, and was called to deepen my level of engagement through sustained culturally competent efforts. Then the January 12, 2010 earthquake hit, and nothing else mattered. Six months and a graduation later, I was in Haiti.   Nine years later I am married to a Haitian man confronting the difficulties of living in this country as a black immigrant. We have three wonderful Haitian-American children and together we are doing our best to reconcile the plenty of life in the U.S. with the hunger and limited access to education, healthcare, […]

Haiti TPS Documents Automatically Valid to January 2, 2020 At Least!   On March 1, 2019, DHS published an official Federal Register Notice (“FRN”) automatically extending the validity of Haiti TPS work permits and other TPS documents to January 2, 2020!  No Haitian with TPS needs to pay or do anything at all to benefit; the FRN has the force of law and the extensions are automatic! DHS did this to comply with the October 3, 2018 Ramos federal court preliminary injunction blocking DHS from ending TPS for Haiti, Sudan, El Salvador, and Nicaragua!  See USCIS’s summary, Update on Ramos v. Nielsen.  (On April 11, 2019, another federal court, this one in Brooklyn in Saget v. Trump, also blocked DHS from ending Haiti TPS, in a preliminary injunction finding DHS’s decision to have been unlawful and unconstitutional, adding another level […]

A judge has granted a preliminary injunction in January’s Saget v. Trump case on the illegal termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. Victory! PDF Version Here

The United Nations and Cholera in Haiti: Guilty but Not Responsible Tuesday, April 9th from 12:00pm-12:50pm 1585 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge | Harvard University| Wasserstein Hall | Room 2009 Dr. Ricardo Seitenfus will discuss his book, followed by a discussion with panelists, Elizabeth Campa, Senior Health and Policy Advisor for Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante and IJDH’s Brian Concannon. Liana Rosenkrantz Woskie, Assistant Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute’s Strategic Initiative on Quality will moderate. All are welcome to participate and learn more about the political, cultural, medical, and legal questions that have emerged in the years since the initial outbreak of cholera in 2010. Your questions will be most welcome!

Dear Friends, We have some exciting news: Dr. Ricardo Seitenfus, a Brazilian diplomat and scholar with substantial high-level experience in Haiti, will be in Boston next week. IJDH and some of our collaborators are taking advantage of Professor Seitenfus’ visit to organize events on Monday evening (4/8) and Tuesday noon. Both events will include panel discussions with renowned experts.   Guilty but Not Responsible?: The UN, Haiti & Cholera Monday, April 8th from 7:00pm-9:00pm 65 Forsyth Street Boston |Northeastern University Dockser Hall | Room 240   Dr. Ricardo Seitenfus will discuss his latest book, The United Nations, and Cholera in Haiti: Guilty but Not Responsible? Professor Seitenfus advised the Haitian government on its cholera response, and led the Organization of American States mission to Haiti in 2010-2011. He will be joined by Patrick Sylvain, a Haitian-American poet, social and literary […]

We have some exciting news: Dr. Ricardo Seitenfus, a Brazilian diplomat and scholar with substantial high-level experience in Haiti, will be in Boston next week. IJDH and some of our collaborators are taking advantage of Professor Seitenfus’ visit to organize an event on Monday evening (4/8).  Guilty but Not Responsible?: The UN, Haiti & Cholera Monday, April 8th from 7:00pm-9:00pm 65 Forsyth Street Boston | Northeastern University Dockser Hall | Room 240 Dr. Ricardo Seitenfus will discuss his latest book, The United Nations, and Cholera in Haiti: Guilty but Not Responsible? Professor Seitenfus advised the Haitian government on its cholera response, and led the Organization of American States mission to Haiti in 2010-2011. He will be joined by Patrick Sylvain, a Haitian-American poet, social and literary critic, lecturer in African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, and faculty member […]

In letter led by Representatives Frederica Wilson and Maxine Waters, over 30 representatives call for the release of $10 million dollars allocated for cholera victim assistance in Haiti. The money, yet to be dispersed, was allocated in March of 2018. PDF Version Here

