CLGJ Report Addresses Haitian IDP Camp Closures

The report, authored by CLGJ Assistant Director for Haiti Programs Nicole Phillips, is based on information collected during interviews of camp residents by USF School of Law students in the Haiti and the Rule of Law course. Phillips has utilized the report to advocate against unlawful evictions and for resettlement assistance and greater community outreach for Haitians still living in displacement camps.

“The students’ interviews with Haitian families living in displacement camps provided the basis of our report on housing rights and accountability to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” Phillips said. “The report was also delivered to members of Congress at a congressional briefing and to U.N. human rights officials in Geneva and New York.”

The interview results found that families in the IDP camps struggled to survive without adequate food or safe drinking water, did not receive sufficient information on camp closures, and, in some instances, received little to no assistance to relocate and faced heavy-handed law enforcement upon camp closures.

In addition to their time in Haiti, students enrolled in Haiti and the Rule of Law spent approximately two weeks in San Francisco studying Haitian law and international human rights law. Topics included efforts to strengthen Haiti’s justice system, an overview of human rights enforcement via the United Nations and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the right to housing after a natural disaster, and accountability of humanitarian aid organizations and donor countries operating in Haiti.

The Freitas Foundation is funding two student scholarships for participants in Haiti and the Rule of Law, which will take place again this summer.