Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
Beatrice Lindstrom is a Clinical Instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School. Prior to joining Harvard, she worked as a lawyer at IJDH for eight years and BAI for one year. While at IJDH, her work focused on path-breaking advocacy to secure accountability from the UN for causing a devastating cholera epidemic in Haiti. She was lead counsel in Georges v. United Nations, the class action lawsuit brought in the United States on behalf of those injured and killed by cholera. For her work on the cholera case, she received the Zanmi Ayiti Award from the Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast and the Recent Graduate Award from the NYU Law Alumni Association. Lindstrom was also previously an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, and a Haiti country expert for Freedom House. She holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern public interest scholar, and a B.A. from Emory University.
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Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
IJDH has successfully helped Haitians enforce their human rights since 2004. The Institute partners with BAI to support grassroots struggles for justice in Haiti and in the powerful countries abroad where decisions about Haitians’ rights are often made. IJDH and BAI combine traditional legal strategies with organizing, emerging technology and public advocacy to address the root causes of instability and poverty in Haiti. We fight for justice with routinely excellent legal work, but also with creativity, humility, inspiration and humor, and a supportive work culture. We effect broad changes with modest resources by nurturing large advocacy networks. Notable achievements include: •Representation of 5,000+ Haitian victims of cholera in a class action lawsuit against the United Nations, in pursuit of justice and accountability for the UN’s direct role in causing the October 2010 outbreak. This case is currently in the appeals process; •A 2014 appeals court decision reinstating charges of torture, murder and other crimes against former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier; •Convictions in twelve of sixteen rape cases that reached trial 2012-2014; •Successful prosecution of the Raboteau Massacre, a 1994 military/paramilitary attack on a pro-democracy neighborhood, that convicted the top military and paramilitary leadership of Haiti’s 1991-1994 “de facto” dictatorship. Among the convicted is the highest-ranked officer ever deported from the U.S. on human rights grounds; •Important training for social justice lawyers, who have used their training to advance human rights in Haiti, the U.S., and throughout the world; BAI/IJDH’s work has been featured in several award-winning documentaries, a Harvard University case study, and is the focus of the 2014 book How Human Rights Can Build Haiti.