ILAC Lawyer Dies in the Earthquake in Haiti

ILAC has learnt that one of the lawyers who worked for the ILAC legal aid program in Haiti has died in the earthquake on 12 January. Initially, we were informed that all 130 of ILAC´s employees in Haiti, with families, had survived the earthquake.  However, it now turns out that Ms Yvrose Saint Jean, who worked for the ILAC office in Croix de Bouquet, was in the local court building at the time of the earthquake, and died when the building collapsed.

The earthquake also destroyed the ILAC office in Port-au-Prince, but  none of its staff were harmed. Three of ILAC´s legal aid offices have been temporarily closed down, but the remaining seven are continuing their work.

ILAC has been active in Haiti since 2005, when ILAC performed an assessment of the judicial system at the invitation of the UN representation in Haiti, MINUSTAH
ILAC´s activities in Haiti have consisted of legal reform assistance to the government (i.a. on reform of the penal code and the code of criminal procedure - in cooperation with the US Institute of Peace - and support to the ministry of gender in providing an international best practices compilation in the field of anti-discrimination legislation), support to the bar in forming a national bar association, and support to civil society in the form of the establishment of a nation-wide pro bono legal aid program (in cooperation with MINUSTAH and the government of Haiti). ILAC has also assisted the ministry of justice in identifying its needs and priorities in preparation for a donor conference in Madrid 25 July 2006.

In 2008 the ILAC legal aid program was publicly endorsed by the government of Haiti, and the present Prime Minister has as recently as 23 December 2009 pledged his government´s support for the program, now officially named Système naionale d´assistance legale (SYNAL).
 
SYNAL consists of a network of legal aid offices (Bureaux d´assistance legale; BAL) around the country.  At the beginning of 2010, There were eleven BALs in operation, coordinated by the ILAC Haiti Office in Port-au-Prince

In total, SYNAL´s eleven existing BALs have handled more than 4 000 individual cases, which in turn has meant an increased turnover in courts, fewer prolonged pre-trial detentions and improved prison conditions.  The work of most of the BALs continues inspite of the catastrophe. The services provided by the legal aid program will now be needed more than ever.

ILAC is currently in contact with the government of Haiti and with Swedish Sida to look into what we can do to help and what means will be available.