Month: February 2017

Immigration and deportation advocacy

Take action on deportations! Join IJDH’s network of support and solidarity

The Department of Homeland Security is currently holding about 4,000 detainees in facilities throughout the US. More than 2500 Haitian detainees have already been deported, and around 270 more are being deported each week. Lawyers, community activists and detainees’ relatives have reported a range of prejudicial procedural problems in their asylum processing, including no lawyers, weak or non-existent interpretation and the use of apparently fabricated statements. Read More

Elections and Democracy

Haiti’s Eroding Democracy – read the latest article by CEPR’s Jake Johnston

“Haiti stands as a stark reminder of the fragility of electoral democracy amid rising inequality and exclusion. After the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986, Haiti’s poor majority turned out en masse for general elections, but that cycle appears to be broken. Today, Haiti ranks among the lowest worldwide in terms of voter participation”

Read the full article from CEPR’s intrepid researcher/writer, Jake Johnston,  here: 

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Climate Change, Events, Food Sovereignty

Haitian civil society perspectives on climate change and the environment

Between January 9 and 13, Christin Calixte, Coordinator of the Haitian Civil Society Platform on Climate Change, came to Washington DC as part of a high level Haitian delegation which included the Minister of Environment. The delegation aimed to raise awareness of the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, the impact on food security and the urgent need for climate finance. Read More

Climate Change, Events, Food Sovereignty

A conversation with Hon.Simon Dieuseul Desras, Haitian Minister of Environment

Between January 9-13, at the invitation of the Haiti Advocacy Working Group, the Honorable Simon Desras – Minister of the Environment in Haiti – Mr. Astrel Joseph, Director of Soils and Ecosystems at the Haitian Ministry of the Environment and Christin Calixte, Coordinator of the Haitian Civil Society Platform on Climate Change, came to Washington DC for a series of meetings with representatives from the U.S. Read More

Elections and Democracy, Report

New report shows troubling weaknesses in electoral system

In the week of President-elect Jovenel Moïse’s recent inauguration, a new report by international legal observers argues that Haiti’s democratic institutions are suffering a profound crisis of confidence. Low turnout, voter disenfranchisement and lingering concerns about fraud raise troubling questions about the breadth of the incoming president’s mandate, according to the report, entitled Haiti’s Unrepresentative Democracy: Disenfranchisement and Disillusionment in the November 20 Elections. Read More

Elections and Democracy

Haiti Inaugurates President amid controversy

Jovenel Moïse was recently inaugurated as Haiti’s new president as the country returned to constitutional order following a one-year extra-constitutional period of interim rule due to electoral delays.  Moïse had previously come in first in an October 2015 election, only to have the results thrown out due to fraud. Rerun in November 2016 under the interim government that replaced former president Michel Martelly, the elections had Moïse securing more than 50 percent of the vote, winning in the first round. Read More

Climate Change

Haitian Parliament Ratifies the Paris Agreement!

HAWG Congratulates the Haitian Parliament on the Ratification of the Paris Agreement!

The Haitian Parliament, meeting in the National Assembly on Wednesday 1 February 2017, ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Following the explanatory memorandum presented by the Minister of the Environment, Mr Simon Dieuseul DESRAS and the enriching debates that followed, the National Assembly voted in favor of the report of the Parliamentary Committee to analyze the Agreement Of Paris with 90 votes in favor, 0 against and 4 abstentions. Read More