Haiti - Quebec : Legal aid for the affected population
In May 2010, Lawyers Without Borders (ASF in french), an organization based in Quebec signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bar of Port-au-Prince, under the reconstruction plan of the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety of Haiti. This protocol met the needs expressed by the Haitian justice stakeholders which included the establishment of legal aid services for affected populations. The ASF project included the recruitment of lawyers for legal assistance to victims and vulnerable people, training of lawyers and representatives of civil society organizations, public information, the production of pedagogical tools as well as institutional support to the Bar of Port-au-Prince.
Due to the rising of criminality in refugee camps, of the overcrowding in camps, causes of conflicts sometimes violent, of the many problems encountered by families who have lost their documents during the earthquake and who experience difficulty in asserting their rights: access to bank account of a deceased person, recognition of property rights etc... ASF announces the opening in the coming months of a first center of justice in Haiti, which will provide legal aid services to victims, in Croix-des-Bouquets, a suburb of Port-au-Prince where Canada is already financing the construction of a prison.
