Disagreement persists between POHDH and OCNH over choice of human rights representative at CEP

Disagreement persists between the POHDH and the OCNH over the choice of the human rights representative on the Provisional Electoral Council.

The Citizens’ Organization for a New Haiti (OCNH) published a press release this Friday, July 26, 2024, informing the human rights sector in Haiti that it has been designated, jointly with the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH), to coordinate the process of selecting a human rights representative for the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

This invitation received from the General Secretariat of the Presidency on July 11, 2024, aims to ensure adequate representation of the human rights sector in the CEP. However, despite several working sessions, discussions between the OCNH and the POHDH did not result in an agreement on the eligibility criteria for interested organizations, particularly regarding the minimum number of years of existence required and the timetable for the process.

The OCNH reiterated its willingness to participate in an inclusive and transparent manner in the coordination of this process, in order to guarantee a fair and timely election.

This situation echoes the controversies already highlighted in an article published last Wednesday by the editorial staff of Juno7, which highlighted the disagreements surrounding the choice of representatives of various sectors in the CEPIn particular, the voodoo, human rights, women’s and academic sectors are affected by accusations of lack of transparency and internal conflicts.

In the human rights sector, disagreement persists between the POHDH and the OCNH. The POHDH requires that organizations have at least five years of existence to be able to participate in the vote, while the OCNH proposes a minimum of three years. These criteria are denounced by several human rights leaders as discriminatory, and many other organizations say they are excluded from the discussions.