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MEDIA ADVISORY

Wednes­day, March 17, 2010

Groups to Tes­tify on Haiti and Human Rights before Inter-American Commission

Experts will Detail Haiti Aid Chal­lenges, Press for an Inves­ti­ga­tion by the OAS

(Boston, New York, Port-au-Prince, Wash­ing­ton DC, March 17, 2010)—A del­e­ga­tion of experts will tes­tify before the Inter-American Com­mis­sion on Human Rights in Wash­ing­ton D.C. on March 23^rd, from 9–10 a.m.  Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from promi­nent orga­ni­za­tions com­mit­ted to respect­ing human rights and improv­ing con­di­tions in Haiti—the Cen­ter for Human Rights and Global Jus­tice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law, Bureau des Avo­cats Inter­na­tionaux (BAI), the Insti­tute for Jus­tice & Democ­racy in Haiti (IJDH), Part­ners In Health (PIH)/Zanmi Las­ante (ZL), and the Robert F. Kennedy Cen­ter for Jus­tice and Human Rights (RFK Center)—will pro­vide tes­ti­mony aimed at encour­ag­ing the Com­mis­sion to for­mally inves­ti­gate the human rights impacts of post-earthquake aid on behalf of the Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can States (OAS).

Experts from the groups—including two Haitians trav­el­ing from Haiti for the hearing—will pro­vide detailed analy­sis and first-hand accounts from on-going inves­ti­ga­tions they have been con­duct­ing into the impacts of relief efforts on Haitians’ eco­nomic and social rights, both inside and out­side of Port-au-Prince.  This is the only hear­ing deal­ing exclu­sively with rights issues in Haiti granted for this ses­sion. The groups will urge the Com­mis­sion to con­duct its own inves­ti­ga­tion in Haiti to deter­mine whether OAS Mem­ber States are com­ply­ing with their human rights oblig­a­tions when act­ing in the country.

The hear­ing pre­cedes the much-anticipated March 31^st Haiti Donors’ Con­fer­ence at the United Nations head­quar­ters in New York, where future aid to Haiti will be dis­cussed at length.  The groups recently issued a list of con­crete rec­om­men­da­tions out­lin­ing a rights-based approach to aid deliv­ery in advance of that con­fer­ence, and have a long his­tory of work­ing on aid and human rights issues in Haiti.

Mem­bers of the orga­ni­za­tions will be avail­able on Mon­day, March 22^nd for com­ment and inter­view prior to the hear­ing, as well as March 23^rd, imme­di­ately fol­low­ing the hear­ing. To con­tact them, please see the infor­ma­tion listed here:

Mario Joseph, BAI

786–972-2089

Meg Sat­terth­waite, CHRGJ

347–277-5035

Brian Con­can­non, IJDH

541–263-0029

Donna Barry, PIH

617–432-6017

Monika Kalra Varma, RFK Center

1–202-460‑4681

Loune Viaud, Zanmi Las­ante

617–432-5256

For more infor­ma­tion about these orga­ni­za­tions, please visit their web­sites: www.chrgj.org, www.pih.org, http://ijdh.org, www.rfkcenter.org