Haiti - Elections : Recommendations for the application of the quota of 30% minimum of women
A document of the Technical and Multi-sectoral Committee (COTEM), containing proposals and recommendations on the application of the quota of 30% minimum of women in the next electoral law, was presented last week to the Standing Committee of the House "Status of women and gender equity", chaired by the Deputy of Jérémie Marie Deputy Gladice St Jean Lundy.
In the face of Haiti's poor ranking in the interparliamentary picture of women (185th position out of 188 countries), the non-respect of article 17.1 of the amended Haitian Constitution of 1987 and the non-application of international instruments signed and ratified Haiti's respect for the human rights of women, COTEM, composed of the Ministry of Women's Affairs, women's and feminist organizations in the country's 10 departments, has submitted a set of recommendations that take into account gender equality in women's rights. political and public spaces and the need to link equal rights to de facto equality in the visas and recitals of the forthcoming electoral law.
In this sense, Marie Jossie Etienne, former Deputy of the 48th and 49th legislatures, and Mrs. Jessie Ewald Benoit explained the strategy and proposed in the document a reserved constituency system. In order to reinforce the provision of Article 100.1 of the 2015 electoral decree requiring parties to present 30% of women candidates on the list submitted to the Provisional Electoral Council, they underline that sanctions are provided for against any party that contravenes these standards.
Deputy St Jean promised to defend this proposal to her fellow parliamentarians.
Finally, the signatory organizations of this document, including "SOlidarite Fanm Ayisyèn" (SOFA), the "Women's Movement for Education and Development" (MOUFHED), Women in Democracy, "Nègès Mawon", TPF / Pluri-femmes , "Rezo Fanm Kapab dAyiti" (REFKAD), "Fanm Yo La", the "Network of Women Candidates to Win" (RFCG) and PFEH intend, through this approach, to correct the structural discrimination against women and to combine democracy and inclusion to ensure that the configuration of Parliament matches the socio-demographic characteristics of the Haitian population.
