Third level(continuing session)
1. Civil and Criminal Procedures
Procedure is the step to be taken in order to bring a matter to justice, try until reaching a court decision and its fulfilment. It is therefore important for participants to understand procedures, to be able to make difference between civil and criminal cases. They therefore understand the legal jargon and able to identify and document human rights violations cases committed in courts.
2. Democracy and citizenship
Democracy in a country needs:
- A democratic society ( social fabric)
- A democratic political system (state)
- Democratic institutions (school, family, church)
- Democratic citizens
Government work must reflect the will of the people. A democratic society is a society open to change due to citizen’s participation. There is no Democracy without solidarity, without equality, without freedom because democracy assumes a democratic culture, democratic practices, a good democratic mentality within all groups and classes.
There must be a certain harmony between civil society (church, trade union, school, family) and political society (military, police, courts, prisons) that is to say, harmony between persuasive and repressive force.
Haiti has known dictatorship since independence, because the Haitian state has always been characterized by militarism, despotism, patrimonialism, injustice, inequality, corruption and exclusion. Government structure must be changed because as long as it does not change, there won’t be democracy.
In addition, participants will understand why they are agents of social transformation before being monitors of human rights
3. Economic, social and Cultural Rights and SAP2
Because of non – compliance with economic, social and cultural rights, Haitian Democracy is incomplete; it is a political democracy and not an economic democracy. Ex: The vote is equal but the voters are unequal. The structural adjustment program (SAP) is a tool of death. It’s the national economy inclusion in the global economy for the benefit of transnational corporations. It is characterized by liberalization of financial markets and trade, privatization of public enterprises, reduction of payroll expenses through massive dismissal of civil servant, a new fiscal policy etc.. The consequences are: devaluation of gourd, foreign products flooding the market, tax increase for citizens and tax decrease for companies, reduction in number of state employees to 50%, ` increase in unemployment rate. The UN acknowledges that SAP is a violation of economic, social and cultural rights. A Democratic Republic, which wishes to raise the population to a level of citizen, should enable them to have access to basic services. These are duties of a real democratic state to materialize access to economic, social and cultural.
At this level, it becomes clear to participants that human rights are indivisible, they are complementary. When we talk about human rights, we must not see only civil and political rights but equally economic, social and cultural rights.
4. Human rights and monitoring
A human rights violation case investigation / documentation must take into consideration the victim, the perpetrator, place, date, potential witnesses and evidence (medical certificate, report, legal document) etc.. Information must be verified and analyzed. Violations must be clearly defined in relation to legal texts, such as: the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other instruments ratified by Haitian State.
The report is a summary, a narrative document, an investigation report written after assessing and studying information. Here is how it is presented:
– Recipient (A)
– Sender (De)
– Subject
– Date
– Introduction
– Facts and remarks
– Recommandations
– Signature
This topic is the main tool which participants use in terms of documentation for violation cases committed by police officers, prison offices, judges, etc… They learn court referral mechanism as well.
5. Workshop
Participants are divided into various groups they work on specific (assumptions) and later meet in plenary sessions to present their works and answer questions from other groups. At the end, an officer from RNDDH does summary of presentations.
