IACHR Thematic Hearing on Access to Information (Mar. 2015)

Situation of the Right to Access to Information in Haiti

Public Hearing on the 154th Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 → Extract from the report on the 153rd Session of the IACHR: https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2015/037A.asp.

The participating organizations presented troubling information on existing obstacles to the exercise of the right of access to public information, particularly related to foreign investment projects, tourism developments, mining, and exploitation of natural resources. The IACHR also received information reflecting the lack of a legal framework that establishes and develops mechanisms to access public information and limits the State’s wide discretion to classify information by means of confidentiality clauses. The participating organizations also reported that what little information is published by the State is done so in French, without including the Haitian Creole language, which limits the access of a large percentage of the population. The Commission was not able to obtain a response from the State because the government did not attend the hearing. The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, for its part, expressed the need to implement a specific law governing access to information, one that would guarantee the exercise of this right. The Commission regretted the State of Haiti’s failure to attend the hearing.