Gina Jean-Louis raises awareness among IDPs about their fundamental right to possess official documents in order to be able to assert their identity even in the event of a threat.

Since 2021, IOM has worked with the Citizens' Initiative for Human Rights (ICDH), a local human rights advocacy organization to support 1650 people with documentation assistance. The Legal Assistance Project implemented by ICDH targets two groups of displaced people: victims of the earthquake that shook the southern peninsula of Haiti on 14 August 2021 and those fleeing areas led and controlled by armed gang in Port-au-Prince. This project is financially supported by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the European Union through the ECHO project.

Armed gangs have been spreading terror for some years. Poor neighborhoods are the usual target of deadly attacks. Terrified, thousands of families abandoned their homes, taking refuge in spontaneous sites.   IOM counted 50 IDP sites in December in the Haitian capital. Of all the people identified, 115,674 were able to settle in host families, while 39,492 still live in those sites without or minimal health infrastructure. Gina Jean-Louis has been working for the ICDH for seven years as a protection officer in Port-au-Prince.  She said:

“Most those sites are located close to High- risk areas. Working on these sites take a lot of preparation: both logistically and mentally. Every day, you must calculate the risks, be prepared for all eventualities, be determined and motivated.

In the sites people are suspicious and do not confide right away. But I understand their attitude, it is a normal and common reaction for people who have just experienced extremely difficult situations. Some have lost family members or loved ones and others have watched helplessly as their homes burning down. These are traumas that mark a person for life, and I am happy to be there for them, to be a listener and be able to help them.

I have to be patient and positive in my work. Listening is the initial step for building trust with displaced people. I explain to them the purpose of my presence and my mission. Once the contact is established, my work can start.

Each person has a personal story. In the rush, some have lost their belongings along the way while for others there has been nothing left of their old life, everything went up in flames.  There are more difficult, more complex cases, such as those without a birth certificate. Legally, those people do not exist. They don't even remember their date of birth and hesitate to talk about their age.

All this information has to be noted down; every detail is useful to launch investigation in the different local civil registry offices. This requires a case-by-case analysis. The search can take up to 30 days to retrieve an extract from the archives, especially when births are not registered. »

A personal commitment and a civic contribution.

   "By providing them with these identity documents, the beneficiaries give me a warm welcome It's comforting to know that I'm doing everything I can to help them and their families. That's what I like about my job: having the opportunity to give hope to elderly, pregnant women, young people, and children.

 Another thing which has also motivated me to practice this profession every day is to be able to make a positive contribution in the midst of all this violence and to fight against social discrimination.  A career in the field of human rights protection is also an opportunity to help promoting the application of human rights and reducing the risk of statelessness in Haiti.

 The right to identity is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Haitian law. Each time a group of people have access to identity documents through my work, I feel rewarded and sure that I am working for a change in our society."