We, Haitian feminists, resist the dictatorship and the systematic destruction of human lives in our country. Support OUR FIGHT !
In 2018, the Haitian population revolted against more than a decade of bad governance and debauchery. The #PetroCaribeChallenge movement that began as a call out to account for the management of #PetroCaribe funds has evolved into a general movement against corruption, a fight against a system that was built on exclusion, social inequality, and bad governance. The crisis has now gone beyond its political aspect to become a deep multidimensional crisis, a systemic crisis. The regime in power uses all (kind of) the weapons to silence the demands of the population. Massacres, the federation of armed gangs, kidnapping, inflation, bad governance, the dismantling of institutions, corruption, impunity, systemic human rights violations, gang rapes and misery define the daily life of the Haitian people. (The federation of armed gangs, massacres, kidnappings, inflation, destruction of institutions, corruption, impunity, systematic human rights violations, gang rapes, and misery define the daily life of the Haitian population.) Haiti is experiencing one of the most acute periods of crisis in its history despite the rise of activism and civil disobedience, social injustice and exclusion has continued and grown.
The numbers speak for themselves :
- Between 2018 and 2021 feminist and human rights organizations have recorded twelve (12) armed attacks and massacres against the populations of disadvantaged neighborhoods, causing the murder of four hundred and sixty-eight (468) people and the disappearance of one hundred and twenty-nine (129) others. Thirty-three (33) women and girls were gang raped during these bloody events. Hundreds of people were shot and wounded. Hundreds of homes were burned down, causing owners and/or tenants to be displaced. And, six hundred and seventy-nine (679) children were orphaned as a result of these acts of violence.
- At the same time, from 2018 to 2021 the general security situation (of severe insecurity) in the country has also caused the killing of two thousand three hundred and forty-five (2345) people, in circumstances other than massacres and armed attacks: (such as) anti-government demonstrations, chases in the streets, assassinations of people in their homes, etc. Among these victims were at least two (2) journalists and one hundred and thirty (130) police officers. As the latest attacks recorded in the slums are being documented, the above-mentioned information on the (number of) victims will soon be revised upwards, unfortunately.
- In the month of June 2021, more than 10,000 people, including 8,500 women and children, living in the areas of Fontamara and Martissant had to flee their neighborhoods to escape the clashes between the armed gangs that control these territories. These clashes (gangs’ war) resulted in several deaths and many women were raped.
- The phenomenon of kidnapping has reached disproportionate (heights) proportions. Between 2019 and April 2021, human rights organizations report (reported) more than a thousand kidnappings.
These situations increase the vulnerability of women and girls who are more exposed to all forms of violence, more economically precarious (economic precarities) and have no access to judicial services. This has endangered the achievements of the Haitian feminist movement so that women can fully enjoy their rights as human beings and as citizens. This standard of corruption and impunity fosters violence against women who have no means of obtaining justice and redress. Such as, Women’s rights to health, education and security are systematically violated and their lives are increasingly threatened day after day under the complicit (unconcerned) eye of the international community. Women and girls in working-class neighborhoods, controlled by gangs with the complicity of the government, are taken hostage in a climate of extreme violence.
This government has never allocated sufficient resources to the priority areas for the rights of women and girls in Haiti. He made the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights dysfunctional by weakening and instrumentalizing it for its false government (governmental) propaganda.
February 7, 2021 marked, according to the constitution in force, the end of the mandate of former President Jovenel MOÏSE. Recall that since the lapse of parliament in January 2020, Jovenel Moïse has led the country by decrees and has contributed to the deterioration of all democratic institutions. Jovenel Moïse and his de facto (de facto) government, with the complicity of the international community, used the resources and means at its disposal to establish a dictatorship and systematically violate the rights of (all) Haitians. Indeed, this illegitimate and criminal government wants to continue with two plans, which will only accentuate the socio-economic and political crisis of the country. It is :(they are:)
- The holding of a totally illegal, unconstitutional referendum for the adoption of a new constitution;
- The holding of elections with a corrupt process, flawed from the start, thus not guaranteeing credible and transparent electoral contests and which violates the civil and political rights of citizens.
This de facto (de facto) government has taken up practices that we thought was left behind after the Duvalier dictatorship, a dictatorship overthrown at the cost of struggles, which we Haitians had to carry out at the cost of blood to establish democracy in our country. Faced with the authoritarianism of this illegitimate government and its reprehensible acts against the population, we – Haitian feminists – resist and mobilize to form a common front, hence this call for international feminist solidarity (for solidarity from the international feminist community).
Thus, even today, our fight is articulated with that of the whole of the Haitian people (entire Haitian population demanding) for a governance centered on the respect for the life, the dignity of the citizens, the collective well-being and on the accountability. (The Accountability of those in power, the respect for every life, the dignity of the citizens and the collective well-being of the nation.)
Support OUR FIGHT!
- Sign this appeal to relay the voice of Haitian feminists and the majority of the population for the holding of the PetroCaribe trial, the trials of massacres and gang rapes perpetrated in the country, the judgment and the sanctions for all those involved in acts of corruption and violation of human rights.
- Support the demands of Haitian feminists, who are (reflect) those of the majority of the Haitian population, who (to) demand the cancellation of the illegal, unconstitutional referendum (which was postponed sin die,) the establishment of a transitional government which will organize free, credible and transparent elections for a return to democratic order.
- Take action in your respective countries to bring your political leaders to establish cooperation with Haiti that takes into account the demands and needs of Haitians and thus encourage those responsible to prioritize respect for the rights to life, dignity, justice, security, health, education for girls, women and the entire Haitian population.
To sign: send an email to infofeministe@gmail.com including your name, organization, country, your roleand whether you are signing on behalf of the organization.
Deadline: June 30, 2021
Feminist organizations that are appealing :
- MARIJÀN Organisation Féministe
- NÈGÈS MAWON
- Fanm Deside
- Òganizasyon Feminis DANTÒ
- NÈGÈS KREYÒL
- VWA Fanm Yo
- FANM VANYAN
- Mouvement pour l’intégration et l’émancipation des femmes Handicapées (MIEFH)
Feminist organizations, human rights and personalities who support the call:
- Karine Coen-Shanchez, PH.D Candidate
- Antoinette Duclaire, Independent Feminist
- Emmanuela Douyon, Economist
- Monique Clesca, expert in advocacy and communication, feminist
- Rosy Auguste Ducéna, RNDDH
- Laura Louis, Journalist