Haiti Justice Blog

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Change Haiti Can Believe in Tonight in New England

 

www.pih.org

www.ijdh.org

Technorati Tags: Paul Farmer,Haiti

Tonight at 7 p.m. on New England Cable News (NECN)

Change Haiti Can Believe In
with

Paul Farmer, Matt Damon, Linda Dorcena Forry, and Brian Concannon, Jr.
moderated by Amy Goodman

Presented in part by Partners In Health
and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti

Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health; actor and activist Matt Damon, who visited Haiti to assist victims devastated by hurricanes; Massachusetts State Representative and Haitian American Linda Dorcena Forry; and Brian Concannon, Jr., director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, share their stories of eradicating disease and injustice in one of the world's poorest nations, and discuss how changes in U.S. policy can help to build strength and prosperity. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, moderates. 

This event was recorded live on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, MA, in the wake of the historic election of President Barack Obama.

Find your local NECN station: http://www.necn.com/channel

Or watch anytime online via the Health & Social Justice Video Network

To learn about the joint work of Partners In Health and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, visit the Health and Human Rights Prison Project page.

WATCH AND FORWARD THIS VIDEO TO A FRIEND

Half-Hour for Haiti: Call The White House Today to Urge Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians Now!

April 29, 2009

Half-Hour for Haiti: Call The White House Today to Urge Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians Now!

Update: Good news first. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an aid package that includes paying Haiti’s World Bank debt service through the first half of this year. See the Jubilee USA Press Release for details. That covers Haiti’s remaining debt service on its multilateral loans, if Haiti reaches completion point for debt relief as scheduled. That may change this summer, and we will respond then, but for now pat yourself on the back if you have called, emailed or faxed to make this victory possible.

Fighting for Justice in Haiti

The National Conference of Black Lawyers & The National Lawyers Guild Present

Fighting for Justice in Haiti
Thursday, May 7, 2009 

6:30pm - 8:30pm

New York University School of Law, Furman Hall, Room 212

245 Sullivan Street, between West 4th and West 3rd Streets

Mario Joseph, Haiti’s most prominent human rights lawyer, and Brian Concannon, a U.S. lawyer who spent nine years in Haiti, will discuss the fight for justice for poor Haitians. This fight is waged in Haiti, one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the world, but also abroad, where powerful countries like the U.S. have undermined justice and democracy in Haiti by imposing economic policies and deposing uncooperative Haitian governments.

The speakers will also discuss the fight for temporary protected status for the 30,000 Haitians currently subject to deportation from the U.S.

Technorati Tags: Haiti

Light refreshments following the presentations. This event is free and open to the public. A photo ID is required to enter the building.

Jistis in Haiti

Haiti Liberte Presents

Jistis in Haiti

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 7pm

1583 Albany Ave., Brooklyn, NY

Mario Joseph, Haiti’s most prominent human rights lawyer, is Managing Attorney of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, which represents political prisoners and victims of political persecution in Haiti. Brian Concannon spent 8 years in Haiti and now directs the US-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.  Mario and Brian have collaborated on several groundbreaking cases in Haitian, U.S. and international courts that have convicted human rights abusers, freed political prisoners and forced the Haitian justice system to function for the majority of Haitians who are poor.

Mario and Brian will speak about their work establishing the rule of law in Haiti as a bulwark against the natural, political, and economic disasters that regularly beset the country. They will also discuss what people in the U.S. can do to support this vital work. 

For more information, contact Haiti Liberte at 718..., or editor@haitiliberte.com

Time to Deal with Haiti

Paul Farmer and Brian Concannon | April 21, 2009

Editor: Emira Woods and Emily Schwartz Greco

Foreign Policy In Focus

www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6062

When President Barack Obama went to Trinidad for the Summit of Americas, he brought the promise of "change" to a Latin America policy that has brought suffering to our neighbors while reducing U.S. influence and moral standing in the hemisphere. Change would be especially welcome to Haitians, who have suffered their usual unfair share of political and economic instability from these policies. But Haitians are still waiting to see whether the promised change will extend beyond ending the illegal and destructive policies of the last eight years, and include a shift away from U.S. policies that have failed both our oldest neighbor and our highest ideals for over two centuries.

