Grantee name: The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti

Mission: IJDH strives to work with the people of Haiti in their non-violent struggle for the consolidation of constitutional democracy, justice and human rights, by distributing objective and accurate information on human rights conditions in Haiti, pursuing legal cases, and cooperating with human rights and solidarity groups in Haiti and abroad.

IJDH draws on its founders’ internationally-acclaimed success accompanying Haiti’s poor majority in the fields of law, medicine and social justice activism. IJDH seeks the restoration of the rule of law and democracy in the short term, and works for the long-term sustainable change necessary to avert Haiti’s next crisis.

To achieve its mission, IJDH works with grassroots organizations to promote human rights in Haiti; documents human rights violations/disseminates accurate information; and pursues legal claims in Haiti and abroad.

Location: Boston, MA, USA and Haiti

Website: www.ijdh.org

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/ijdh

Channel Grants: Channel has made grants to The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti for the purposes of supporting their work combating, preventing, documenting, monitoring and prosecuting gender-based violence in Haiti through their Rape Accountability and Prevention Project (RAPP). IJDH and Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) (IJDH’s Haitian partners) joined with grassroots groups in Haiti and international partners to launch the Haiti Rape Accountability and Prevention Project (RAPP) to respond to the epidemic of rapes against poor women and girls in Haiti in the wake of the January 12, 2010 earthquake. RAPP provides individual victims of sexual assault the legal services they need to obtain justice and compensation, while working with allies in Haiti and abroad to transform the social context that underlies the vulnerability of all poor Haitian women to assault. The Project also aims to deter future rape by punishing the perpetrators and forcing a more effective response by law enforcement and the justice system.

RAPP builds on the BAI’s 15 years’ experience helping poor women and other marginalized groups enforce their human rights to implement a comprehensive response to the rapes. The BAI and IJDH play a coordinating role and lead the legal activities, but RAPP as a whole is a wide collaboration assembling the respective talents of Haitian grassroots groups, international advocates and health and legal professionals. RAPP includes four closely integrated components: legal advocacy, healthcare, organizing, and public advocacy. (2010, 2011, 2012)

Resources:

To watch a five-minute video focused on Shirley Christoff, one of many Haitian rape survivors who has received assistance from KOFAVIV, one of the women's groups with whom IJDH works, and who is rebuilding and working together with other women to create social change in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, check out this film from IRIN, the news agency of the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: IRIN | Film | Haiti's Rape Survivors.