Haiti Info was published in Haiti from Aug. 31, 1992 until Oct. 2, 1999. Working with peasant associations, popular organizations, neighborhood groups, unions, community radio members, members of religious communities, and with human rights, student, women’s and other groups, as well as with organizations in the alternative media movement, Haiti Info – a bulletin on paper – came out in English and, during a period of about two years, Spanish. (Near the end of the 1990s, some articles were also available as text only online.) During the coup d’état/de facto period (1992-1994) the bulletin was produced clandestinely and sent via email to volunteers in Sweden and the U.S. who then printed and mailed it out. Later, it was copied and mailed from Haiti. At its peak, Haiti Info had over 1,000 paying subscribers in Europe and the Americas, many of […]

Led by the offices of  Rep. Levin and Rep. Lee, the letter, signed by 104 Representatives, urges Secretary of State Pompeo to demonstrate US support of democracy, transparency, and commitment to investigating human rights abuses during recent protests in Haiti. PDF Version Here

On February 6, 2017, the Commissaire du Gouvernment (Chief Prosecutor) of Port-au-Prince, Danton Leger, issued a Requisitoire Suppletif d’Informer  (Request for Additional Information) in the money laundering case against President Moise.   The Request calls President Moise an “inculpe” or formal suspect, and instructs the Investigating Judge to conduct further investigations into the allegations of illegal activities by the President and his spouse, especially transactions involving large, frequent cash transactions at several bank accounts. Investigating Judge Bredy Fabien conducted at least one more witness audition, on February 16, 2017, but there has otherwise been no apparent progress in the case as of March 15, 2019. Prosecutor Leger was replaced in April 2018. PDF version available here

In January 2017, President Jovenel Moïse was named an “inculpé”  on money-laundering charges based on the report of the Unité centrale de renseignements financiers (Central Unit for Financial Information, or UCREF), which was established as the government’s autonomous corruption-fighting entity. This status means that an Investigating Judge has determined that there is sufficient indication of a person’s involvement in criminal activity to justify naming them as an official suspect, and if appropriate, arresting them or otherwise limiting their freedom. As of March 2019, President Moïse remains an inculpé, although the judge has not decided to limit his freedom. In April 2017, President Moïse illegally fired the head of UCREF, and subsequently replaced his with an illegal interim Director. There has been no apparent progress in the legal case since February 2017. National – «Jovenel Moïse est passé du stade d’impliqué dans une affaire à celui d’inculpé formel […]

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English Translation Here PRESS RELEASE We, the Biwo Avoka Entènasyonal ((Office of International Lawyers, or BAI), Mouvman Jèn Solidè pou yon lòt Sosyete (Movement of Youth United for an Alterntative Society, MJSS), Mouvement de Liberté, Égalité des Haïtiens pour la Fraternité  (Haitian Movement of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, MOLEGHAF), cholera victims, and all the other organizations who launched a nation-wide mobilization, salute the massive participation of the Haitian people during the various days of  national mobilization across the country since February 7th, 2019.  We would also like to take this opportunity to launch a warning to all politicians and elite business men who believe they can twist the three fundamental claims of the Haitian people, that have both situational and structural dimensions. In the situational dimension, the Haitian population is making a political and legal claim demanding the departure of […]

IJDH signs on to civil society letter organized by RFK Human Rights calling for continued support for one of the most prominent human rights organs in our hemisphere. PDF Version 50 Civil Society Organizations and Experts Join Calls for Continued U.S. Funding of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights NEW YORK, WASHINGTON D.C. – A group of fifty civil society organizations and experts are joining calls by Members of Congress and United States nominees and former commissioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to maintain strong U.S. support and funding to the IACHR as the hemisphere’s principal human rights organ. The call comes as the U.S. State Department considers curtailing funding for the IACHR, upon a request made by nine senators on December 21st, 2018. The undersigned organizations​are extremely concerned that cutting or eliminating US funding would put the […]

