Program areas at IJDH
Democracy and Governance work supports and empowers Haitian activists and communities on the ground as they work for an accountable, democratically-elected government that will ensure basic rights. The work addresses issues related to elections, political violence, and foreign interference, and other obstacles to true democratic governance, through information dissemination, stakeholder engagement, mobilization, and coalition work. This work has been especially crucial in the context of Haiti's ongoing governance crisis associated with a corrupt, repressive, unconstitutional, internationally-supported regime that has systematically dismantled the country's democratic institutions over the past decade.
THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LAWYER PROGRAM MENTORS HAITIAN LAW GRADUATES OVER TWO HURDLES TO BAR ADMISSION-COMLETION OF THESIS AND AN APPRENTICESHIP - WHILE PROVIDING THEM AND OTHER LAWYERS WITH SPECIALIZED TRAINING TO BECOME EFFECTIV PEOPLE'S LAWYERS able to implement a victim-centered approach.
Women's rights work adresses the issues of sexual exploitaiton and abuse (sea) at all levels of haitian society, including by aid organizations and the un as part of the unfoldong debate towards broader issues of the failures of accountability by humanitarian actors in Haiti. The work also includes the provision of legal representation to vicitms of sexual and gender based violence, the focus on the rape accountability and prevention project (rapp), which has grown in recent years, employing the only team of full time female haitian lawyers with human rights backgrounds working full time on gender based violance cases.
Programming includes advocacy and other work related to Haiti's justice system, immigration, cholera accountability, economic justice, and more.