Wednesday at a ceremony held at her residence, the Ambassador of the United States, Pamela White, has awarded the "Woman of Courage Haiti 2015" to Mrs. Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, Director of the the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR).

The award "Woman of Courage Haiti" is part of the "International Women of Courage", initiated by the State Department, which aims to recognize the initiatives, actions, courage and determination of many women which play a predominant role in marking a change in their society around the world.

This year, the US Embassy honored Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin for her many accomplishments at the head of the IBESR and especially for her plea for fair legislation, which led to the implementation of the Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and on the criminalization of Illicit Trade in 2014.

Recall that under her leadership, Mrs. AJ Villedrouin restructured the IBESR, social protection body, accentuating the decentralization of service delivery and establishing departmental offices throughout the country. She has developed programs to identify and make an inventory of unaccompanied children or separated from their parents, and she has set up a program to reunite children with their families. Her team published a catalog of orphanages and essential information. Together with the Haitian Parliament, she worked for the reform of the law on adoption, which is a first in 40 years. April 1, 2014, her efforts for Haiti become a partner of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and on the Cooperation for the respect of the adoption, bore fruit.

In her remarks for the occasion, Ambassador Pamela White stressed "Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin is a model for a new generation of young people in Haiti. I hope that her efforts to impose sanctions on corruption in regard to adoption, child slavery and human trafficking inspire aspiring leaders of Haitian society for positive change in the years to come."

Note that previous recipients of the award are: Ms. Florence Elie, Head of Citizen Protection Office (2011); Marie Yolène Gilles, Program Manager with the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (2012); the former Deputy of Milot, Marie Jossie Etienne (2013) and Colette Lespinasse, former Coordinator of Support Group for Returnees and Refugees (2014).

HL/ HaitiLibre