Jubilee USA Welcomes Obama Administration Pledge to Relieve Haiti’s Debt

www.jubileeusa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 15, 2009

CONTACT: Kristin Sundell, Jubilee USA, 202-783-0215 direct; 443-845-4461 cell

Brian Concannon Jr, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, 541-432-0597

Debt Relief to Support Haiti’s Fragile Democracy in Advance of Critical Senate Election

Washington DC – Jubilee USA Network today enthusiastically welcomed yesterday’s announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton  that the US would pledge $20 million to cover Haiti’s 2009 debt payments to its multilateral creditors as part of an over $50 million aid package to the country. 

Aid Haiti Can Believe In: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Foreign Assistance

A Panel Discussion Following the Haiti Donor Conference

Co-Hosted by Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) & Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Who:

• Paul Farmer, Founding Director, Partners In Health
• Donna Barry, Advocacy and Policy Director, Partners In Health
• Margaret Satterthwaite, Faculty Director, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law
• Monika Kalra Varma, Director, Center for Human Rights, RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights
• Brian Concannon Jr., Director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti

When:          Wednesday, April 15th, 10:00 am - 12:00 noon

Where:         2105 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC

RSVP: lclnyuihrc@gmail.com

The eruption of the international food crisis, a series of damaging hurricanes, and the impact of the current global financial crisis have aggravated conditions in Haiti, leaving the people of Haiti more vulnerable than ever. Donor states and the international financial institutions will convene in Washington on April 14^th to renew their partnership with the Government of Haiti and to pledge financial support.  Join representatives from leading human rights and non-profit organizations at a public panel to discuss international assistance to Haiti.

Mario Joseph Acceptance Speech

On March 17, 2009, the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco awarded the 2009 Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award to CJA partner Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) a Haitian legal organization based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Remarks of Mario JOSEPH, Managing Attorney of the BAI

I would like to thank the Center for Justice & Accountability for this award, on behalf of all the staff of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. I would like to accept the award in the name of the victims in Haiti, especially the victims of the Raboto massacre, whose courage and persistence make our work possible.

I would like to thank CJA even more for seven years of collaborating to bring our fight for justice to the United States.

We have a proverb in Haiti, “men anpil, chay pa lou.” It means “many hands make the burden light.” Can you say it with me? “Men anpil, chay pa lou”. Again…

One More Day to Call Congress To Cancel Haiti’s Debt

February 24, 2009

Some good news from Rep. Maxine Waters’ Office: as of today, 64 members of Congress, including four Republicans, have signed Rep. Waters’ letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick, urging immediate cancellation of Haiti’s debt. That’s a lot of progress in less than two weeks- thanks to everyone who called. But we need more. Rep. Waters has extended the deadline for signatures to noon Wednesday, February 25. So if your Representative hasn’t signed yet (list below), call today! For more information on Haiti’s unjust and unconscionable debt, click here.

Justice in Haiti- Brian Concannon Talk in Jersey City

HAITI SOLIDARITY NETWORK  OF THE NORTH EAST MEETING

Topic: Justice in Haiti

Constitutional democracy? Human rights? Illegal detention? Political violence? Intimidation of a free Press?

Find out how the system works and how it doesn't, and what the citizens, lawyers and U.S. government can do to make it work better.

Brian Concannon, Jr., Esq., Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and former Co-Manager of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Haiti, will present a first hand account of the struggles and the successes of pursuing the rule of law in Haiti

Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 at 7:30 pm at St. Patrick's Church - Parish Hall (lower level), 492 Bramhall Avenue, Jersey City