This website has been up for a year, so I thought this would be a good time to look at the trends in the cases I am seeing. My sample size is limited to the 19 cases I have been asked to help with over the last year, but the results do seem to track the major issues facing Haiti right now. Many of the cases involve multiple issues.
I also receive requests for information from government agencies handling immigration cases. This usually does not involve testimony, but the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and US Department of Justice do include my information in published reports.
Here are the issues I have seen, in descending order of frequency. Requests from governments are in parenthesis:
Torture: 12 (2)
PHTK- the current ruling party, and its supporters, leaders and predecessors: 9 (1)
Elections: 6 (1)
Other political violence (from Duvalier era to present): 5 (2)
Rape: 4
Attacks against journalists: 3
Attacks against people opposing corruption: 3 (1)
Gangs connected with the police or government: 3 (2)
Police: 2 (1)
Land conflicts: 2
Treatment of deportees: 2 (1)
Attacks against demonstrators: 2
LGBQT persons: 1
Persons with disabilities: 1
Attacks against grassroots organization members: 1
Justice of the Peace Courts: (1)
I would be happy to answer questions about these issues, or discuss how my testimony might help a particular asylum, convention against torture or other immigration matter. Please contact me at HaitiExperts@gmail.com.