Elections are due to take place in Haiti on 9th August.
One concern has been the lack of female involvement.
The Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Haiti Forty-third session 19 January-6 February 2009 noted a low participation and called for quotas.
the amendment to the 2012 constitution introduced a
minimum 30% representation . The quotas project has some details on the initiative and the
Ace project website enables you to download the full text of the current constitution in French. Article 17.1 covers representation of women.
In 2014 the
Human Development reports recorded less than 4% of seats in parliament as held by women and also continuing high levels of gender inequality.
As a result
UNDP has funded projects seeking to encourage female political participation.
International Idea has also been involved in similar projects.
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has developed the country’s
first national gender and elections strategy with support from the
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). see some examples of
promotional materials relating to women on its website.
however despite this the
Haiti election blog has raised concerns about continuing under representation.
L’ Observatoire Citoyen de l Action des Pouvoirs Publics (OCAPH) has expressed general concerns about the conduct of the elections to the press. Its website also has details of voter education campaigns.
Further discussion on women's rights and political participation can be found on
the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
For more background information on human rights and democracy in Haiti se our previous blog
posting on the 2015 elections.