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PDF Version Here Demande de mesures provisoires pour les requérants de Pèlerin 5 au nom de leur communauté I. PRÉSENTATION DES PARTIES DE LA REQUÊTE 1. Le Gouvernement d’Haïti est responsable des violations des droits humains qui font l’objet de cette demande de mesures provisoires. L’Etat Haïtien est membre de l’Organisation des Etats Américains (OEA), et a ratifié la Convention Américaine relative aux Droits de l’Homme (CADH)1 le 14 septembre 1977. L’Etat Haïtien a accepté la juridiction de la Cour Interaméricaine des Droits de l’Homme (CIDH) le 20 mars 1998. 2. Par la présente, le Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) et l’Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haïti (IJDH) demandent respectueusement à la Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l’Homme (Commission) de prendre, en toute urgence, des mesures provisoires, conformément à l’article 25 (1) de son règlement stipulant : « la […]

PDF Version English Translation Spanish Translation Port-au-Prince, le 18 février 2019 Le Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) insinue un lien entre les manifestants victimes par balles  et les  08 mercenaires étrangers appréhendés avec un arsenal de guerre Le Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), dans sa mission première de défendre les droits des plus démunis, les droits inaliénables, imprescriptibles et inhérents à la personne humaine, en particulier ceux des victimes du choléra importé par laMission des Nations-Unies pour la Stabilisation en Haïti (MINUSTAH), des femmes victimes de viols et d’agressions sexuelles, et des citoyens-nes victimes de terrorisme d’Etat, apprend avec indignation que l’assassinat de plusieurs citoyens-nes  dans l’exercice de leur droit constitutionnel serait l’œuvre de mercenaires étrangers travaillant pour le compte du Palais National, recrutés expressément  par le soi-disant président d’Haïti, Monsieur Jovenel MOISE dont le peuple haïtien revendique massivement son […]

PRESS RELEASE By: Mario JOSEPH, Av Bureau des Avocats Internationaux We, the Biwo Avoka Entènasyonal (BAI), Mouvman Jèn Solidè pou yon lòt Sosyete (MJSS), MOLEGHAF, cholera victims, and all the other organizations who launched a nation-wide appeal of awareness, salute the massive participation of the Haitian people during the various days of  national awareness across the country since February 7th, 2019.  We would also like to take this opportunity to launch a warning to all politicians and elite business men who believe they can twist the 3 fundamental claims of the Haitian people having a conjectural and structural aspect. In the conjectural aspect, the Haitian population is making a politico-legal claim demanding the departure of Jovenel Moise so the Petro-Caribe trial can take place. Because Jovenel’s name has been mentioned in several reports from governmental institutions such as UCREF, Parliament, […]

English Translation Here PDF version here Konferans pou laprès By: Mario JOSEPH, Av Bureau des Avocats Internationaux Nou menm, Biwo Avoka Entènasyonal yo (BAI), Mouvman Jèn Solidè  pou yon lòt Sosyete (MJSS), MOLEGHAF, Viktim kolera yo ak lòt òganizasyon ki te lanse apèl mobilizasyon jeneral toupatou nan peyi a, salye patisipasyon masiv  pèp Ayisyen an  nan diferan jounen mobilizasyon nasyonal ki tanmen nan peyi a depi 07 fevriye 2019. Nou pwofite okazyon sa pou lanse yon pinga bay tout politisyen tradisyonèl ak boujwazi machann diri a, ki konprann yo ka pèvèti 3 revandikasyon fondamantal pèp Ayisyen an ki gen yon dimansyon konjonktirèl ak yon dimansyon estriktirèl: Nan dimansyon konjonktirèl la, pèp Ayisyen an gen yon  revandikasyon politiko-jiridik ki egzije depa Jovenel Moise pou pwosè petro-karibe a ka fèt. Paske non Jovenel mansyone nan plizyè rapò enstitisyon leta a, tankou UCREF, Palman […]

The following is a lightly edited compilation of a thread posted on Twitter by Jake Johnston, International Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and lead author of the Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog. You can draw a pretty straight line from the last electoral process to the current unrest in Haiti. Building for months, and frankly years, the country has now been shut down for five days as tensions – and violence – increase, threatening President Jovenel Moise’s mandate. In 2015 and 2016, backed by the international community, political and economic actors made a Faustian bargain in the name of “stability.” They decided to allow fraudulent and violence-plagued legislative elections to stand, and rerun them at the presidential level. The failure of that analysis is evidenced by the situation in Haiti today. In truth, […]